PatriotOne
07-05-2007, 12:29 PM
LOL...a perspective of the Ron Paul army Fred was competing with in Iowa :D .;
A trip to Iowa
July 5, 2007
Fred Hutchison
RenewAmerica analyst
On June 29, I checked into my hotel in Des Moines, Iowa — the political capital of America. It was the night before the Republican Presidential Candidates Forum to be held on Saturday, June 30.
As I approached the lobby carrying a satchel of "We need Alan Keyes for President" fliers, I passed a group of people in formal clothes leaving the hotel. They were leaving a reception for Tom Tancredo, a presidential candidate.
My mischievous impulse was to hand a flier to Tom Tancredo to see the expression on his face and to provoke a comment — for Tancredo is very candid, blunt, and good with quick comebacks. But the hour was late, and it was too late to find him.
However, I later found out that there is a reservoir of positive sentiment for Alan Keyes among the volunteers for other candidates. In fact, everyone I spoke to at the forum remembers Alan and has positive memories of him.
I had three purposes for attending the forum: (1) hand out fliers; (2) meet people who might possibly be volunteers in Iowa, steer us to volunteers, or give us advice about Iowa politics; and (3) size up the candidates who spoke at the forum.
The battle of the fliers
Due to unexpected, arbitrary, and constantly changing rules and restrictions on passing out literature, I only managed to hand out 50 two-page color handouts.
The sponsors of the event had blackballed candidate Ron Paul through the use of constantly changing rules. Ron Paul came anyway to give his own separate speech in a place where they could not ban him. He brought with him the most incredible army of volunteers and supporters. I found myself standing outside the entrance in the midst of exiled Ron Paul volunteers to hand out fliers.
One Ron Paul volunteer was a former Alan Keyes volunteer. He gave me the name of a former Alan Keyes operative in Iowa.
Another Ron Paul volunteer was a libertarian who believes in conspiracy theories. I tried to explain to him why I am skeptical about conspiracy theories, but I do not think I dented his armor.
A bunch of state troopers showed up and told us we had to hand out fliers across the street. There were virtually no pedestrians across the street, but there were actors in hilarious costumes making fun of particular candidates. The convict in orange prison garb and a handcuff dangling from one hand sticks in my mind, as well as the cute giant dolphin. I did not understand their riff because they were across the street. I thought to myself, "I wish the convict and the dolphin could come over here and join us."
I also mused, "The organizers of this event must really hate Ron Paul, to push them across the street to join the convict and the dolphin." All the event volunteers I met were marvelous people, but there was something not quite right about those running the show.
Rather than debate constitutional law with four heavily armed troopers, I asked them, "Who is the person in charge who set these rules?" One said, "A woman in red." I went into the building to search for the mysterious woman in red to discuss the Bill of Rights concerning free speech and the use of public places. A gaggle of Ron Paul groupies tagged along behind me. What fun! To be the impromptu leader of a band of Ron Paul groupies!
I suddenly realized that I was playing the game stupidly. I looked around and saw that this was my golden moment for meeting people. I had shown the groupies how to handle the state trooper outrage — which they did successfully. The woman in red must have eventually folded, because the artificial restrictions on fliers were eventually removed. I decided to hand out the rest of my fliers at the Des Moines arts festival in the evening. I left the groupies to fight their battle with the lady in red and moved on to the more important business of meeting people as an ambassador for Dr. Keyes.
Rest here:
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/hutchison/070705
A trip to Iowa
July 5, 2007
Fred Hutchison
RenewAmerica analyst
On June 29, I checked into my hotel in Des Moines, Iowa — the political capital of America. It was the night before the Republican Presidential Candidates Forum to be held on Saturday, June 30.
As I approached the lobby carrying a satchel of "We need Alan Keyes for President" fliers, I passed a group of people in formal clothes leaving the hotel. They were leaving a reception for Tom Tancredo, a presidential candidate.
My mischievous impulse was to hand a flier to Tom Tancredo to see the expression on his face and to provoke a comment — for Tancredo is very candid, blunt, and good with quick comebacks. But the hour was late, and it was too late to find him.
However, I later found out that there is a reservoir of positive sentiment for Alan Keyes among the volunteers for other candidates. In fact, everyone I spoke to at the forum remembers Alan and has positive memories of him.
I had three purposes for attending the forum: (1) hand out fliers; (2) meet people who might possibly be volunteers in Iowa, steer us to volunteers, or give us advice about Iowa politics; and (3) size up the candidates who spoke at the forum.
The battle of the fliers
Due to unexpected, arbitrary, and constantly changing rules and restrictions on passing out literature, I only managed to hand out 50 two-page color handouts.
The sponsors of the event had blackballed candidate Ron Paul through the use of constantly changing rules. Ron Paul came anyway to give his own separate speech in a place where they could not ban him. He brought with him the most incredible army of volunteers and supporters. I found myself standing outside the entrance in the midst of exiled Ron Paul volunteers to hand out fliers.
One Ron Paul volunteer was a former Alan Keyes volunteer. He gave me the name of a former Alan Keyes operative in Iowa.
Another Ron Paul volunteer was a libertarian who believes in conspiracy theories. I tried to explain to him why I am skeptical about conspiracy theories, but I do not think I dented his armor.
A bunch of state troopers showed up and told us we had to hand out fliers across the street. There were virtually no pedestrians across the street, but there were actors in hilarious costumes making fun of particular candidates. The convict in orange prison garb and a handcuff dangling from one hand sticks in my mind, as well as the cute giant dolphin. I did not understand their riff because they were across the street. I thought to myself, "I wish the convict and the dolphin could come over here and join us."
I also mused, "The organizers of this event must really hate Ron Paul, to push them across the street to join the convict and the dolphin." All the event volunteers I met were marvelous people, but there was something not quite right about those running the show.
Rather than debate constitutional law with four heavily armed troopers, I asked them, "Who is the person in charge who set these rules?" One said, "A woman in red." I went into the building to search for the mysterious woman in red to discuss the Bill of Rights concerning free speech and the use of public places. A gaggle of Ron Paul groupies tagged along behind me. What fun! To be the impromptu leader of a band of Ron Paul groupies!
I suddenly realized that I was playing the game stupidly. I looked around and saw that this was my golden moment for meeting people. I had shown the groupies how to handle the state trooper outrage — which they did successfully. The woman in red must have eventually folded, because the artificial restrictions on fliers were eventually removed. I decided to hand out the rest of my fliers at the Des Moines arts festival in the evening. I left the groupies to fight their battle with the lady in red and moved on to the more important business of meeting people as an ambassador for Dr. Keyes.
Rest here:
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/hutchison/070705