The Caucus: Day One
The Drive
The ride out to Iowa took a lot longer than I had originally anticipated. Chris, Tyler and I were on the road for over 8 hours, driving around the Chicagoland area then through the flat (and by ‘flat’ I mean nothing as far as the eye could see at times) counties of Western Illinois. By the time we reached the Mississippi River Bridge that took us into Iowa the snow had begun to fall hard. Dump trucks sat poised in the median ready to salt and plow the snow. Even with these trucks, there were a myriad of overturned vehicles in the median, including one semi truck.
I was under the assumption that once we reached Iowa we would immediately see signs of a presidential campaign. I was wrong. The only ‘signs’ of the heated presidential campaign were two ‘Ron Paul Revolution’ signs strategically posted next to highway overpasses. While in transit, we listened to an XM radio broadcast of former Senator Fred Thompson’s final message to Iowa.
More than anything I felt his message proved why he should not be president – his clearly partisan bashing of Democrats and everything they stood for interestingly juxtaposed next to a call for bipartisan support of his campaign reeked of the desperation of a fledgling campaign with nothing to loose. The other presidential candidate we saw tonight in Ames is seemed to be the antithesis of former Senator Thompson’s liberal bashing.
‘Hope’
After having dinner in Des Moines (which has one of the most beautiful capital buildings I have ever seen), we headed to Ames Iowa for a new year’s campaign rally for Senator Barack Obama. The event, supposed to start at 8:30, did not begin, because Senator Obama was running late. Lateness is characteristic of most presidential campaigns, and Senator Obama forced a 400-500 person crowd to wait for 45 minutes.
Before Senator Obama came onto stage, Congressman Patrick Murphy came on and told the crowd why he believed Barrack Obama is the person for president. Congressman Murphy, the only Iraq war veteran in congress and with one of the most contested and highest profile congressional races in 2006, flew in last night at 2 AM to make the final push for Senator Obama.
Just before Senator Obama took the stage, a campaign staffer came up and told the crowd the good news – The Des Moines Register, arguably the most important newspaper in the state of Iowa when it comes to presidential politics, put out the results of the poll with Senator Obama a 32% to 26% lead of Senator Clinton. (In the Republican race, Huckabee leads Romney 32% -26%)
The crowd was ready when Obama took the stage. We he bound on stage, his presence could be felt, a palpable charisma only the greatest orators seem to possess. The speech seemed to come easy, and Obama spoke for 45 minutes interrupted multiple times by applause. I heard his campaign kickoff speech in Springfield, Il over a year ago and I can say that the overall tone of his message has not really changed between then and now.
Tomorrow…a roundhouse kick to the face
Tomorrow will be another good day – tentatively we will be going to see Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator John Edwards and former Governor Mike Huckabee. More importantly, former Governor Huckabee will be bringing a very, very special Guest….CHUCK NORRIS.
More to follow tomorrow.
Photos of the Bridge and Obama Room by Patrick McAlister; Photo of Senator Obama by Tyler Platt
Tags: Barack Obama, candidate, Congress, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, huckabee, Illinois, iraq, iraq war, John Edwards, Mike Huckabee, obama, president, republican, ron paul, The Caucus
