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Caucus Keeps Iowa in the Spotlight

Iowa’s biggest city is getting ready for one of America’s biggest political events. “It gets a lot of national exposure, it gives us internati...

Iowa's biggest city is getting ready for one of America's biggest political events.

"It gets a lot of national exposure, it gives us international exposure," says the head of the Des Moines convention and tourism bureau, Greg Edwards of "Catch Des Moines."

For just one night, Des Moines is the epicenter of the political world.

Caucus Keeps Iowa in the Spotlight

More important than Washington DC and  New York.

"We take this very seriously," says Iowa Democratic Party chairman Dr. Andy McGuire.

A cold, Midwest city that most of the nation flies over now commands the attention of every political junkie and the journalists who cover them.

And the way they view Des Moines is changing.

"The [networks] always wanted to do their broadcast in front of a silo, in the middle of a corn field, and we were saying "Come to the City, use our skyline as your backdrop,"" says Edwards.

And the city is proving to be more than a skyline: it's a profit center.

The Old Spaghetti Works has seen a Caucus or two.  It started business in 1978, two years after Jimmy Carter put the Iowa Caucus on the map.   And every now and then, some foreign accents are heard ordering its Eggplant Parmesan or Smothered Chicken.

"You get some foreign press. You know, you get Asian, you get Canadian, you get Hispanic ones, Mexico, you know, it's great for the state to get different people in town," says Spaghetti Works general manager Jon Scholl.

And it warms the heart of businesses that might otherwise find it hard to earn a buck during the cold, hard winter.

In downtown, there's no room at the Marriott where rooms start at $289 a night.  We can't book a room at the less expensive Hyatt Place either.

"You probably won't find a hotel room downtown but you'll find a hotel in the metro that weekend," says Edwards.

Usually six of ten Des Moines hotel rooms would be filled the first weekend in February.  The caucus is expected to push occupancy to 90-percent.

Caucus Keeps Iowa in the Spotlight

"Caucus night is very special for us," says Hallie Durnavich, assistant manager of the Ramada Tropics resort on Des Moines northwest side.

The Ramada Tropics Resort still has rooms available and it's not hiking its rates.

"Downtown will fill up first with all of their hotels and then it slowly moves to the West with our being the next major off-ramp here," says Durnavich.

But forget all the money that's to be made from the caucus, Des Moines is looking at the prestige.

In 2007, the city burst with pride when a New York Times reporter Adam Nagourney wrote this pre-Caucus review:

"I'm not sure I would go so far as to say that Des Moines has become a vacation destination," he wrote.   "But it has most certainly become cool."

That's worth gold for a city that loses its spotlight on Groundhog Day.

It's kinda like the day after prom, you know," says Edwards.

"It's like "Oh my gosh,"" you take a deep breath.  On one hand, happy it's done with, but on the other hand, we're sad to see them go."

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