Cory Booker stopped by Des Moines, Iowa on a cold snowy weekend to begin his presidential campaign. He was late. That was to be expected. They all are, especially in winter! His voice was hoarse, another requisite on day two, yet he spoke with passion and a dynamic need to prove he cares – and he does. He believes we can work together and you almost believe that could be true listening to him speak. Retelling his personal story from that presented in his presidential announcement video, he had the small crowd (again candidates, choose a venue with more room – it is Iowa after all – and we do show up!) clapping, smiling and nodding throughout. He was late also because he spoke first with the overflow crowd, which was a nice touch that Elizabeth Warren had done for us a couple of weeks prior.
The crowd was beautifully diverse, young and old, many races and genders and all eager to meet the man I told my own son, “Will knock your socks off!”
He had a panel of Des Moines leaders with him discussing healthcare and state of the nation. What we had to do for our leaders and what they were doing to help us. Standing room was not an easy format for this particular round table. It was hard to hear if you were smothered by the crowd!
I met lovely people who care very much how our country is at this moment and what we need to do to make it come our way again. A young man next to me was interested in Booker, yet said he would go Beto. I personally am in the Harris corner, but we Iowans come out in any sort of weather to see the real person, hear their real words, and make our choices slowly and well planned.
In a Word 