Radio Iowa

Fred Thompson campaign (9/5/07 -- 1/22/08)

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson ended his campaign today by issuing the following statement:  "Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States.  I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort.  Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people."

I would say Thompson's best speech in Iowa was made on August 17 at the Iowa State Fair -- before he officially entered the race.  As you can see from the title of this post, Thompson was "officially" a candidate for just over three months compared to the more than five months in which Thompson and his "Friends of Fred" were in the flirtation phase. 

Obama's minister speaks at Simpson

I'm sitting in the back of the Smith Chapel on the Simpson College campus in Indianola, Iowa, preparing my equipment so I may record the remarks to be given here this evening by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.  He is the senior pastor at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is one of his parishoners.  Simpson College calls Wright Obama's "spiritual advisor" in the press release anouncing details about tonight.

Earlier today in Des Moines Wright attended a Simpson Urban Institute Luncheon in Des Moines, but it was a private affair.  This event is being held on Simpson's campus in a small chapel that features a cross illuminated from behind with florescent lights on its east wall.  Fifteen rows of pews, divided by a center aisle, face that cross and the "stage" from which Wright will speak.  He is being given Simpson's first "Carver Medal" named in honor of George Washington Carver, the man who gave us peanut butter.  Carver was admitted to Simpson College where he studied piano and painting, then he enrolled in and graduated from Iowa State College (now Iowa State University), where he became the institution's first black professor in 1894 before leaving for Tuskegee.

Click here to read a Baltimore Sun reporter's account of Wright's sermon this past Sunday.  The crowd congregating here is majority student, with a few grey hairs here and there.  At 7:28 p.m. it is standing room only. At 7:30 p.m. all the professors in their robes entered and the kids rose to their feet. 

At 7:45 p.m., Wright took the stage and opened with a formal greeting.  "I am honored and humbled by your invitation and thank you from the bottom of my heart," Wright began, then mentioned that when the crowd got home they could tune into CNN to see that "Lou Dobbs raked me over the coals."

Wright mentions he "stumbled onto" African spirituals during his studies in the late 1960s.  "In finding out about the music of Africa, I stumbled into a pardigm that has become earth shattering and mind-blowing...Ethno-musicology was taught to me by a South African...who came and shared with us....he would come to our church and teach our congregation African songs...and while teaching us songs he would teach us...things I never learned because I was raised in the United States of America...I did not know....that the meter...of African music is not the meter of European music, nor is the tonality the same....There is no half-step....If you want to learn African music, learn the black keys on your piano," Wright said.

Then, he broke out in song:  "Nobody kows the trouble I've seen, it only uses five notes."  Then, he followed with a discussion of how African-American children learn differently than European-Americans.  He said European-American education systems focus on  "left-brain cognitive" in which children learn from an object.  The African American way of learning is, Wright says, not left-brain.  "It is right-brain...from a person," he says, suggesting it's based on an oral culture, just as the oral culture which produced the first five books of the Bible.

A cookie? Thanks, but no

A hat tip today to WHO-TV cameraman Dave Olson who shares two tidbits.  As you may know, there was a huge anti-gay marriage rally at the statehouse today (you may read about it and listen to it here).  Many of those who attended the lunch-hour rally came early to attend the "State of the Judiciary" message delivered by the chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court.  This event was staged in the Iowa House of Representatives.

To get usable video, the camera operators from the local Des Moines TV stations asked for and received permission to set up in front of the first row of desks for members of the Iowa House.  Mr. Olson's tripod was established in front of Representative Dawn Pettingill's desk.  Pettingill complained. saying she would be unable to see the chief justice.  "I guess I could just go and get something to eat," she remarked as her alternative to watching the chief justice speak.  Speaking of food...

Also watching the chief justice speak today were the other members of the Iowa Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals -- all decked out in their robes.  Mr. Olson says as one of the robed judges was leaving the Iowa House, he was handed a cookie by someone in the statehouse lobbying against gay marriage.  As you may know, a gay marriage case is pending before the Iowa Supreme Court.  The judge politely handed the cookie back to the cookie-bearing lobbyist.

About an hour earlier, as Chief Justice Marsha Ternus began her "State of the Judiciary" speech, she made reference to cookies.   

North Carolina Blue

As I was watching tonight's Democratic presidential candidate debate in Nevada (that would be the state, not the town in Iowa that's pronounced nuh-VAY-duh) I was struck anew by the, well, new color of John Edwards' tie. Edwards favored ties the color of "North Carolina blue" when he campaigned in Iowa.  Lately, though, that color has been missing when I've caught Edwards on the telly and he's been wearing orange/red ties.

The next big test for Edwards is in his homestate of South Carolina.  Sportsfans likely know the South Carolina Gamecocks' colors are garnet and black.  Clemson's colors are orange and purple.  North Carolina State's colors are red and white.  Edwards got his undergrad degree from NC State, but his law degree from the University of North Carolina and he is a big Tar Heel fan.

Governor Chet Culver's Condition of the State message

Governor Chester J. Culver began delivering his first "Condition of the State" message shortly after 10 o'clock today, January 15, 2008.  (Outgoing Governor Tom Vilsack delivered last year's "Condition of the State" address.)  Culver's mother and his mother-in-law were among the governor's guests at this morning's event, which was staged (as always) in the Iowa House of Representatives chamber in the statehouse.  Senate President Jack Kibbie, as the event's presiding officer, let the crowd applaud Culver for just over a minute once Culver arrived on center stage then Kibbie said to Culver: "That's about enough."  I'm guessing Kibbie was referencing the length of the applause. 

"Members of the joint convention, it's my distinct privilege to introduce my friend and yours, the governor of this great state, Chet Culver," Kibbie then said to the assembled crowd just before he turned the microphone over to Culver.

UPDATE:  Culver outlined his idea to add 5 cents onto the state's can and bottle deposit fee at one point during the speech.  Only a handful of people stood to applaud his idea -- so few you could count them if you were sitting in the room.  The governor was quick to laud his Lieutenant Governor, Patty Judge, for being among the few to rise to their feet to applaud his plan.  "Thank you, Patty," Culver said, pointing at the lieutenant governor.

The text of Culver's speech is below.

What might have been

As you may know, Iowa's Caucuses were held on January 3, 2008 rather than today for a variety of reasons.  If Iowans had been gathering in 1781 precincts tonight, they would be braving single-digit and sometimes sub-zero thermometer readings. The wind chill calculations are pretty scary.  As I type this at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the wind chill factor is 3 degrees in Des Moines.  (Here's the forecast for Estherville, Iowa, this evening -- that's in northwest Iowa.)

Where are they now?

Here's a quick review of where some of the folks often quoted in Iowa media in the run-up to the Iowa Caucuses have landed:

Tim Albrecht, spokesman/press contact for Romney's Iowa campaign, has gone to South Carolina to work for Romney there. UPDATE!  Mr. Albrecht sent this in an email over the weekend:  I likely was spotted in South Carolina for the debate, but am with the governor's traveling press corps full-time now. In Michigan currently, following the five days I was in New Hampshire.

Mark Daley, spokesman/press contact for Clinton's Iowa campaign, has gone to Massachusetts to work for Clinton there.

Eric Woolson, spokesman/press contact/do-most-everything-guy for Huckabee's Iowa campaign, told me he was going to be dispatched to South Carolina to work for Huckabee there.

If you know of any other moves of note, chime in by posting a comment.

Campaign activity

The following presidential campaigns are keeping in touch with this Iowa reporter (and I suspect others) via email -- post-Caucuses:  Clinton, Giuliani, McCain, Obama, Paul, Richardson, Thompson.  (I did it in alphabetical order, not in order of frequency of email messaging.)  No incoming from Edwards or Romney anymore.

Three of the seven still send daily schedules, letting me know where the candidate will be in Florida or elsewhere.  The others have sent targeted messages to Iowa supporters, and emailed copies to reporters. 

Ah, New Hampshire

Hello, readers of the blog.  I'm back after some R&R in Colorado and Texas.  Others might describe it as the family Christmas. 

When last I left the blog, it was the day of the Caucuses and then the Caucus results came in and then I went on Iowa Press at 7:30 p.m. Friday (a LIVE show) to talk about the results.  (I have no idea if there is anything cogent in there.  I had to stand up in the hour before the show as when I sat down, I started to fall asleep.)  Then I went out for dinner with friends, got about 4 hours sleep, packed and then flew out of Iowa at 6:30 p.m. Saturday morning.  I will return tomorrow to the newsroom, but here are a few snapshots to mull over until I get my blog on again:

Radio Iowa's Todd Kimm, stationed at Huckabee's Caucus Night headquarters in Des Moines, saw a bunch of print reporters standing around a small group of Huckabee supporters.  "It was like they were looking in a well," Todd says in describing the scene.  The group of Huckabee supporters then proceeded to pray for about 10 minutes.  You can hear just over a minute of it here.  Todd approached a Huckabee press aide to get the name of the women who led the group in praying.  After acquiring the name, Todd asked about the event itself.  "Just some volunteers giving the national media the story they want," was the reply of the Huckabee aide, who Todd reports had been on the campaign payroll for about 48 hours.

'Twas the day of the Caucuses

Don't fret. I won't be rhyming again. This is just a post to offer a sort of wrap-up in this space that's different from the stories that are on our airwaves this morning.  Radio Iowa listeners are hearing from Iowans who've turned out at campaign rallies and were willing to talk about how they're picking a president.  This is about my friends and acquaintances who offer their insights into the campaign and buoy me along the way when I need it most. I offer this series of random thoughts to you as explanation, or perhaps preview of what may happen tonight.

There's the Republican source who has occasionally dropped me an email to offer a thought or two about a post on this blog and her insight into how the election is shaping up for the parties. "I've taken the opportunity to attend events for nearly every Republican and Democrat," she wrote a few months back.  "Democratic events, regardless of candidate, are energized, hopeful, active.  Republican events are fearful, quiet, resigned."

There's the friend I met in college (BFF!) who moved from Iowa to Minnesota a couple of years ago and has been getting phone calls from the Clinton campaign, urging her to caucus. She explains she no longer lives in Iowa. "They won't believe me," she wrote in an email last week.  "They act like I'm lying."

There's my old high school teacher who reconnected via email this week, offering up this: "Being a life-long Democrat, though I'm extremely unhappy with both parties right now, I've been following the campaign fairly closely on both sides of the aisle. I'm a Hillary supporter. I think she'll get the nomination and even though the campaign will be the most vicious campaign in history, I think she can win."