Here in Iowa, using July 14 as an example, I can hit the road at 7 a.m. and make it in time for breakfast with Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan at McOtto’s Family Restaurant in Anamosa. It’s a short drive to Cedar Rapids, where 10 presidential candidates are turning out for the fifth annual Progress Iowa Corn Feed at the NewBo City Market. "NewBo" is short for "New Bohemian." I don’t eat meat, but I’m told a favorite among the many food stalls is the Sausage Foundry. The speakers parade onto an outdoor stage where, despite 96-degree heat, each player—that is, candidate—seems to be having a good time.

The crowd at a Democratic campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, July 14.
Photo: DANIEL ACKER/BLOOMBERG NEWS

At spring training players are relaxed and more accessible than at their fortress-style stadiums back home. So too Mayor Pete Buttigieg finishes his remarks and wades into the crowd to sign autographs, pose for photos and shake hundreds of hands. There are no metal detectors, no pat-downs at the gate, and no visible security.

The next day things turn jacket-and-tie in Des Moines, as former Vice President Joe Biden joins three other candidates for an AARP-sponsored town hall. Poor Joe can’t escape the metaphors: A few weeks back he said, "My time is up," during a debate, and today he’s talking to a room full of retirees.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is charming. "I can see Iowa from my porch," she quips. In case you haven’t read her memoir, let me share that she once dressed as Prince’s "Purple Rain" to win a costume contest in law school and enjoys fishing for eelpout. She just can’t get anywhere in the polls.

Then it’s over to Bettendorf to listen to California Sen. Kamala Harris. During her half-hour Q&A I notice she says "um" a lot, so I keep score in my notebook. Final tally: 83. She needs to work on that.

The next day I’m back in Cedar Rapids, where one of the speakers is former Maryland Rep. John Delaney. This guy is a political dynamo, having spent more than $7 million of his own money to campaign in Iowa, visiting all 99 counties and still fighting the question "John who?"

What great sport! And this stuff is happening just about every day in 2019 within a few hours’ drive of Des Moines. The Register estimates that by the time Iowa gets around to caucusing on Feb. 3, candidates will have made more than 3,000 appearances in the Hawkeye State.

I don’t understand why savvy tour operators haven’t tried packaging political vacations (or have they?). I can imagine Clark Griswold’s family posing for a photo with self-help guru and presidential candidate Marianne Williamson at the Sausage Foundry.

Of course, spring training lasts less than two months, while the intensity of the presidential campaign is felt here in Iowa for more than a year.

If you tire of political rhetoric you might want to make the three-hour drive up to Dyersville. There, perfectly preserved since Kevin Costner’s visit in 1988 to shoot a movie, is a place that serves as an ideal metaphor for two dozen Democrats in the 2020 presidential campaign. It’s Iowa’s Field of Dreams.

(c) Peter Funt. This column originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal.