On the road in Linn County, IA
Road Report from Ted Chiodo:
10-17-2006: Our next stop in Iowa was at the Linn County Democratic Headquarters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with Linda Langston. The ice cream-fueled, traveling staff arrived at 3:05 pm sharp at the headquarters on Main Street. John Kerry was met at the door by Peggy Whitworth and County Commissioner Linda Langston, who greeted us with smiles and hugs. JK then chatted with a bunch of supporters and Democratic activists.
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Two of the people in the room were Peg Wilson and her son, Matthew Wilson. Matthew was wounded last year in Afghanistan. On October 9th of last year, JK stopped by the Wilsons’ Iowa home to thank him for his brave service to our country.
When Peg and Matt stood up to thank him for his visit, John replied, “It’s the least I could have done and I know everyone in this room is proud of you, Matthew, and wants to thank you for your brave service to our country.” The crowd gave Matthew and his mom Peg a hearty round of applause and John went over and gave them both hugs.
I surveyed the room and saw a great countdown calendar as well as munchies. The Linn county Dems had some great brownies out on a table in back of the room. I finished off 4 brownies (like the road diet? Ice cream for breakfast, brownies for lunch….) before I stepped outside and had a nice volunteer snap a picture of me in the door way off Main Street.
Back inside, JK was warmly introduced by a gracious Peggy Whitworth. John Kerry talked about Bush’s Katrina foreign policy that assures squabbling Iraqi politicians that the US is willing to sacrifice American lives because Iraqis won’t get on with securing their own democracy.
“No American solider should sacrifice his or her life because some Iraqi politician in Baghdad isn’t willing to do his job,” Kerry said. The crowd erupted with applause as John Kerry ended by asking them to get out and make it happen in 2006.
Iowa is a great state and I really enjoyed my time spent here today. Stay tuned for a road report from Michigan.
Mahalo!
-- Ted
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Ted you’re one heck of a great on the road with JK blogger - really enjoying reading these reports.
Great stuff, keep it up.
Thanks, Ted. Nice diet, BTW.
Hey, I hear Sen Kerry will be on Stephanie Miller this morning. His last interview with her was a blast. Anyone know what time he’s on?
Listen to Steph live here.
http://www.am1430wxks.com/main.html
Editor’s Note: Senator Kerry will be on the Stephanie Miller show at 9:45 AM
I hadn’t opened up the home page of johnkerry.com for a while, and.. it looks great! Seeing all those congressional candidates lined up there. . it makes my heart sing. Will be nice to see all of those also posted, as elected representatives and senators, after November!
Nice job, Ted.
I am happy to see Senator Kerry is doing so much.
The Huffington Post is great too.
OT: Does anybody know if Senator Kerry has taken position concerning Prop 87 in CA?
I have been asked the question and could not find any info.
For the Left Coast challenged amongst us…
Proposition 87 is a California ballot initiative that seeks to tax oil companies to help fund research and production of alternative fuels and to reduce domestic oil consumption by 25% over the next decade.
The amount of money being spent on both sides of the Prop 87 battle is breathtaking. As of early October $105 million had been raised to campaign for and against the oil-extraction tax initiative this year, with millions more on the way.
Billionaire movie mogul Stephen Bing has promised to spend $40 million to pass Prop 87. Not surprisingly, the big-oil types are fighting against it tooth and nail. Chevron just added another three supersize to the $60 million the energy barons have already committed to defeating the alternative-energy measure in November.
Former President Clinton and former VP Al Gore have both made speeches and campaign ads supporting Prop 87 in recent weeks. As Mr. Clinton said in a high-profile speech in Los Angeles last week:
“Prop 87 will move California toward energy independence. With cleaner fuels, with wind and solar power. Think of how you can change it all. How you can make the air clean for the children, the economy secure and strong, the nation more safe from assault. America has to change, but you can lead the way. There is nothing more important. Do what you’ve always done. Claim the future.”
As you can imagine, the battle over Prop 87 is a huge issue with major implications for progressives, environmentalists, and corporate greedheads everywhere, not just in California. It’s getting national coverage because it deserves national notice. As Willy Loman’s wife put it, “Attention must be paid.”
There’s more info on the Prop 87 campaign in SF Chronicle articles at http://tinyurl.com/wufjx and http://tinyurl.com/yjprow and a partisan advocacy website for it is located here: http://www.yeson87.com/
the earth is blue and green so let’s help keep it that way,
Otter
hi there!
Ted is the greatest! he’s made life on the road even more fun. i hope you’ll check in on his road report from time to time.
keep up the fight!
marv
Wow, a real rock star has entered the building—I’ve heard a lot of nice things about you, Marvin. Ted IS the greatest—I’ve really enjoyed reading all the stories. Keep them coming.
Hi Marv,
Great to see you here. Have you made Ted any of your great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? ;-)
You guys are doing a terrific job. Is Ted getting use to the Senator’s non-stop energy yet?
Come visit again Marv, we enjoy having the company of that other TALL GUY.
You’re the best.
NO SURRENDER!!!
Nice to hear from you Ted! I love these appearances on the road in the small spaces across America. (It sounds like home and what I talk about with my neighbors.)
It was nice to read about Sen. Kerry meeting the Iraq War vet and talking with him and his Mom. I spend a lot of time talking with friends and neighbors about that war, how people are being deployed and how it just doesn’t make any sense. So many people have been so deeply impacted by all the deployments and the disruptions to their lives and this Admin seems to give nothing back. It’s not right and they need to come clean and say exactly what they are doing and how they see it ending. It’s just awful how they have abused the Guard and Reserve troops in the country.
Hi Marvin! Nice to talk to you. Check back in again. I love these reports from the road!
Marvin!
Greetings from sunny SoCal!
I can only begin to imagine the hijinks going on with you and Ted on the road together.
Take good care of our favorite Senator and send him regards from the me and the kid. Hope to see you both on the left coast soon.
Hi Marvin!
Great to see you checking in here!
Ted’s posts are great. It’s amazing he can write so cogently and quickly after an event. His prose makes me feel like I was right there.
It’‘s wonderful to have competent folks like you guys taking care of our* Senator for us. Keep up the great work!
* It’s only fair that MA share the riches of having 2 good Senators with us disadvantaged folk down here in PA, you know.