December 30, 2007: Chelsea Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Tom Vilsack at the Traer Memorial Building. It’s weird to attend a political event when people you know are in the audience.
After Christmas, Hillary Clinton was in a flat-out sprint toward Jan. 3. Events were announced maybe 48 hours in advance. Among the five(!) events set up for Dec. 30 was a stop at the Traer Memorial Building. This was her “Tama County Picks a President” stop and I had to be there. It’s not every day a candidate visits your home town — although in Iowa, of course, the chances are better than the rest of the country.
Chelsea Clinton had only begun hitting the campaign trail herself at the beginning of the month. She was there with former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who gave a speech beforehand (and also stalled since Clinton was late). Clinton arrived to enthusiastic cheers — Tama County had voted Democratic the last five presidential elections — and gave a wide-ranging, but well-practiced, stump speech.
After you see enough of these, you understand why candidates have talking points — they have to be repeated often and one slip-up earns exactly the coverage you don’t want.
Because this was the final countdown, national media turned up in Traer in force, and OMG I look hideous. (So, the usual. — Ed.) This would be the last campaign cycle where the vast majority of pictures were taken with cameras instead of phones.
Clinton was the second presidential candidate to appear in Traer, about 20 years and a month after the first.
December 5, 1987: Vice President George H.W. Bush (right) at the Traer Memorial Building. Family archive photo.