Clinton in Anamosa

Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 08:18:57 PM EST

This an account by Nate Willems. He was a regional director for Howard Dean's Iowa campaign and is an attorney in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.


The Democratic Party Establishment rolled through the Lawrence Community Center in Anamosa this afternoon as a crowd of 400 gathered to hear Senator Hillary Clinton speak. Senator Clinton was joined by former First Lady of Iowa Christie Vilsack and Ruth Harkin, wife of Senator Tom Harkin. Christie made a direct pitch to the crowd to sign supporter cards saying she is competing with her husband Tom to see who can get the most signed. Now, Senator Harkin may not endorse a candidate, but the message was clear: the two most successful Democratic politicians in Iowa since Harold Hughes are supporting the Clinton campaign; you should too.

There were a number of interesting points in Senator Clinton's remarks and answers to audience questions. First, on Iraq, Senator Clinton said we need to "bring our troops home..." she then paused while the crowd applauded, loudly. While the crowd was applauding, she finished her sentence, "...as quickly and responsibly as we can." It is safe to say not nearly as many people heard this part of the sentence as heard the "bring our troops home" part of the sentence.

Later, in asking a question, my Father noted that Senator Edwards criticized Clinton for not committing to bring all combat troops home from Iraq on Meet the Press this morning, and asked her to clarify her position. Senator Clinton responded that her plan is to bring the combat troops home and she didn't really understand the criticism because she has been consistent on that. She further elaborated that the military experts estimate that we can only withdraw one or two brigades from Iraq a month, and that a brigade has about 3500 men. So, I guess what the audience should conclude is that she is committed to withdrawing our troops as quickly as possible, but that she will defer to our military leaders who say that it will take two to four years (doing the math in my head) to accomplish this.

In her stump speech, Senator Clinton describes a lot of problems and states her commitment to finding solutions. It seems to follow a pattern: Problem X is a terrible problem confronting our country. Problem X is a problem because of A, B, and C. When I was in <insert Iowa County Seat town name here>, a lady came up and told me about the difficult situation her family is in because of Problem X. When I am elected President, I will fix Problem X. Pause for applause. We need to fix Problem Y...

Of course, sometimes after describing a problem, instead of pledging to "fix" it, Senator Clinton says, "we can do better." For example, Senator Clinton thinks we need to restore public confidence in the competence of government. She promises that, "I will appoint qualified people." Clinton also thinks that, "we need to make college affordable."

The onus was on the audience to draw out specifics . . .


more: http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/10/7/201857/412