December 31, 2007: Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) and his mother make a campaign stop at the Ames Public Library (Story County). Catherine Biden died three years later.
New Year’s Eve 2007 — four days before the caucuses — was just as full of events as the previous days, and two Democrats had events in counties next door to each other in central Iowa.
In Ames, Joe Biden name-dropped world leaders he had talked to as a senator, but said he knew just talking to them didn’t make him important (a veiled dig at Clinton). In the Q&A, he said “I’m not going to take the time to explain the background” repeatedly… and then did.
My conclusion written hours later: “No handshake because of time, he had to get to mini-press conference nearby (reporter from Boston TV station among others). Big on foreign policy and leadership, lots of experience, ready to take action. Light on domestic aside from a good chunk on health care. He knows what he’s talking about, but is anyone listening?”
It would turn out no one was; Biden ended up as a rounding error in the caucus totals. Months later, all that foreign policy talk would turn out to be just the thing the Iowa Democratic caucuses’ winner needed…
December 31, 2007: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) speaks at the Boone County Fairgrounds.
A train delayed Barack Obama’s whistle-stop appearance in Boone County by nearly half an hour. But just like Clinton, a warm welcome came once he was in the room. The following is lightly edited from my notes.
The biggest applause line was “George W. Bush isn’t on the ballot next November.” Applause/laughs followed “Neither is my cousin Dick Cheney.” He systematically hit on criticism against him, plus poked at Clinton (“There are some people digging through my kindergarten papers”).
Americans can change America if they hope for and want it enough, he said. (Maybe not exactly those words, but some parts sounded naive even while he tried to debunk that they were naive.) Plenty of optimism.
Light on foreign policy, a reverse from Biden, aside from applause-getting lines about ending the war in Iraq in part because it’s costing too much.
BOTH Biden and Obama talked about health care using an example of a diabetic going to an emergency room for a foot amputation, but heath plans won’t cover going to a dietitian before the need for the amputation happens. I have no idea where that example came from.
If Obama was 3 years into his second/third Senate term, or 3 years into his first Senate term after 4-8 years as governor, he’d have a good shot.
(“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” — Yogi Berra, or possibly Niels Bohr)