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Posted on 06/29/2007 11:45:33 AM PDT by pissant
If you are an avid reader of this web log, you'll know that I sometimes put some of the upcoming political events in a header of "Path of the Cyclone: Calendar". Well, let me tell you, after driving the 3 plus hours to Ames on Thursday afternoon, I pulled into my favorite convenient store to get some Diet Pepsi and the sirens started going crazy. What was approaching? A Cyclone (tornado/twister).
I headed over to Main Street to the old depot area and checked out the Brownback office that was being opened that night. It is a nice location with plenty of parking but the actual office is pretty quaint. I think it should be a nice satellite office for them. The winds and torrential rain literally put a 'damper' on their headquarters opener and I left before the Senator arrived. Lots of good, ambitious staffers with Team Brownback though.
As I was headed toward Hilton Coliseum, I drove by Sigler Publishing and noticed that the old Story County GOP/Tom Latham headquarters is now the Ames office of the Mitt Romney campaign. I felt as though I gave a lot of my fall semester to that building (helping out the Story Co./Latham/Nussle/V.P.) and it is an extraordinarily spacious building. I'm not sure what sorts of operations will be run out of there, but their Urbandale office is absolutely incredible in size and scope.
Congressman Tom Tancredo also has a very beautiful office in Ames (in the very lovely Welch Crowne Center) and they are planning to 'officially' open it next Sunday afternoon with some gool 'ol fashioned BBQ. I will be attending that and I've been in that office and am very impressed by their operations there. There are a couple of Democratic offices in Ames also (Hillary and Obama, I think).
After learning that a cyclone HAD touched down at the airport and that the weather system was passing, they let all the people at Hilton Coliseum out of the locker rooms. The event was supposed to start at about 5:30 but it was closer to 6. There were a few hundred people in attendance and it was all extraordinarily well planned and set up. Very professional and very classy.
They had some of the student organizers speak and then they turned the floor over to Dan DiMicco, Chairman and CEO of Nucor, the world's largest Steel producer and recycler. DiMicco's remarks lasted about an hour so I thought they got a little long-winded, but he did bring up some good points and was critical of both Republicans and Democrats. The entire event centered around America's trade policies and the future of manufacturing in the country. I found the topic to be pretty interesting and DiMicco was pretty interesting, just a little long-winded.
Sam Brownback and Duncan Hunter were also in attendance. Both spoke for about 5 to 10 minutes each. Brownback looked visibly exhausted and his voice was even straining a little but that is obviously because he just finished an incredibly aggressive statewide bus tour. He gave some nice remarks and talked about trade and about energy and said that the United States needs to become much more forceful with China because they refuse to float their currency. His remarks were timely and he received a nice reception from the very politically diverse crowd. I've seen Senator Sam several times and while he never wows you with any sort of oratorical brilliance, he does have a common sense midwestern flavor to his style.
This was also the second time I'd seen Duncan Hunter in Iowa. The first time was at the Hamilton Co. GOP fundraiser in March. Hunter is a powerful speaker. I was sitting at a table of almost all Republicans (minus one) and they were all saying 'wow' afterwards. Hunter has a very commanding voice and talked in great depth about his 'arsenal of democracy'. He also talks about his father and his son and their military service and what that has meant to him. Duncan received very fervent applause.
Afterwards, Brownback didn't really hang out too much as I'm not sure he had other stops or people to meet, but Hunter was probably one of the last persons to leave the room. He was literally talking to everyone. I didn't see any staffers there with him and Hunter was busy trying to pass out his information to anybody and everybody. I was very refreshed by this. To anybody who believes retail politics is over, seeing Duncan Hunter on Thursday night puts that to rest. He was working the room, by himself, for literally an hour. It was refreshing in an era where a lot of candidates have too many handlers and yes, possibly even puppet masters.
Overall, a nice event. Just another reason why Ames is home to the Iowa State Cyclones and the Ames Community Schools "Little Cyclones".
>Just goes to show what I have said all along. IF media outlets would allow him the exposure he would beat the other candidates, hands down.<
Hmmmmm.... Where have I heard those words before? :)
Sent some in the old fashioned way this last week!!!
I just spoke with Allen (don’t know where he’s from) about setting up monthly donation...he said has to be done through the website. Since it cost them 5% each time, I’ll just send in direct to headquarters.
“Problem is, if you look at the others’ records, you will find scant evidence of any of these things.”
I’d not worry about the other’s records, especially Thompson or Huckabee. The ill-fated Giuliani supporters still have Romney the pro-abortion liberal to feed from as Giuliani continues to nose-dive, so let’s watch Romney burn cash for a while.
The two I listed above will continue to be/become media darling’s and if I were in Hunter’s shoes I’d be trying to be “with” them at all turns and not against them. I also think the Thompson supporters should actually be helping to prop Hunter up every chance they get. IMHO Thompson & Hunter are equal in Conservatism, but not in electability as CIC. So, for either group of supporters to have anything negative to say about the other candidate is not the least bit productive to the Conservative Cause.
One thing I’ve done here and there is to bump both Hunter threads, as well as Thompson threads. If someone feels the urge to start shredding a candidate to pieces, I’d recommend the efforts be put into Romney. By doing that, you’re defeating liberalism and supporting conservatism IMO.
>I’ve been getting comments on my cap as well....making a few Hunter supporters in my office already.<
That is good news, RM! Good for you. Something is bound to break sooner or later, and Hunter will leap forward!
I just hope it isn’t bad news for him. Pray hard for Duncan Duane Hunter’s safety in Afghanistan, please everybody.
Lots of good links over here....
GOP candidates skip Hispanic conference (Except Hunter)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1857808/posts
Hey jed. What’s your definition of a conservative?
In case you missed it....Duncan Hunter and Mark Levin discuss (UN)fairness doctrine....
Missed it? I bookmarked it LOL Listened twice. And if it was you who posted it, THANK YOU!
Yep, thanks! He sticks to his committments!!
Thanks for the ping.
It’s so exciting to read such great things written about Duncan. It makes me smile to know that more and more people are hearing him.
Thank you, FB! That’s the way I usually do it, too. If you donated $100 or more, you can request a handsome Hunter Ranger cap. Guaranteed made in USA, with materials made in the USA, by LEGAL labor, and very, very cool!
The phone number is: 1-619-463-3896.
Thank you again.
Good idea, RasterMaster.
Thans for the number....looks like I’ll be making another drop in the bucket!!
Hey there Paperdoll. I don’t make the mistake of defining “a conservative”. There is no universally adopted technical definition for “a conservative”, and I’m not about to try and create one.
I’m aware of the handful that’s been presented at the bug-zapper thread and others, but have not uniformally adopted any of those as my own definition.
That’s a great question to ask, and all it takes is a short time browsing the forums here to find that many have their own pre-defined conclusion and usually try debating within the confines of their adopted definition.
Again, excellent question!
He’s the man. DUNCAN HUNTER FOR PRESIDENT!!!!
Yours is a good answer, too, jed. I think we are on the same page. :)
Well, I understand the sentiment, but Hunter is in this to win. I’ve sent a huge salvo of torpedoes into the Good Ship Rudy when he was the obvious frontrunner. If he isn’t out of it by end of year, he will get round 2. Those efforts by me and many, many others have had an effect in exposing him.
One of those effects was to open the door for Fred, a much more conservative -but recognized - name. I applaud that for two reasons. One, it gives me hope that at least a faction of the GOP still wants a real conservative. Two, if my guy does not win, I have a solid fall back position.
However, Hunter needs his army to spread the word about the man. And not just in a “oh, how nice, a good man for a cabinet post” way. We need to compare his record, his speeches, his positions with all the other candidates in order to draw contrasts. Without contrasts drawn with Fred, there would be no reason anyone should support Hunter over him, because Fred starts with the huge advantage of name ID and therefore is more “electable”. The primary is about winning and my prediction is that the more Hunter rises, the more the Fredheads (God bless ‘em) will get hysterical about pointing out those contrasts. It’s easy for them to say “good luck to Duncan” as long as Hunter remains in the 2nd tier. He gets first tier, watch the claws come out.
Thank you
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