Introducing Dennis Goldford
How in the world did I end up in Iowa?
How in the world did I end up in Iowa, and how in the world did I manage to become a political analyst?
I grew up in the St. Louis area, which is about 5 ½ hours from Des Moines by car. Nevertheless, to get from St. Louis to Des Moines took me 15 years of living in three different states and two foreign countries.
There’s an old line—many, in fact—that earning a Ph.D. involves learning more and more about less and less until you know everything about nothing at all. For an approvable topic you must pick something that interests you and that no one, or nearly no one, has ever investigated before (there’s usually a good reason for that).
The consequence, therefore, is the need for a certain breadth of interest and expertise. While my dissertation topic was an issue in the most abstract areas of political theory, my actual teaching interests always lay in the fields of American politics and constitutional law. I thus came from Pennsylvania to Drake University in 1985 to teach in these fields, which included courses in political parties and elections, Congress, the presidency, American political thought, and our introductory course in the American political system.
How I became a political analyst
So, never having been in the state of Iowa in my life, I found myself offered an assistant professorship at Drake University, and it was Drake that led then to my becoming able to assume the very enjoyable role of political analyst.
The first step in that development occurred in the fall of 1986, during which the main political event was the midterm elections. As the only Americanist in the political science department at the time, my name came up when a local Des Moines radio station called the university to ask if they had someone who could go on the air on election night to cover and explain the election results.
Luckily, I had also had radio experience during my undergraduate years, so doing a live broadcast was familiar terrain for me. It must have gone well enough that two years later a second, prominent Des Moines radio station asked me to go on air with them to cover the 1988 Iowa caucuses.
KCCI
My big break, so to speak, came two years later when Dave Busiek, then news director at KCCI, invited me to go on the set with anchors Paul Rhoades and Kevin Cooney to cover the 1990 midterm elections. This was quite a step up from radio, since—OMG—listeners became viewers who would actually see me!
The pressure was intense, and before the broadcast I told Paul and Kevin to feel free to ask me about major statewide and Congressional races, but not to raise less prominent races with which I was less likely to be familiar.
This led to one of my favorite stories about my early broadcasting career. By the middle of that evening Paul turned to me and asked, “What about that state auditor’s race—it seems quite tight. What does that mean?” Now Paul was not at all engaging in a gotcha moment—I think he just forgot my pre-broadcast request.
Well, once he asked that “What does that mean” question, I simply smiled at him, turned to the camera, and said, “Beats me! There are some things we’re just not supposed to have an opinion about.” Paul and Kevin burst into good-natured laughter, as did I, but I think it showed the viewers that I was not going to venture an opinion about something for which I had no facts or background.
That must have been acceptable, because I have been privileged to serve as KCCI’s political analyst ever since. It’s mindboggling, actually; we’re talking from 1990 through, so far, 2024. I’ve always had a wonderful chemistry with the KCCI team—I appreciate their professionalism and journalistic talent, and they appreciate the expertise I bring to their political coverage.
What makes good political analysis?
I think the “secret sauce” of good political analysis, beyond having a good knowledge base, has always been imagining my audience as intelligent but uninformed. My analogy is that when doing election coverage, the anchors do the play-by-play, and I do the color commentary—placing particular events and results in context so that the viewers can understand our best explanation of why whatever happened did happen.
And, importantly, my focus is on understanding rather than partisan advantage. To extend the sports-broadcasting analogy, my job is not to tell people which team to root for, but rather to help people understand why the teams are doing what they’re doing.
I am suspected of having all sorts of political leanings, from liberal to conservative, but I’ve always striven to preserve my objectivity in service of truth rather than partisan advantage. Unfortunately, in our current environment of extreme political polarization, that is an increasingly fraught activity.
Nevertheless, I am happy to soldier on in this endeavor, and it will be what I hope to contribute as a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. It’s my honor to join this group of dedicated thinkers and writers.
Welcome! I look forward to reading your columns.