Award-winning products on display in the building dedicated to agriculture at the Iowa State Fair, Thursday, August 15, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa. CHARLIE NEIBERGALL / AP
At the Iowa State Fair – the Midwestern state's major summer event, part country fair, part commercial expo – nothing rivals the sheer abundance of corn dogs: hot dogs dipped in cornmeal batter and skewered on wooden sticks, even stretched into "foot-long" versions.
Politically, however, the urban Democrat theme of abundance has little resonance on the vast plains. In front of the Democratic Party booth, set up in one of the fair's historic pavilions, Nathan Sage, a towering man with a red beard, admitted his confusion. He said he preferred to focus on what is real: "Iowa has 185,000 people that are food insecure right now. They don't know where their next meal is going to be. SNAP benefits are going away, the 'big beautiful bill' is taking away Medicaid benefits. And people are scared."
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Is 'abundance' the new watchword of US Democrats?
