It started pretty quietly.
There were hundreds of early, up-close-and-personal chances to meet Barack Obama including
- a house party in Ida Grove
- a meet-the-candidate session at the VFW Post 5240 in Dakota City
- a visit with diners at the Maid-Rite restaurant in Newton
- a box lunch for about 100 at the Des Moines Public Library
You can see a list of most of the events, but it doesn’t include the box lunch at the Library – Friday, May 11, 2007. Organizers had trouble getting enough people to fill the room. But there were many more events in Des Moines. In July Obama and his family were back in Des Moines for a 4th of July picnic at Beaverdale Park. More people were there, maybe 400, but Iowans were still able to shake hands and speak to Barack and Michelle Obama face to face. At the end of July he was in Union Park and numbers were greater, perhaps 500. In early October at the Convention Center there were over 1,000, and the chances of speaking personally were less. By November at the Jefferson Jackson banquet, his team of organizers stuffed plenty of vocal, passionate people into Vets Auditorium; by that time I felt that Obama would win the Democratic caucuses. By December when Oprah came, 18,000 came to Hy-Vee Hall even without a free lunch. The rallies were getting big and loud. Leading up to the caucuses there were many more Iowa events including some in Des Moines: Scottish Rite Temple; Roosevelt High School. Iowans did their homework; we knew him well. Then came the Iowa caucuses, he won, and it got quiet in Iowa again.
In the two years that Barack Obama visited and campaigned here, he took us seriously; we took him seriously. He left a lot of himself in Iowa; he took some of Iowa with him. He got a fair hearing and a favorable reception among Iowa Democrats, and the door to the nomination was a little more open.
And when it was clear that he was going to secure the nomination, on May 20, 2008 he came back to say thanks.
Couldn’t we claim that he is just a little bit Iowan? I know he was born in Hawaii, but I’d like to think of him as a Hawaii-owan. How about you?
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