Trail Diary: Hillary in my hometown
So Hillary Clinton came to my hometown of Vinton Iowa last Thursday, and this naturally piqued my interest so I kept a diary of all the things I noticed. I had a mission in mind going into the event: the jazz band of my high school was playing and I had instructions from my mom to get pictures of my little brother. That, and getting a glimpse at the former Secretary to see what my beloved Bernie was up against. My personal reactions are in italic.
2:34- Mom texts me to get to the event early, she saw a line forming at the door and wanted me to get in on time. I wasn’t expecting *this* kind of a turnout from conservative Vinton, people must be excited about Hillary.
2:45- I arrive and park a block away from the Vinton Skate and Activity Center, as the parking lot has been filled. There is a line the length of the building to get in, and as I walk up there are volunteers/staffer waving small Hillary signs to direct people. One man yells “Hillary sucks!” out his car window and keeps driving. Well, this is more of the Vinton response I was expecting.
2:50- Standing in line, I naturally end up right behind the mother of a good high school friend of mine (typical small-town Iowa) and we catch up a little bit, but don’t approach any political topics.
2:55- Canvassers are aggressively hitting the line of waiting people for volunteer shifts and to fill out ‘commit to caucus’ cards. To my surprise many of the people in line have signed up to volunteer. I initially thought the turnout would be mostly undecided types, but it’s looking more and more to be a bloc of her local supporters.
3:00- The canvassers go through the line again to check if people have signed up for shifts. I managed to hand-wave my way through without committing to anything, but many others weren’t so lucky.
3:05- A very tired sounding Secret Service officer informs everyone in line that you cannot in fact bring a firearm into the event (someone had just tried). So if we had a gun on our person, to please go leave it on our car. Several of us in line think this is pretty funny.
3:15- Still waiting outside in line to get in the door, and through metal detectors. Thankfully, it wasn’t bitterly cold out that day.
3:25- I made it through security, and a small pocketknife I foolishly brought in my coat didn’t survive. The high school jazz band is playing, loudly, off to one side of the event, and most of the seats are filled with what seems like older types, in addition to a troupe of media types with cameras across the back of the room.
3:36- The event begins from a woman named Emily, who bring up a story about her elderly uncle getting health insurance cut off, very sad. She ends her pitch naming Hillary a “progressive who gets things done.”
3:41- The national anthem is played by the jazz band. For what it’s worth, this is the only time I’ve seen this done at Presidential rallies on either side of the aisle.
3:47- After the anthem the jazz band plays a song and then they turn on the stereo music- generic top 40s pop music. A lady sitting in front of me on the aisle gets interviewed by a reporter.
3:52- Another introduction begins by another volunteer. My notes say the phrase “doesn’t quit” and “most qualified” were repeated several times.
3:53- Hillary finally comes out to applause and a standing ovation. She immediately thanks the jazz band for playing and crack a joke about how if Bill was here he’d try to jump in and play with them.
3:56- Hillary then goes into her stump speech. She begins with talking about being commander in chief. She then starts lambasting “the republicans” and talks about how we have three possible outcomes in this election: gridlock, backwards, and forwards, and she intends to take us forward. Taking notes too furiously to note the time from this point on.
She continues by asserting that things are better with a Democrat in the White House, and lists statistics about the recovery that Obama doesn’t get enough credit for. She went to to talk about her commitment to clean energy, thanked Iowans for their awesome advances in wind energy (applause) and how she wants to help coal communities transition into a new economy, not leave them behind.
She mentions former Governor Tom Vilsak (more applause) as an influence on how she sees the importance of the agriculture industry and how to work with them. Smooth move there, Hillary. Mentioning all the right people so far.
She went on to promise not to raise taxes on the middle class, which is what I assume to be a dig at Bernie, who is proposing a small income tax in order to pay for family and medical leave. She goes on to address the problems of the “big banks” and how she wants to have the executives held personally accountable, and how she wants to put in regulations to prevent the next recession.
After this she moves onto Healthcare, and after talking about how “the republicans” won’t even try to replace the Affordable Care Act, she claims that “before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare in ‘93”. Bold move there Hillary!
Not to be finished with Iowa name-drops, she brings up how we need to increase mental health funding and bashes how Gov. Branstad unilaterally closed several Iowa facilities. She rounds out her stump speech with what she started: that she’s the best suited to be commander-in-chief. She tells a story about how she was brought up to speed on national security issues during her time as Secretary, and how she pushed for Obama to be aggressive when they found intelligence linked to Osama Bin Laden. I’m sorry, did she just take credit for BOTH Obamacare AND getting Osama Bin Laden?
Lastly, she talks about what threat we might have to deal with next, such as cyberwarfare. I can’t help but think this is a little bit of fear-mongering- the population of Vinton isn’t exactly too much of a potential cyber attack target. She makes a promise to keep a Republican out of the White House and keep a sensible Supreme Court, and exits to applause.
4:20- She starts shaking hands as the crowd begins to file out. Except that we’re not allowed to leave- security tells us to remain in the building until Madame Secretary has exited the building. Great.
4:30- While waiting for security and speaking with my 8th grade Social Studies teacher, we get hit up twice by different volunteers asking when we’re able to volunteer and caucus for Hillary. I politely decline.
4:52- Finally able to exit the building. I’m now realizing what a great advantage it is for Bernie to travel around without Secret Service security, which he hasn’t asked for yet.
