President Blues

To boost citizenship and literacy on campus, the student government allocated funds a few years back to offer students complimentary copies of any or all of the following newspapers: USA Today, the NY Times, WSJ, Chicago Tribune, Des Moines Register, Cedar Rapids Gazette, Iowa City Press-Citizen, et al. You need only swipe your valid Hawk-ID through one of the card-only vending machines located conveniently throughout campus, and draw as many periodicals as you'd like. I've drawn late the past two afternoons, and I've drawn from the top of the pile.

Like most campus newspapers, the Daily Iowan pre-recycles itself, accumulating unread in large piles at various drop spots. This, despite the fever of an ongoing search for U of I's next President, which has meant open forums with the four finalists all week, and banner treatment from the DI, the credulity and obeisance of whose reporting make the Daily Princetonian look like The Final Call. Yesterday's show pony was a slick provost from South Carolina with only six years of administrative experience, who seems to have annoyed the Regents with glib answers, sycophancy, and an unconvincing denial that he would use Iowa as a stepping-stone to an even more prestigious post. "Universities are crown jewels, candidate says," led the Daily Iowan, loyally. One of the remaining finalists is a VP at Rutgers, who, thanks more to New Jersey's glutted patronage system than its cost of living, would take a pay cut if he got the Iowa job. The other, more consequential Presidential race going on in Iowa is quiet here. By far, the largest poster-, flyer- and meet-up presence belongs to Ron Paul, proving once again that drunk college kids will only turn over in bed for the candidate wearing the mantle of the no-shot wacko who blows up his own campaign attempting to speak truth to power.