The Weathered Campaign

You've done the advance work. You've called everyone. You've invested campaign time and campaign money into putting together several days' worth of events.

Source: ahhyeah's photostream, flickr

Then an ice storm ruins everything. Now what?

Depending on your politics, you may blame the freak weather occurrence on an act of God or climate change. Either way, your carefully orchestrated campaign has to deal with it. It isn't as if winter storms are a new thing in presidential politics — it is always cold and always early in Iowa and New Hampshire, even if they are earlier than normal this year.

Experience and organization help. Your vote tallies probably aren't going to dry up because you can't get to four events over a day and a half, but you aren't getting any retail work done, either. It might work out for you that you're in a bigger city when the ice locks down most travel, and maybe you grasp the opportunity to be the intrepid candidate, trudging through snow and ice to tell people about your healthcare plan. Or, if you're a Republican, why healthcare for everyone is a bad idea.

Huckabee will lose the most time in Iowa, as he was outside of the state and can't even get back in. But a good campaign will figure out a way to maximize efficiency and make the most of the time. Maybe they will do more call time, or perhaps they'll turn their attention, however briefly, to other states. I would think, though, that getting stuff done in other states is only helpful if you'll be around after Iowa, and many candidates will not.