The first place I visited was Adel, the home of the Sweet Corn Festival. Although Adel is only about 30 miles outside of Des Moines, it is in no sense of the word urban, suburban, or even exurban. It is rural America, complete with a Main Street, USA.
We lined up to march in the parade with some of the good folks of Dallas County who also supported Obama. There were tons of church groups, soccer teams, etc., but the only other campaign was Edwards. This is a more conservative area, especially then Des Moines, but most of the Republicans were at the straw poll in Ames being held on the same day. Mitt Romney won a very underwhelming 32% of the straw poll, considering he outspent 5 to 1 all his opponents combined.
We had a really cool older car and an old motorcycle as our "floats." Surprisingly, the car (I think she said it was a 1930 Model A) could be had for about 10K. We met one couple who had lived all over the world (Vancouver, New York, and Europe, among others) and moved to Iowa because they wanted somewhere where their daughter could wander the neighborhood and be completely safe. And since the husband was a banker, he could work from anywhere. They like Iowa very much. Their only regret is the food: aside from corn and pork, they said it was difficult to find anything decent.
A lot of other old cars were lined up on one of the side streets.
And last, but not least, all you can eat boiled sweet corn - for free (okay, I threw in a couple bucks for a donation). I think Michael (the Brit on the right) ate six, while Marcus (the Swede) ate three - completely doused in liquid butter and salt. I also ate three and was more than satisfied. I also got a Walking Taco. I may have to open one of those franchises in major cities.
On Sunday, we got a request from the campaign for volunteers to go up to Mason City for a week to help the field organizers up there with an event. Since I was just doing work which could be done from anywhere (database and phone calls), I volunteered. So did the Brit, who didn't have a license, and thus after being in Des Moines for a whole month, was desperate to get out. Pictured above is the Obama office in Mason City, which is the "capital of northern Iowa," whatever that means.
We actually spent most of our time in Clear Lake, a "suburb" of Mason City. To give you an idea of how small that is, literally the only decent place to eat in Mason City after 9PM is Applebees. Clear Lake is actually kind of a resort town for people from all over Iowa, including Des Moines. It was formed as a lake as one of the WPA projects during the Great Depression.
Clear Lake is a nice town, except that it completely sucked to navigate because there is a N. 8th St, S. 8th St., W. 8th St, and NE 8th St. We had to find a bunch of houses where Democrats lived (and there weren't many because this is a pretty Republican area - rich vacation homes and such) and invite them to an event that Obama was attending on Friday. The event and its backstory are really cool, so stay tuned for that one. In any case, the combination of weird streets and being spread out made this an exercise in orienteering that would have made my scoutmaster proud. I was surprised no one called the cops for the ten times we must have passed each house over the course of the week.
The picture on the left is one of perhaps a dozen bars in Mason City. It was the only place we actually went. It was more fun just to get some brews and hang out at Nick's place. Nick was one of the field organizers for the city and who we stayed with in Mason City. He is from Silver Spring, so of course we got along fabulously, even if he is a Mountaineer graduate.
I leave you with a picture of the Brit. The Brit is an interesting fellow. He has been interning for the campaign since June. We actually have a lot internationals: Marcus (Sweden), Julia (Italy), Elizabeth (France), and also an Australian who left before I got there. I also think a New Zealander and another Brit are on their way. He is 19 and goes to the University of Manchester, and has been active in politics since he joined the Labour Party at 15. He is a hard-core liberal, in that you call him Blairite and he gets pissed off. Like most Brits, his favorite words are "f--- you!" He goes off on these random tirades about liberal positions when I have to remind him that we are Democrats, and so yelling at us does nothing. He also a typical 19 year old in that he is arrogant and thinks he knows everything, and also tends to wander off aimlessly both physically and mentally at the strangest times. I should be nice though. He is very smart, a good worker, we have become good friends after spending a week together, and I fully plan on visiting him in the UK where we will "neck a pint of John Smiths."
Anyways, he is basically broke from paying his own way over here and living here for three months between school years, and had been eating like crap. So, in an effort to get fitter, he decided to become vegetarian (only meat - he can still eat fish). Now, this is a noble effort, except for a few things. One, he loves Mountain Dew, and won't drink Diet Mountain Dew. On Wednesday, he drank 100 ounces of it. Two, Iowa is a landlocked state. Hence, not only is there a dearth of quality in seafood, there just isn't that much of it. In fact, at Applebees, literally the only think on the menu he could eat (besides a salad) was fish and chips. Again, not only is this counterproductive for dieting, but he also ate that for his previous meal, as well as for dinner the next day.
Finally, and most importantly, he is a Brit. WHAT THE HECK IS HE DOING ORDERING FISH & CHIPS IN AMERICA! Nick and I were mercilous with him for the rest of the week. Hey, you have to do something to keep yourself occupied in Mason City.
1 comment:
haha. does the brit read your blog?
nice car, btw. it looks cleaner than mine right now. i've got bird poo on it.
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