This time of year, every Iowan is a political analyst. It was no different Thursday in a Des Moines hotel ballroom filled with John Edwards supporters, where Gordon Rowe offered his critique of the advance work done for the event.
As the senator from North Carolina walked into the ballroom to the blaring sounds of John Mellencamp’s “Small Town” and the cheers of placard-waving supporters, Rowe said the scene was nothing like the Howard Dean event he’d been to the night before at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
“By the time Dean got there, he’d already had a state senator and two Hollywood stars warming us up,” Rowe said, referring to actors Martin Sheen and Rob Reiner. “They drove the bus right in there–lights on and horns blaring. That’s excitement.
“This is fun,” he said motioning around the ballroom at the Edwards event. “But this isn’t Las Vegas.”
–Flynn McRoberts
DEAN REFUSES TO GO FOR A TIE
Howard Dean rolled up the sleeves a long time ago, but now he has taken off his suit coat and traded it in for a sweater.
Dean caused a bit of a buzz when he showed up Thursday for a day of stops in Iowa wearing a green sweater. With rare exception, Dean has shown up for work in a suit and tie.
Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, a frequent sweater-wearer who has endorsed Dean, was grilled on the campaign bus about whether he was responsible for the change–a suggestion he denied. “Do I look like someone who would tell someone how to dress?” Harkin asked.
“I think it looks good,” a reporter for one national newspaper was overheard saying on Dean’s press bus. “It brings out his eyes. … He looks rugged.”
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–John McCormick