Campaign 2016

Finally made it to my first campaign event for the coming Presidential elections. I missed Rick Santorum's visit to Wellman as we were traveling, and because I had a decent paying job this summer I chose not to try and see Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton in Washington and Iowa City.

The last few days I've been spending a fair amount of time at the University of Iowa hospital where my wife is recovering from surgery. The surgery went well but the auto-immune disorders have complicated the recovery. A former student texted saying that Bernie Sanders was going to be stopping in Iowa City, about the time I generally leave the hospital. So I found a closer place to park, but still walked about 8 blocks to get there. 

Amazingly enough, Sanders was on time and after a brief introduction by some local officials, Sanders spoke. It is easy to describe him as an economic populist. He hammered the issue of income inequality, stagnating wages, greedy corporations who move jobs overseas, campaign financing, college debt, and gender income disparity. Eventually he mentioned both climate change and racial issues, but it wasn't long before he tied both back to economics. The name of the little shopping center added an interesting touch.

The crowd responded well to what I imagine has become his standard stump speech. I would guess there were at least 250 people there to hear him. It was an interesting mix of young people, many of them volunteers, and older people, many with beards, longer hair, otherwise known as the granola crowd. Sanders did not take any questions and after shaking a few hands and signing some autographs he was hustled into the SUV. He spoke with passion and vigor, yet reminded me of a grandpa who has gotten worked up and a bit pissed off. I'm guessing his staff keeps a close eye on his schedule and diet to keep him rested and ready. 

One of the reasons I haven't gone to many of these is the candidates seem to have learned how to control their audiences a bit during the last eight years. For example, to see Jeb Bush in Washington you were supposed to register for a "free ticket" a few days ahead of his visit.  I don't know if they took the time to screen people who applied for tickets or not but if you have the information you might as well. It does guarantee you will get lots of mail, email, and worse, phone calls because the registration required all that information. If the candidate is going to take questions it would allow the staff to screen people so that some Iowan doesn't ask an "inappropriate" question. Tim Pawlenty probably wishes I hadn't showed up eight years ago, but that is what the Iowa caucus is supposed to be about. Helping candidates refine their message, seeing through the BS, in general weeding out weak candidates. Sanders crowd was big enough he could easily get away without taking questions, but for some of the others, especially those drawing small crowds, it is one chance they have.

The Cspan bus was there handing out some goodies and promoting their programming. This picture is at the back of the crowd where some of the volunteers were nabbing people on their way out for contact information.

This picture is from the top of the parking ramp looking at the U of Iowa Hospitals, where the wife is recovering. She was sleeping so it was time to head home.