For Amber Waves of Grain (The July 4 Round-Up)

The July 4th before the Caucus is always a busy day for Presidential candidates.

I have already spoken on the Iowa Cubs naturalization ceremony. Of course, there are also parades and barbecues.

Independence, Iowa is a town of 6000, but with that name, you knew it was going to draw potential candidates, and it did- Joe Biden, Beto O’Rourke and Bill DeBlasio all marched.

Kamala Harris came to Iowa fresh off post-debate hype and a jump in poll numbers. A lot of good press in the Des Moines Register which seemed to focus on the fact that she hand cuts potatoes to make French Fries for her husband, as much as it did on any policy stands she might have.

A quick internet search verified that this is a hobby she was proud of, but my initial thought was ‘No one asked Paul Tsongas about that.”

Harris and Amy Klobuchar attended a West Des Moines Democratic Dinner. Climate activists were there to score the candidates according to the Daily Iowan (with Inslee on top and the two featured candidates on bottom)

Pete Buttigieg was in Western Iowa and made headlines as a Conservative blogger told him that African Americans just need to stop committing crime and they needn’t worry about the police. Mayor Pete was able to at least try to engage the conversation as reported in the Register.

“The fact that a black person is four times as likely as a white person to be incarcerated for the exact same crime is evidence there’s systemic racism,” Buttigieg said. “It is evidence of systemic racism, and with all do respect sir, racism makes it harder for good police officers to do their job, too. It is a smear on law enforcement.”

Pete winning the engagement was one of the highlights of the Caucus Holiday.

It also illustrates how the actions of one person can be magnified and unrealistically amplified. In Independence, Biden had a couple of hecklers (it was a Trump county, after all) and the National News was quick to pick up on it (“Joe, Where’s Your Walker?” Hey-oh!)

Biden and Beto O’Rourke also took in post-parade picnics and then headed to Des Moines for the Naturalization Ceremony and an Iowa Cubs Baseball game.

I covered this already but Beto went there to meet Caucus goers. It’s funny to me that the Caseys story from this Spring has stuck to him. The people behind me were telling the story. Funny enough, their story didn’t really resemble what really happened.



Telling the story, the people behind me seemed to remember the recent Casey's ad campaign and gave those attributes to Beto  as if he could not believe a gas station would sell good pizza. What really happened was Beto confusing “Casey’s Breakfast Pizza (pizza topped with scrambled eggs and sausage) with having leftover pizza for breakfast.



What a Breakfast Pizza might look like

Beto likely would have liked a better news headline that the one he got from the Register which shared his story he told of his son eating too much Parade candy and then projectile vomiting at the dinner table.

Though all the major players made it to Iowa, it’s doubtful anyone took better advantage than Bernie Sanders.

Bernie was able to attend four Independence Day parades. This made for a total of eight miles in 95 degree heat. Hard not to be impressed with those stats. Steve Bullock did run a 5k in Cedar Rapids that day but you have to credit Bernie for variety.

The Kansas City Star reporter that Bernie did not march with the area Democrats in his Pella and Ames parades, though that does seem to belie positive coverage from the Ames Journal and the Des Moines Register who said “Some heckled, but most seemed excited to see a presidential candidate walk through their neighborhoods and towns and raced to pull out their phones for selfies or videos.”

Bernie did provide a great Caucus moment In Eastern Iowa when he had an ice cream social featuring Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Although I don’t know it was the flavor served? Ben and Jerry did create Bernie’s Yearning in 2016 (mint ice cream that is 1% Chocolate that needs to be spread out).

The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported that 800 showed up so the ice cream ran out before Bernie got there. They also reported the Sanders crowd is still faithful despite Harris’s surge.

I actually know a parade organizer who had Sanders in her parade. This is where I would love a nice blog exclusive like he was horrible or mean or something. However, she said he was nice and if anything, he was patient as she talked his ear off.

She also reported that The Sestak Campaign contacted it near the date (well, he had just entered the race) and she was able to get the Admiral in.



Via Stesak's Twitter Account


It is easy to make fun of Sestak for being the 24th(or so) candidate to run, but the reason for the late entry was because his daughter had brain cancer.

I did talk to someone who met Sestak and they described him as “nice and a bit quirky.” For what was most likely his first trip to Iowa since announcing, Sestak stayed long after the parade had ended to make sure he talked to as many Iowans as he could .  He has since been on a seeming marathon of Iowa campaign stops to catch up for lost time.