Iowa Wrap Up

Written by: Ilya Sheyman on Jan 7, 2008 3:25 PM EST

With the New Hampshire primary fast approaching, I wanted to wrap up our trip to Iowa last week. Out trip began with us spending a whirlwind day in Davenport which I blogged about earlier. Here's a photo of Jim leading a discussion at the Live from Iowa Link Up. Nearly 700 of you have now listened to the call via our brand new channel at blogtalk radio. Thanks for all your feedback and a special shoutout to San Diego Meetup #23 which participated in the call from their monthly meeting.

That night, Jim, Danny, Matt and I headed over to Des Moines to be in the center of things for the caucuses. And, we were not dissapointed. Our day began at 7:30 am as we headed out for a John Edwards rally at the Steelworkers Hall in the southeast part of town. After navigating through the many one way streets, we finally arrived just in time to hear Senator Edwards rally the volunteers on their busiest day yet.

The crowd was excited and enthusiastic, sensing Sen. Edwards' momentum in the state. And there were tons of media outlets in attendence. Of course, they wanted some insights from our very own chair, Jim Dean.

We then headed over to the Village Bean in downtown Des Moines to grab some breakfast and get an internet connection. You know something special is happening when there's a sign on the door saying that they will be "closed at 6:00 today to caucus". Inside the coffee shop, Jim sat down with Dave Ross of Seattle's KIRO radio for an interview about the caucuses. And, we ran into the former Lt. Gov.

After a fantastic lunch, it was finally time for us to caucus at one of the biggest polling places in Des Moines. Here's a shot before the caucus started, and then one with the incredible 554 people in attendance.

The caucus chair was DFA's own Jeffrey Goetz - who was highlighted in the Washington Post. By the way, Jeffrey, thanks for lunch - the view of Des Moines was incredible :-)

Jeffrey ran the caucus amazingly well - just imagine getting 554 opinionated Democrats to do something together. And, in the end, it was Obama 5 delegates, Clinton 2, and Edwards 2 - none of the other candidates were viable.

Once the AP called the victory for Sen. Obama, we sped over to his victory party. And, he delivered a speech that did not dissapoint.

All in all, a fantastic trip to Iowa and an incredible night for progressives. The Unite campaign in action - progressive candidates finishing first and second. Now, on to New Hampshire - tomorrow promises to be another exciting day!

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