If you’re wondering what turnout may be like for today’s Primary election, here are some numbers to ponder:
In 1994, about 300,000 Iowans cast ballots in the Republican Primary. That was the year Republican Congressman Fred Grandy challenged then-Governor Terry Branstad. There was lots of cross-over voting, as Democrats became Republicans for a day to vote against Branstad in June rather than wait ’til November. Grandy came within four percentage points of Branstad in that primary.
In 1998, Branstad was not seeking reelection and there were three Republicans running for governor. The contest was among Jim Lightfoot, Paul Pate and David Oman and Lightfoot won the G.O.P.’s 1998 nomination for governor. About 162,000 voters cast ballots in that Republican Primary.
In 1998, Tom Vilsack and Mark McCormick competed in the Democratic Primary for their party’s gubernatorial nomination. About 115,000 Democrats cast ballots for that contest, which Vilsack won en route to winning the governorship that fall.
In 2002, there were three Republicans seeking the G.O.P.’s nomination for governor. About 199,000 Republicans voted in that Primary which Doug Gross won with 35.88 percent of the vote. Steve Sukup was second with 32.37 percent and Bob Vander Plaats was third with 31.66 percent.
In 2006, there were three Democrats running for governor. About 148,000 Democrats voted in that contest among Chet Culver, Mike Blouin and Ed Fallon. Culver won the Primary — and the General Election.
On January 3, 2008, Iowa Republicans held Caucuses. Below are the numbers that were released by the party that night (the numbers are the raw straw poll vote total for each candidate). For comparison purposes, consider that Vander Plaats’s 2010 campaign has plugged into that Huckabee network and Branstad has many Romney-connected folks working on his 2010 campaign.
Mike Huckabee 40,841
Mitt Romney 29,949
Fred D. Thompson 15,904
John McCain 15,559
Ron Paul 11,817
Rudolph W. Giuliani 4,097
Duncan Hunter 524
Tom Tancredo 5Finally, at the close of business on Friday, Iowa Republicans had cast about 20,000 absentee ballots for today’s Primary compared to about 7,000 absentee ballots from Democrats.
I flew out of the Des Moines International Airport last Thursday. After sailing through security, I popped into the Paradies gift shop to buy some gum when I spied a little "clearance" section featuring four sweatshirts embroidered with the word "Iowa" and about four dozen black t-shirts, marked $4.99. I counted and discovered 42 of the t-shirts featured Rudy Giuliani’s smiling countenance, with an American flag which — were it a real life picture rather than silkscreen — seems to be tickling the back of Giuliani’s neck. Hence the smile, perhaps. The name Rudy is featured in bright red; 2008 is in bright blue and underneath are the words "Giuliani for President" in white script 
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
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