'Tis the Season ...

in Iowa, for buttonholing voters. Message to pols: It's the holidays!

All the equipment that photographers haul around at news events--it can be a problem. When presidential candidate Mitt Romney invited supporters and journalists to the Johnston, Iowa, home of John and Sheryl Dutcher the other day, the room was so packed that the ornaments on the Dutchers' Christmas tree were at risk from swinging cameras.

If any Murano baubles were broken, the Dutchers should sue Iowa officials. By scheduling caucuses for Jan. 3, they managed to stuff presidential politics into the holidays. The ugly consequence: on snowy lawns, placards touting candidates compete with colored lights and wire reindeer. On television and radio, desperate...

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