On the Campaign Trail with Ed Tibbetts

DENVER — I must be getting punchy. Sixteen hour work days on four hours sleep. That’s my explanation for having missed the explosion.

Yes, the explosion. I read about in the paper here this morning. A suspicious looking package was found near Union Station about 10:30 p.m. last night. They blew it up, though it turned out to be no threat.

The thing is, Union Station is on my 20-minute walk route to where I’m staying each night and last night I was heading back between about then.

Didn’t hear a thing.

DENVER — The Obama campaign confirmed tonight that Shawn Johnson, the 16-year-old Des Moines girl who won a gold medal and three silvers at the Beijing Olympics will be at the Democratic National Convention here Thursday to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at Invesco Field.

DENVER — As I mentioned earlier, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the Iowa delegation today. While here, she huddled with Reps. Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, to talk about her upcoming trip to Iowa.

A few days ago, it was announced Pelosi would come to the state Sept. 8 to tour parts of the state struck by disaster. Braley says, Secret Service willing, the idea is that she’ll go to Des Moines, Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. He said he also hoped that she could get to Parkersburg, the site of a devastating tornado.

The Iowa congressional delegation has been pushing for additional disaster aid and the tour is aimed at bringing home the point.

Otherwise, the speaker talked about the importance of health care for kids and said that John McCain stood by President Bush too often on such issues.

Pelosi mingled with Iowans and posed for a few pictures, but she left without talking to reporters. 

DENVER — All eyes may be on the DNC here tonight, but the Republican Party of Iowa put out this news release, datelined Minneapolis.

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Stewart Iverson has released the following statement praising today’s vote by the Republican National Committee’s Standing Committee on Rules to keep Iowa’s Caucuses first in the nation in 2012.

“I am very excited to bring the news back home that the RNC has taken this first step to solidify Iowa’s leadoff spot on the caucus calendar.  Iowa has a long tradition of cultivating thoughtful, educated voters and this tradition was recognized by the committee via this decision.  There are still hurdles to be cleared, but at this point Iowa’s Republican Caucuses will be first in the nation for the 2012 Presidential Election.” 

Iowa just cast 48 votes for Barack Obama and 9 for Hillary Clinton. Jake Krapfl, an Iraq War veteran, dressed in his combat boots, announced the result.

UPDATE: Here’s the text of Iowa’s announcement.

“Thank you madam chair. My name is Jacob Krapfl. I’m a veteran and having proudly served two tours in Iraq. I came here today in the same combat boots I wore in Baghdad to honor the brave men and women in uniform. Tonight, I represent the great state of Iowa where it all startted for Barack Obama. Back on a cold winter’s night in January, Iowa planted the seeds for a new field of dreams for America with Barack Obama’s campaign for change. And now it is an honor and my distinct privilege to announce that the Iowa delegation is united for change with 48 votes for Barack Obama and nine votes for Hillary Clinton.”

DENVER — Jim Messina, the chief of staff of Barack Obama’s campaign, laid out an assessment of where things stand today, when he spoke to the Iowa delegation.

So far, he says the campaign figures Obama is winning in states with 200 electoral votes, with McCain leading in states with 137. There are 18 battleground states with 199 electoral votes. One is Iowa.

“We believe today we carry Iowa. We feel pretty good about Iowa. We need a lot of help here but we feel great about it.”

Incidentally, Messina breathed a little insight to just how sophisticated these campaigns are. He says the campaign has four doctoral level statisticians working in the Chicago office.

The campaign is micro-targeting voters all over the country, something the Republicans have done successfully.

DENVER – In this city, where the entire machinery of the Democratic Party is aimed at promoting Barack Obama it’s hard to believe the Illinois senator had a hard time even getting into the party’s convention in Los Angeles eight years ago.

Yet, that’s the story that Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told the Iowa delegation today. Durbin was a guest speaker at the state’s daily breakfast meeting.

Durbin says Obama, a state senator then, could barely get inside the convention hall in L.A. He wasn’t a delegate. In fact, he said he had a hard time even getting a car from the airport to drive downtown.

Eventually, Obama got into a skybox, Durbin says, but didn’t even last the whole week of the convention.

“He packed up and left before Thursday. He’d run out of money, heading back to Chicago to his family,” Durbin says.

This time Obama’s skipped the first part. But he’ll be here Thursday to accept his party’s nomination for president. 

Times sure have changed.

DENVER — Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba’s been a Barack Obama backer for a long time, but not a lot of people know that his son, Kevin, is a die-hard, too.

Kevin, who was ever present in the mayor’s congressional campaigns, is now up in Alaska working for Obama, according to the mayor.

Alaska is one of those traditionally Republican states, like Montana, that Obama is making a play for. He’s at least the second person with Iowa connections up there. Jeff Giertz, the chief spokesman for Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, also is up there.

DENVER — When Sen. Joe Biden speaks to the convention tonight, an Iowan will be sitting with his family. Marshall Clemons, 37, of Cedar Rapids spent a day working with Biden at Harding Middle School there.

Biden took up the challenge by Clemons’ unions, SEIU, to spend a day with an average working person. SEIU issued the challenge to all the candidates.

Biden worked on a boiler and the heating and air conditioning system. “He caught on real quick,” Clemons said.

Biden then had dinner with Clemons’ family. Since then, they’ve talked a few times and, when Biden got the veep nod from Barack Obama, Clemons headed out here.

About noon today he was invited to sit with Biden’s family. “My feet haven’t touched the ground,” he said.

Biden is pretty well known as a regular guy. He goes back to Delaware each night after work on Amtrak, he talks to big shots and working people alike. And Iowans will appreciate this: Clemons said their dinner last year was chicken and corn on the cob. “Oddly enough, he picks his teeth just like the rest of us,” Clemons says.

DENVER — Voting began this morning at delegation hotels across this city. Here’s a link to the story I wrote.

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/08/27/news/local/doc48b581f2ac038879451066.txt?sPos=1