First of all let me explain my town.
I live in Eagle Grove, Iowa. Population a little under 4,000 people. It is located in Wright County. The population of the whole county is less than 11,000 people.
I was surprised and happy with the turnout. I would estimate about 250 people showed up at Memorial Hall in Eagle Grove the site of the Democratic caucuses.
The weather was cold and windy but we Iowans are a hardy lot. I braced the cold and walked the 2 blocks from my truck to the site.
The room was excited and noisy.
I was completely undecided. The only swing vote in my group. Which gave me the unique opportunity to have the other caucusers tell me why I should choose their candidate.
What impressed and swayed me.
I talked to a woman who for 30 years was a die hard Republican and she crossed party lines to join Barack Obama.
One of my son's teachers told me that Barack had come up to her last week and asked her about the No Child Left Behind Program. She told him it was the worst program she had ever seen. He informed her that was the FIRST thing he would get rid of.
Listening to these very well informed people I made my decision. I choose Barack Obama.
He has moved people to tears. I sat and watched an elderly couple, who had never been to a caucus before, brave the biting wind to support Obama. Senator Obama had personally helped her husband receive treatment for his cancer at a local hospital, yes he had VA benefits but the wait was something he couldn't afford.
I was wrong. The turnout in Iowa was astounding.
I was right. Huckabee is declared the winner of the Republican caucuses.
I realized that we aren't voting for the worst of 2 evils.
We instead can support Senator Obama and his plans to change and refocus our country. Power back to the people.
President Obama has a good ring to it.
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 88
When we have 50 million illegals here instead of 12 million by the end of "President Obama's" first term we'll have people like you to thank for it Lori.
Dana NP youre welcome
Katie completely your right to disagree with me.
Kayleigh this is why I love being in Iowa at this time.
Rex sure sounds like Obama is going to try.
Cheryl I havent heard the official numbers but I did hear that they had to start turning people away from the caucusing...there just wasnt room enough.
Clinton and Edwards were neck and neck.
In my district. Obama got 15 votes and 2 delegates. Clinton and Edwards each got 12 votes and 1 delegate.
Have a great week next week!
NP Cheryl.
Hi Dana.
"The DFA Unite for a Progressive President Campaign was a huge success and helped propel Senators Obama and Edwards to first and second place victories in Iowa."
I think Dana is a teenage boy of around 13 with acne and no life.
Don I know but its a step in the right direction.
I'm not kissing Obama's ass or Huckabee's so I'm looking for a fight?
Why don't you go back to fawning over Obama's victory speech on CNN Sharon...
Bruce I feel the same way.
John Edwards-- God help me I would never vote for Edwards. He's the presidential candidate version of Lou Dobbs. He would run the country into the ground. At least the republicans take enough of a hands-off aproach that they wouldn't do too much damage.
Huck-amuck? Best of the republican evils?
It's going to be an interesting 10 months.
I'm surprised by the gap that Obama won by. I know he has a lot of appeal, but I did not expect it to be this much. I guess Americans (at least in Iowa) really do want some significant change. I also guess I'll have to do more research on him.
Thanks for keeping us posted with your personal experience.
Sounds good to you??
Are you searching for a leader or a new talk-show host???
Let me see 450 Billion for a war of choice, the military(awesome job done over and over)and their families worn to the breaking point, the good will of the world after 911 squandered and allies scoffed at, environmental concerns gutted, oil company tax breaks and sky high(100 a barrel this week)fuel prices, pharmaceutical industry protecting jacked up prices, erotion of writes, start of a new crusade. Oh! and by the way 911 started on Bushits watch.
Congratulations to the fine people of Iowa-I hope your concerned interest carries to the rest of this country! Peace!
That cold Iowa weather must be tougher on you than you think, Lori girl!
Yea, I can give you worse problems, just for one:
--The current promises made from both social security and medicare has about a $75 trillion deficit (this was from a peer reviewed journal, I forget exactly which one), which is worth more than all the assets in the U.S combined.
I agree with one of the commenters who said that one state (even if that state is Iowa) does not a nominee make. (Or, especially President.) That said, there is a lot to be said for a system that allows voters in a couple of small states a chance to really get to know the candidates up close and personal.
President Obama sounds perfect!
Thank you for being active and interested. And, thank you for your article. : )
First of all, the programs have been robbed for years, long before the war (people seem to blame all government spending on the war), second of all $75 trillion is ~150 times more than the cost of the war so far.
This has been an interesting first person account of the antics in Iowa, thank you. By the time we get to the later shows, I'll be sick of the whole thing. And then it's time to vote.
There ought to be a better way. 1. campaign reform for financing and also to limit to 6 months the disgraceful waste of so much money on the media. It should be considered a conflict of interest for media to comment on politics or endorse candidates.
They make more money off politics than any other issue in the US.
Wonder why we have such a fit about candidates being rich people. They are the only ones with enough money to feed the hogs.
Nice article. Hope you are having a great night.
The reason I don't remember the journal it was published in is because I read it well over a year ago. It projected the growth in medicare and social security spending along with economic growth, and social security came to about $10 trillion in current promisses to workers and retirees, and medicare at around $65 trillion.
If you don't believe that, the social security adminstration says to keep social security solvent for the next 75 years, payroll taxes would have to be increased 16% today, and to keep medicare solvent, payroll taxes would have to be increased by 122% today. Either way, it's a train wreck that nobody's taking into account today.
I saw a reference to this article in someone's comments somewhere else and thought it was very interesting. It gives an idea of how Obama operates and a specific change he caused. Briefly, he helped get an Illinois law passed that requires video taping of interrogations and thus prevents prisoners from being beaten. I, for one, like that kind of change.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010303303.html
I for one don't care if some tin pot politician in some third world country cannot afford another new palace because we're not sending them money any more. I don't care if terrorists have a breakdown because we move the American lives out of their line of fire. I do care if kids can go to the doctor when they are sick. I care about family farms and not about conglomerates. I care about job training for those who need it and not about making criminals more comfortable in prison. I'm funny that way.
Anyway, I think Obama is talking about change and about hope because we all want both so desperately.
I have a bumper sticker on my truck that says "Anyone but Bush!" and I mean it.
I get the sense that Obama is doing a bit of pandering, just like Clinton, in that the more I research, the more he's been telling one group of people one thing, and another, another, all the while harping on change, but without laying out what he will do to change things, other than stating he will reach out to opponents. I still have to support Edwards, who has layed out exactly what he will do to effect change, and isn't lying to anyone about what that will entail (a massive fight).
My #1 choice in this election is Obama, with John Edwards a close 2nd. They seem to be the only people with courage to make real lasting change. I would say the restoration of the middle class is my #1 issue in this election.
I listened to some of Obama's speach. Sounded like he thought he had won the presidency.
I keep telling people to make their decision by the candates RECORD. The problem with Obama is that he has very little. I wonder how he voted on the Iraq war. Oh that's right he wasn't in office then. How has he promised to vote on the "thought police" legislation? How did he vote on continuing to finance an illegal war? What are the ISSUES he is running on and how did he vote regarding those issues in the past? How did he vote when our everlovin Congress gave Bush the right to declare martial law for any reason what-so-ever?
This is not an anti Obama rant. I ask the same of ALL candidates.
Yes, I did notice that Obama made it sound like he had already won. Since he was my candidate I thought it was a smart move as it projected him as the ultimate winner. If he hadn't been my candidate, I would have considered it presumptious.
We don't need that luck, Lori. We have someone who will lead us to work for a solution that does something more than promise to build a fence and "send em all back!" It will be so good to have a president that can see more than one view at a time.
There's a great deal of repair work that needs to be done.