julia walter, urbandale resident: "usually we practice on saturday and we come in and we're all kind of tired, but this kind of upped the ante and was something really fun for our saturday practices on saturday, the fate of the political parties lay in the balance. lance carlson, west des moines resident: "picking corn is great, but this is way more fun, and i think politics needs more swords." natural sound: "marco rubio!" "cruz." each fencer donned some political gear to represent each presidential candidate, natural sound of patting the name tag in plala and whichever r fencer could survive the swipes and lunges, with the most attacks of their own would live in to the next round. natural sound: "ready? fence!" kevin powell, head coach at red door fencing: "maybe there's a candidate that they're not as big a fan of and they'll get to hit them a lot." julia walter, urbandale resident: had to halt a couple bouts just because there were stickers everywhere." lance carlson was a political science major during college, natural sound of swords clinging and he says this tournament was the

julia walter, urbandale resident: "i lost most of them. i had to halt a couple bouts just because there were stickers everywhere." lance carlson was a political science major during college, natural sound of swords clinging and he says this tournament was the perfect way to mix two of his favorite interests. lance carlson, west des moines resident: "it's very appropriate to have fencing represent the political trail, with all the attacking and the defending that happens, especially during this last push ahead of the caucuses." the round robin format allowed everyone the time to size up their opponents to see who'd stand out. natural sound of swords separating while there was many a parry on the floor, it was not enough to foil some of the upset bids. lance carlson, west des moines resident: "i think having the names behind me actually helped me really take victory and have their campaign energy." jacob peklo, reporting: "the primary event was pretty successful and they're hoping that come the general election in november, they'll be able t

julia walter, urbandale resident: "i lost most of them. i had to halt a couple bouts just because there were stickers everywhere." lance carlson was a political science major during college, natural sound of swords clinging and he says this tournament was the perfect way to mix two of his favorite interests. lance carlson, west des moines resident: "it's very appropriate to have fencing represent the political trail, with all the attacking and the defending that happens, especially during this last push ahead of the caucuses." the round robin format allowed everyone the time to opponents to see who'd stand out. natural sound of swords separating while there was many a parry on the floor, it was not enough to foil some of the upset bids. lance carlson, west des moines resident: "i think having the names behind me actually helped me really take victory and have their campaign energy." jacob peklo, reporting: "the primary event was pretty successful and they're hoping that come the general election in november, they'll be able to do this all