Mary and Jimmy: How a TV show and presidential hopeful put Iowa on the map
The Iowa caucuses have been a part of the presidential election process for decades, and a familiar 糖心vlog face was part of their early years.
In the 1970s, The Mary Brubaker Show covered all topics.
"We did everything," Brubaker said. "We had fashion, we had cooking 鈥 anybody famous that came in, all the movie stars and all the politicians."
With the caucuses around the corner, 83-year-old Brubaker is remembering one politician and the part he played in putting Iowa on the map.
"The first time I ever met Jimmy Carter, I didn't know who he was," she said.
Back then, an unknown running for president did not appear on newscasts. Brubaker said Carter came in for her cooking show.
"The producer, John Pascuzzi, came in and he said, 'There's this guy coming from Georgia and he's gonna run for president. So, let's just give him a few minutes and get his you-know-what out of here."
Little did Brubaker know back then, the relatively unknown farmer from Georgia would have a big impact on Iowa.
"He came in and the lights all went on and life changed forever," she said.
Brubaker said she liked the peanut farmer, and so did Iowans.
"He was just a breath of fresh air," she said. "I mean, he wasn't like any politician we had ever known before, and so down to earth."
Carter returned to The Mary Brubaker Show, and his success in Iowa helped boost his campaign.
"The fact that Jimmy Carter is able to go from an unknown governor to nominee, he sets that standard saying Iowa can help a campaign that is unknown become nationally significant," Iowa Historical Museum curator Leo Landis said.
Landis said when other candidates came to Iowa after Carter, the media followed.
"They saw how Carter raised the profile in Iowa," he said. "They took a page from that story and said, 'Let's see if we can organize.'"
The rest, Brubaker said, is history.
"I think Jimmy Carter changed everything about political activity in the country," she said. "He was a down-home kind of guy."
After nearly two years in at-home hospice care, Carter died on Dec. 29, 2024, at the age of 100.
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