Iowa here we come
Friday, January 16, 2004.
Our “Dean for America” bus is rolling. It is noon, I am hungry I am tired. I think we are all tired. The
bus is full. The energy coming out of 50 people going to the same place for the same goal, sharing
same desire should be more than enough to laugh and ignore the fatigue.
My morning did not start the way I planned, my fear of over sleeping
became reality when I realized that the news from my alarm radio were not
from a dream. A quick look at the clock told me that if I had the time to
turn on the coffee machine -that I was smart enough to prepare the night
before- Feed the cats, brush my teeth, get dressed, that was about it. No time to savor my morning
coffee that I love so much. Well, I never made such bad coffee. Awful! Could not drink it, don’t know
what I did don’t even want to know. I scared my cats moving so fast, opening the blinds in each
room, going up and down the stairs getting this or getting that.
Charlie disappeared under the bed, Jacques was being Jacques. Totally
unconcerned.
From the message board of Philly4dean, I read that Jonah needed a ride to catch our bus in
Philadelphia. I told Jonah to be in front of my home by 5:55AM. If not, I would have to leave. 4:30AM:
still not dressed; I did not have my daily morning caffeine. GRRRR!
5:50AM: I am in my car, lights on waiting for Jonah. 5:55AM: we take off,
all is well; we are headed for Ceane’s house where I will leave my car in
her driveway. Ceane had called the day before for a taxi to pick us up. Direction Philadelphia, 30th
station.
I was born a tornado.
Ceane said her house is on the right at the bottom of the hill, a tree is
right in front of it. I told her to turn the light on the porch. At night
if you are looking for an address in the suburbs, you better have good
vision, but yet again many homes do not have numbers to be seen. I often
wonder if indeed it is true that some people do not want to be found! But
again there have been lots of conspiracies lately in our country!
Driving down Ceane’s street, we see one house with its porch’s light on,
one tree is in front of it. We are 5 mn early, no cab in sight, I park
the car in the driveway, we take all our bags out of the trunk, place them
on the porch and wait for Ceane to come out. Surely she heard us come. But no lights are on in the
house, the dogs next door are barking. We are in
the wrong place.
Oh MY!
Trying not to make noise, we carry our bags back to the car, one of them
brakes, fruits and goodies I gathered for the gang are falling on the
ground. We better hurry before someone shoots us!
Ceane’s home is indeed at the bottom of the hill -as she said- and her porch light in on.
5:20AM: the taxi comes and we leave. Ouf! As we say in French. No one on
the road, we arrive on time. Already some philly4Dean are waiting by the
south side of 30th street station. Soon everybody is here. We have two
full buses leaving. One hundred warriors going to do all we can to get
voters to the Iowa caucuses.
In our bus, bus#1, we have a couple of journalists. One is from NPR, the other from the Philadelphia
Weekly.
I take a picture of Jim setting up how many packs of beers? In a cooler.
8:30AM: we stop in Harrisburg to pick up more volunteers. Jim (Savage)
calls me for a cigarette. It is cold, but hey I like Jim and I like to
join him. He is fun, a good guy, calls me passionate, but he is as
passionate as I am. One cigarette, lots of laughers. Back on the bus what is Jeanine doing with a
cup of coffee in her hands? And Mike? Where did they get coffee? I missed it, did not see the Mac
Donald there. It was behind the bus Jim tells me. Oh well, I do not like Mac Donald anyway.
9AM: we arrive in Carlisle. I have never traveled in this part of the
country, very different very beautiful lands, and much snow on the ground,
although it is warmer than I thought. Around 36 degrees. More people join
us , the bus is now full, the very back seat I had chosen will have to be
shared and not be used as a couch to sleep as I though. But who’s talking
about sleeping? Too much adrenaline pumping, too much excitement. By the afternoon, I am
feeling the lack of sleep. It is uncomfortable, cannot find the right position. What was I thinking
about when I put my pillow with my sleeping bag in the baggage compartment?
Roy who caught the bus in Carlisle loaned me his jacket to use as a pillow. How about that?
How many times does a stranger loan you a piece of personal clothing to
use as a pillow? This is the miracle of togetherness, the result of being
one in hope.
9AM: we stop in Carlisle to pick up more people.
11AM . I am having a beer. Leave it up to Jim Savage, he never forget the beer! We are watching
“Uncovered: The truth about the Iraq war.” I have seen it may times. Each time seems to be the first
time.
The trip is long, I try to sleep but there is not enough room to get
comfortable. I shall remember to never sit in the back. There is no way to tilt the seat. My body is
tired and want to lie down.
We are the “Iowa Perfect Storm” for Howard Dean, next President of the United States.
8PM: Eastern Time, we arrive in Illinois. Time to turn back the clock one hour, time to stop and pick
up some food to eat in the bus. YUK! Why don’t they have good simple food in those places along
the roads? I am feeling sick. My throat is hurting. OH NO! Cannot be sick! I won’t. I want to sleep; I
sill cannot find a comfortable position. Next to me is Ted, a writer for his school paper. I must look
desperate as he offers to let me put my feet on his laps. Thank you Ted.
11PM: We arrive in Iowa. Midnight in Philadelphia. At the headquarter, vans are waiting for us to
drive to our camp where we will be staying until Tuesday morning, January 20th.
We all look dead tired, disheveled. The drive to the camp takes another forty minute or so. We follow
the leader, but at one point the leader took the wrong turn, the drive seems like it would never end.
Finally we arrive at the camp. We are going to share the same space, sleeping on mattresses on the
floor. Many people are already there, they have come days before. What a site! I spot a mattress at
the very end of the room in the corner. This will be my quarter for the rest of our stay. By the time I
crawl into my sleeping bag it is past 1AM. During the night the fireplace warms the room.
Saturday 8AM: No time to waste. A quick shower and breakfast at the camp. Breakfast was served
in the kitchen adjacent to our “bedroom”. We must be at the headquarters for training. Some will do
phone banking, others will hit the street. I am one of the others.
In group of four, we are assigned streets to go. We split our group in two. The people on our lists
have been chosen among undecided, other are supporters. Our job is to talk to them, do everything
we can to make sure they come to the caucus. We are the Storm Chasers with orange hats!
We all had different experiences. Mine is a sad one. The area I was assigned with my partner Roy
was depressing. No one in view on the streets, most of the windows had their blinds down. Many
porches were not safe to walk on or either to stand under. On this first day only a few people
opened their door. For those who did not, although we knew they were home as we could hear the
television set, we left literature at their doors.
For sure I thought that all those people would come out on the 19th and vote. For sure they will
support Howard Dean.
In the evening some of us go to the “Irish Democrat” the pub restaurant of Cedar Rapid. We are
tired but the adrenalin is pumping!
Sunday, January 18th. We leave the camp at 9:30Am. Just learned that Howard Dean met Jimmy
Carter in Georgia. Will Carter endorse Dean?
Bill one of my working partner gives the name of “ Dean Liberation Army” to our team. I like this.
Here we go on the road again, Bill, Roy, Jennifer, Rob and me- I am thinking Of Willie Nelson- I often
listen to this song when I need to “attack”.
Rob gets the news from one of his friend in Philadelphia. I am frustrated, as I cannot send any e-
mail to my friends at the Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition of which I am a member. I give a couple of
phone calls. I am getting nervous about tomorrow.
For the people we cannot reach, Rob suggests that we write a personal note on the literature we
leave by their front door. Good idea.
Of the people we were able to reach and who were Dean’s supporters, many would not go to the
caucus. Some are working in the evening therefore won’t be able to attend. The caucuses begin at
6:30PM. Others are older people who do not want to go out at night, although we offered free
transportation.
My team is great. Each team is given a van and we communicate with our cell phones. There are
moment of tension that was understandable, but we had moments of laugher. Jennifer cannot
stand our mess. Thank you Jennifer for keeping our van cleaned.
11AM: Back to the headquarter for more training. People are needed in Iowa City, we are going.
48 miles to Iowa City from Cedar Rapids. The weather is great. Oh yes, it is very cold but no snow,
which allows us to hit the streets again.
At 2PM, we decide to hold signs “Dean For America” outside a mall along the boulevard. The wind
brings the temperature at -2 degrees. BRRRR!… we stay as long as we can. Some drivers beep their
horns in support, others open their windows and yell “BUSH!, BUSH!” I want to throw up.
I am proud to have a new person in our team: David, a young veteran. He salutes the cars passing
by, wearing his military cap. Thank you David.
We stay there as long as we can. My fingertips are frozen, although I am wearing two pairs of
polartec gloves. But we are determined to be visible anywhere and as long as we can.
7:30PM: Rally in Cedar Rapids, in a high school gymnasium. My job is to make sure that only Union
members and “generation for Dean” -students Dean’s supporters- sit on the bleachers. Others have
to sit on chairs on the other side of the podium. The gymnasium is large; the amount of people
coming was underestimated. I ran into problems. Many people, probably undecided, complained to
have to stand. One woman made a scene, and told me she was leaving, that if Dean wanted to be
President he should at least make sure that people coming to hear him should be able to sit. HUGH?
I did not want her to leave. I told her that she must stay and listen to him, that she would not be
sorry. I cheated, and let her sit on the bleachers. SHHHH. Do not tell anyone. Her husband thanked
me.
Another one was complaining that she could not see the podium. I took her by the hand, excusing
myself in the crowd and voila, she was facing the podium. Wearing a “Iowa Perfect Storm” tag
around my neck, was giving me power, and I used it.
Sneaky me, I used the same power to place myself in front of the podium among other
photographers from the press, and I was able to take wonderful shots of Senator Tom Harkin,
Governor Dean and his wife Dr. Judith Steinberg.
This was not the first time I saw and heard Governor Howard Dean. I was a volunteer with
Philly4Dean, when he came to Philadelphia on August 11, 2003.
The man speaks with his heart and it shows. His passion energizes the crowds. At this rally the
crowd was older and quite a bit of undecided voters. But it was a huge success.
We had to hurry to go to Iowa City for the second rally scheduled for 8:15PM.
The second Rally was held in Iowa City College. By the time we arrived the auditorium was packed.
I went back and forth between the auditorium and the theater above. We were told that he would be
coming to see us after the rally. From the theater we could hear every words, thanks to the system
of speakers. It was unbelievable, exciting. We kicked our heels on the floor in lieu of applauding,
making sure we marked our invisible presence.
Among all the topics, I was glad he spoke about Gay rights!
GO DEAN!
Monday, January 19th. Caucuses.
We went again door-to-door during the day. Long day. I was privileged to be assigned as an
observer with my new friend Bill. We had to go to Walker, a small community of 600 people. This
was one of the most exciting experiences of my life.
By now you all know of the results of the Iowa caucus. No need to tell you that it was with a heavy
heart that I called the results from Walker .
What happened? What went wrong? Many different analyses. I am not sure I know which one is the
only one. Perhaps they are all one.
But we shall not give up, because
WE HAVE THE POWER!
DEAN FOR AMERICA!