John Kerry Speaks To Nearly 1,000 At Grinnell College
May 7th, 2006 at 09:45pm Chase Martyn
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.
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Entry Filed under: Miscellaneous, Campaign 2006, Events, Democratic Party, Campus Democrats, President 2008
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1 Comment Add your own
1. Iowa Progress » Who&hellip | January 25th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
[…] However, in Iowa, it’s curious to see what happens to the pockets of support that the Senator still had, such as among the Hawkeye Labor Council in Cedar Rapids. It would be curious to see where those people go, especially since if one still supported Senator Kerry now, they were a real hardcore supporter. But it’s also worth remembering what was perhaps the high point of Kerry’s abortive 2008 campaign, his speech here in Grinnell in May which drew nearly 1000 people. It may not have drawn as much media attention as his low point but it’s still worth remembering. […]
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