John Kerry Speaks To Nearly 1,000 At Grinnell College
Saturday was a busy day, as a crowd of nearly 1,000 people — including college students, community members, and others from around the Midwest — gathered to hear the 2004 Democratic nominee for the presidency speak about the Iraq war and the importance of dissent. The Harris Concert Hall was packed to capacity.
After the event, Senator Kerry thanked the Campus Democrats volunteers for all of their hard work, and I want to echo his gratitude once more here: thank you to everyone who helped to make this possible. This event — and the interest it generated in the community — will make a difference in the elections this fall, and that’s awesome.
I’m not going to go over his message, because it has been chronicled here, here, here, and in over 150 other news outlets across the country and around the world; but I will say that the crowd was receptive and enthusiastic. And really big.
There was moment when Hannah and I (and probably a few Kerry staffers) gasped and bit our tongues, as a student (Truman Scholar Eli Zigas ‘06) called to Kerry from the back of the hall asking him to take questions as the Senator started shaking hands after the speech. Kerry said yes! I can’t imagine he takes questions from crowds that big very often, so it’s interesting and kind of cool that he did. And it’s particularly cool because he answered the questions well and nobody said anything obnoxious. That was a big relief for everyone, I think.
I’m proud we were able to accommodate a major political speech at Grinnell, and I think all of us who helped (including over 30 volunteers) were happy with the way things turned out.
Once again, Grinnell College is the center of the political universe. Almost.
1 comment May 7th, 2006
