Free sandwiches at Iowa caucuses cost Hillary plenty

Add comment February 22nd, 2008

Way back on Jan. 3, at the Iowa Democratic caucus I covered in Des Moines, I commented on the fact that the Hillary Clinton campaign offered an entire table of sandwiches, soft drinks, chips and other snacks? Turns out that was a costly table — when you add others like it around the state. Her campaign spent $95,000 at the Hy-Vee supermarket chain. They didn’t list the specific items the money paid for, but they did boast in advance of the caucuses that they intended to feed people at them.

No other campaigns did that, and free ham and roast beef sandwiches were not enough to convince Iowans that Hillary as president would deliver them free lunches.