在经历了似乎永无止境的集会、巴士之旅、竞选活动等之后，2024年共和党在爱荷华州的竞选活动将于周一结束，届时该州将举行选举全国第一个党团会议.
美国广播公司新闻团队的竞选记者和制片人几个月来一直在关注这一行动。
以下是他们在这条路上的一些故事、印象和难忘的时刻。
“爱荷华尼斯”是真实的
“爱荷华州不错”不仅仅是鹰眼州的一个短语，爱荷华州人真的体现了这一点。在与全州的选民交谈时，在我问完他们支持的政策和他们正在计划的候选人之后，我们的谈话通常会以选民为我提供一顿家常菜或强调我在城里时应该访问的网站而结束。
当我在一次深夜竞选活动后被困在马歇尔敦的一家披萨店时，一名当地摄影师甚至让路给我，这样我就可以在媒体大巴离开我后回到得梅因。
生活仍在继续——即使是在政治世界的中心
候选人阿萨·哈钦森(Asa Hutchinson)拜访选民时，我正在得梅因的一家餐馆吃饭。当他向选民发表讲话时，我注意到服务员在候选人和记者周围滑动时没有停止任何跳动，他们平衡着堆满煎饼和奶昔的沉重大盘子。即使哈钦森或记者正在专心致志地与周围的人交谈，他们也经常伸手去倒满杯水。
这一时刻提醒我，即使在激动人心的党团会议季节，正常生活仍在我们周围发生。无论我们多么关注政治，正常生活仍然无缝地贯穿所有的竞选活动。
‘我永远不会忘记的经历’
在这里生活的同时，我还采访了维韦克·拉马斯瓦米，他在该州举办了300多场活动，我学到了一些技巧和多任务处理能力，创新能力和创造力。所以这很有趣——除了在一个不合适的时间醒来开车从这个州的一个角落到另一个角落。
尽管如此，从披萨农场到中西部日出日落，甚至到我们刚刚经历的这场暴风雪，对我在竞选活动中遇到的所有人和建立的联系来说，这绝对是一次有趣的经历。这绝对是一次我永远不会忘记的经历。所以说了这么多，我真不敢相信一切都结束了。我不敢相信它就要结束了。
在此之前我从未去过爱荷华州，所以现在离开是，你知道，苦乐参半…我在这里交了朋友，我在这里生活过，所以这肯定会是一个不同的前进步伐。我最怀念的是什么?希望我会回来参加爱荷华州博览会，品尝更多的食物，品尝更多的玉米。还有人民。
艾奥瓦人对政治的热情
在报道华盛顿特区的政治近六年后，来到爱荷华州报道2024年总统选举感觉就像回到了我的第二个家——密苏里州——玉米田、残酷的雪景以及最棒的是中西部的尼斯。
但是爱荷华州的独特之处在于爱荷华州人对政治、民主进程的热情以及他们在提名下一任美国总统中的特殊作用。
收到他们的来信并一起经历这一历史性时刻是我的荣幸。
2024年1月15日，共和党总统候选人、前联合国大使妮基·黑利在爱荷华州牛顿市PB酒吧的竞选活动中向顾客发表讲话。
赢得麦克纳米/盖蒂图片公司
行李认领处的妮基·黑利
爱荷华州是美国乃至世界上少数几个人们可以真正近距离接触未来领导人的地方之一。正是在这里，每个人——从农民到教师到银行家，再到迷恋政治的小孩——都有机会与数十名政客接触，他们来到美国中心，为生活在这里的人们的支持进行巡回演讲，希望通过足够有魅力的演讲和无数次握手和亲吻婴儿，他们有一天可能入主白宫。
作为记者，我们有一个特殊的窗口来了解这些时刻，那时竞选活动仍然很小，但人们的愿望仍然很大。偶尔，我们甚至会有自己的小时刻。
9月的一个晚上，在经历了从洛杉矶飞往得梅因的一系列漫长飞行后，我错过了一段旅程，差点丢失了我的包，并在丹佛国际机场冲刺。我疲惫地在行李认领处等待，迫切希望自己的头能撞到酒店的枕头上。当我独自站在行李传送带的小房间里，看着时钟慢慢接近午夜时，我注意到一张熟悉的面孔向我走来——这是我被分配采访的候选人:前联合国大使妮基·黑利。
我在那里站了一会儿，试图在走过去介绍自己之前偷偷瞥一眼，确认这确实是她。经过漫长的一天旅行后，我们两人看起来都筋疲力尽了，但当我走上去时，她仍然微笑着，我们两人相互寒暄了几句，然后我们提起行李，跋涉到黑夜中，因为我们都知道我们面前还有很长的路要走。
回过头来看，这感觉就像是对竞选期间每天发生的事情的完美概括。这是一个人类的时刻——很小而且很容易被遗忘。但在爱荷华州，像这样的小时刻，如果你能在选民中获得足够多的时间，有时会有助于推动竞选向前发展。
Impressions of Iowa as 2024 campaign frenzy comes to an end: Reporter notebooks
After a seemingly endless stream of rallies, bus tours, campaign stops and more, the 2024 Republican field’s convergence on Iowa will come to an end on Monday when the state holds itsfirst-in-the-nation caucuses.
ABC News' team of campaign reporters and producers have been following the action for months.
Here are some of their stories from the trail, impressions and memorable moments.
‘Iowa nice’ is real
“Iowa nice” isn't just a phrase in the Hawkeye state, Iowans really embody it. When talking to voters across the state, after I get done questioning them about the policies they support and the candidates they are planning the caucus for, our conversations usually end with voters offering me a home cooked meal or highlighting the sites I should visit while I’m in town.
When I was stranded at a Pizza Ranch in Marshalltown after a late-night campaign event, one local photographer even drove out of his way so I could get back to Des Moines after the press bus left me.
Life goes on -- even in the center of the political universe
I was at a diner in Des Moines on caucus day morning as candidate Asa Hutchinson visited and as he spoke to voters, I noticed the servers didn’t skip a beat as they slipped around the candidates and journalists, balancing heavy platters stacked with pancakes and shakes, and they were often reaching in to refill glasses of water even while Hutchinson or a reporter were talking intently to the people around the booths.
It was a moment that reminded me how even during the excitement of caucus season, normal life is still happening all around us. Normal life still seamlessly cuts through all the campaigning, no matter how focused we are on the politics.
'Experience that I will never forget'
In living here, while also covering Vivek Ramaswamy, the guy who’s doing 300+ events in the state, a lot of that is learning a little finesse and multitasking, being innovative, being creative. And so it’s been fun -- aside from waking up at an ungodly hour to drive to one corner of the state to the other.
All of that being said, it has been definitely a fun experience from the pizza ranches to the Midwest sunrises and sunsets, to even this blizzard we’ve just had now, to all the people I’ve met and connections I’ve made on the campaign trail. It’s definitely been an experience that I will never forget. So all of that being said, I can’t believe it’s over. I can’t believe that it’s coming to an end.
I had never been to Iowa before this and so now leaving is, you know, bittersweet … I’ve made friends here, I’ve lived here and so it’ll be it’ll be definitely a different pace moving forward. What are some things I’ll miss the most? Hopefully, I’ll be back for the Iowa State Fair for some more food to try, some more corn to judge. And the people.
Iowans' passion for politics
After covering politics in Washington, D.C., for nearly six years, coming to Iowa to cover the 2024 presidential election felt like coming back to my second home that is Missouri -- the cornfields, the brutal snow and best of all, the Midwestern nice.
But unique to Iowa is Iowans' passion for politics, the democratic process and their special role in nominating the next president of the United States.
It's been a privilege to hear from them and experience this historic moment together.
Nikki Haley at the baggage claim
Iowa is one of the few places in the country, and perhaps the world, where people can truly get up close and personal with their future leaders. It’s here where everyone -- from the farmer to the teacher to the banker to the young child enamored by politics -- gets a chance to rub shoulders and bump elbows with the dozens of politicos who descend on the center of America to stump for the support of the folks who live here, in the hope that with enough charismatic speeches and an incalculable number of hands shaken and babies kissed, they might someday get to the White House.
As reporters, we get a special window into those moments, when the campaigns are still small but the aspirations remain large. Occasionally, we even get small moments of our own.
On one September night, after a long series of flights into Des Moines from Los Angeles that included me missing a leg of my trip, nearly losing my bag, and sprinting through Denver International Airport, I waited wearily at the baggage claim, desperate for my head to hit my hotel pillow. As I stood alone in the small room of luggage carousels and watched the clock inch toward midnight, I noticed a familiar face approaching me -- it was the candidate I’d been assigned to cover: former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
I stood there for a moment, trying to sneak glances and verify it was actually her before I walked over to introduce myself. Both of us looked exhausted after a long day of travel, but when I walked up she still smiled and the two of us exchanged pleasantries before we hoisted our bags and trekked out into the night, knowing the long road we both had ahead of us.
Looking back, it felt like the perfect encapsulation of what happens everyday here during a campaign. It was a human moment -- small and largely forgettable. But in Iowa, it’s small moments like those, if you can get enough of them with voters, that can sometimes help move the needle just enough to propel a campaign forward.
