Attended an event, the Iowa Tea Party Statewide Convention, this afternoon at HyVee Hall that had a few hundred people. Not as many as I’m sure the organizers had hoped, but you are competing with 70 degree weather, and Iowa and Iowa State played. Those who did attend were able to stop by and chat with several candidates (or had representatives):
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Christopher Reed – Congressional Candidate – Iowa 2nd
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Mariannette Miller-Meeks – Congressional Candidate – Iowa 2nd
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Representative Rod Roberts (R-Carroll) – Gubernatorial Candidate
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Bob Vander Plaats – Gubernatorial Candidate
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Pat Bertroche – Congressional Candidate – Iowa 3rd
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Christian Fong – Gubernatorial Candidate
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Former Governor Terry Branstad – Gubernatorial Candidate (still no website)
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Dave Funk – Congressional Candidate – Iowa 3rd
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Representative Chris Rants (R-Sioux City) – Gubernatorial Candidate
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Tom Shaw – Representative Candidate – Iowa House District 8, he is running as an independent.
Several organizations where there LUV Iowa, Iowa Right to Life, Iowa Gun Owners, Iowa Carry, Iowa Republican Assembly, Iowa Family Policy Center, Concerned Women for America, Team Huck, ParentalRights.org, Iowans for Discounted Taxes, Campaign for Liberty, and The 9/12 Project. I’m sure I’m missing somebody. Oh yeah the Democrats were there with their Terry Loves Taxes Campaign. Nobody stopped by to visit them. Then again I didn’t see a lot of traffic at the Branstad table either.
Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) spoke via video and she warned against government largess, the Cap and Trade Bill, and the Democrats’ plan for health care reform. Congresswoman Bachmann being an Iowa native (was born in Waterloo) was unable to attend for obvious reasons. She encouraged us to continue to speak up as the “American people are recoiling at the current practice of liberalism.” She encourage us to call our members of Congress and tell them to vote no on any bill that oversteps the Constitution. She lauded Congressman Tom Latham (R-IA 4th) and Congressman Steve King (R-IA 5th) as being the good guys and that we need to encourage them. She ended by saying, “We can’t back down and we can’t retreat as retreat is not an option.”
I’ll update with videos of some of the speakers later.
Due to my schedule, I’ve decided not to include the video of this. I’ve got a ton of video to render from the gubernatorial candidates and Tim Pawlenty speaking that I am not going to have time to get to this. Sorry, not meant to be a slight to those involved, but I have to prioritize. I noticed their were others there who were videoing and you will likely be able to find it on the web.
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I would love to get your take on one of the speakers, Jonathan Narcisse. He was the one who passed out the newspaper-like articles about 10 steps to fix Iowa. The whole thing can be found here: http://www.aniowaworthfightingfor.com
Thanks,
Dustin
Shane Vander Hart Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
@Dustin, When did he speak? Because I missed him. I thought I stayed through all of the speakers.
Not sure, I think toward the end. I was unable to attend (live in Iowa City), but I got a preview of his speech and I thought it was great. Just wondering what others thought. If you didn’t hear him that day, are you familiar with Jonathan and/or his “an iowa worth fighting for” platform?
Shane Vander Hart Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
@Dustin, A little, I can’t say I’m intimately familiar.
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