By Connie Wilson

When I received the tickets to attend John Kerry’s Dubuque, Iowa,
appearance on August 3, 2004, from MoveOn.org, I made the mistake of
telling the daughter that Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters would be
appearing with him. Even though Kerry and crowd were scheduled to hit
our home town area the very same night, nothing would do but that we
take best friend Amanda Burkert and hit the road for Dubuque.



What
follows is an hour-by-hour re-telling of the successful rally, which,
they say, drew 4,700 people. (The fire marshall quit letting people in
to the Center after about 1,000, so I imagine this is the estimate from
the number of tickets pre-printed off the internet or collected at the
door.)



It is
the first day of school for the daughter and her companion, Amanda (and
it is only August 3rd!) but United Township High School in East Moline,
Illinois, has gone to a year-round schedule this year. The girls sleep
all the way to Dubuque.



3:00
p.m. – We arrive, park, and walk to the venue for the rally, which is
the Dubuque Five Flags Center, changed from the outdoor Watchtower
Plaza. Button-vendors approach us. I agree to pay $10 for 3 buttons,
but only the “clean” ones. I select “John-John 2004” for myself. One
girl selects “Cute Chicks Go for Edwards” while the other picks “If You
Can Read This, You Aren’t the President.” However, there are other more
“colorful” buttons (one reads BU—SH__) which I refuse to purchase for
the under-age girls, who promptly whip out their OWN money and buy
them, anyway, as well as the “A–es of Evil” one. (We won’t go there).



3:30
p.m. – It turns out that we have been waiting at the wrong door. It
works out well for Amanda, who is interviewed by Channel 7 regarding
her opinion of rock artists campaigning for their favorite candidates.
Amanda is wearing pink glasses that make her look like she is
auditioning for a remake of “Return from the Black Lagoon.” They are
thick, goggle-like, and pink plastic. We have been kidding her about
these glasses all day. She still looks darling! The girls are as cute
as buttons, and this has not escaped the young reporter’s attention.
(Nobody wants to ask me anything.)  When asked why she is in
attendance, Amanda says, “My friend’s mother made me come!” (And I had
predicted a 9:00 p.m. return home, while we really don’t get there
until 11:00 p.m. on a school night! Sorry, Amanda’s mom.)



4:00
p.m. -We begin chatting with those around us, who are now beginning to
pass out. (“MEDIC! MEDIC!”) I am not kidding about this passing out
thing. The first one goes down at 4:10 p.m. There are many people in
wheelchairs, being wheeled by relatives, and the high humidity, high
temperatures, threat of thunderstorms, and tornado warnings contribute
to a really miserable in-line experience. I learn that the young couple
behind us have driven from Oelwein, Iowa; that the woman from Savannah,
Illinois pushing the elderly woman in the wheelchair has the only
“local” in tow who is actually from Dubuque.



4:15
p.m. – We begin chatting with the couple immediately ahead of us, John
and Mary XXX of XXXXXX, Iowa. John has a pace-maker and Mary has a
device to help with back-pain (electric signals to pained spine). We
become fast friends and, when the door-keepers offer to let the
wheelchair-bound and less-than-healthy inside the air-conditioned lobby
area, we immediately say, “We’re with them!” We become fast friends,
with Mary commenting that Bush is “Just a bonehead” and that, with
Bush, it is always “my way or the highway.” (Hear, hear)! Mary and I
exchange phone numbers and I tell her about http://www.blogforiowa, but she
doesn’t have a computer. John is upset that he is expected to go
through security (the pace-maker can’t be scanned) and the wait is
going to be long. (Four hours, to be exact). He tells Mary that this
will be his last rally.



4:45
p.m. – We are now inside the auditorium, which is nearly empty at this
point, as everyone goes through extensive metal detector screening. We
get really good seats: cushioned, not too far from the stage. Nobody is
there yet. They examined my cell phone and camera, as I went through
the screening line, as though they expected them to actually DO
something other than make phone calls and/or take pictures. This takes
at least 10 minutes. My purse is so large that a small family could
live in there. The billfold falls open and change hits the ground.
There are thousands of people who are going to have to go through this
drawn-out, laborious procedure. They should have started the security
at 2:00 p.m., I’m thinking.



The
musical selections that we are listening to seem to be the exact same
soundtrack recently heard at the Democratic convention, i.e., “Livin’
in the USA” (James Brown); Bruce Springsteen; I Feel Good; Shout! (from
“Animal House”).



5:00
p.m. – Stacey announces that she needs to use the rest room. She is
reluctant to ask the Secret Service man (who is extremely nice to us
all evening) where it is. Finally, she does ask, and learns that it is
just up the stairs and on the landing. The girls are hungry, although
we ate right before leaving town. (Teen-agers!)



5:10
p.m. – Songs we are listening to (and listening to and listening to):
“Love Train”; Right Here, Right Now (Jesus Jones); I’m a Believer (the Monkees);
It’s A Beautiful Day (U2). I mention this only in light of the recent
news of the rock stars who are going to attempt to help us unseat the
incumbent. Go, Bruce and Friends! GREAT idea! Sign me up!



5:20
p.m. – I talk with the friendly Secret Service agent, who tells me that
the Kerry party has been “delayed” in Beloit, Wisconsin, and that they
probably won’t arrive in Dubuque until at least 7:00 p.m.
(AAARRRGGHHH!!) A woman directly behind me says, “I can’t believe all
the kids here!” What does she think is the draw? Does she know who the
Foo Fighters are? Will there be Kung Fu Fighting?  No foo, no
kids. Whether the Foo Fighters themselves are actually going to
fight….errr, play, is still up in the air.  Registration of young
voters is the order of the day outside the auditorium. This idea might
really work, I’m thinking.

Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters (formerly with Nirvana),
performing at a rally attended by 4,700 Democrats on
August 3, 2004, in Dubuque, Iowa, at the Five Flags Center.

5:30
p.m. – Several dignitaries are identified in the crowd, including Tom
Miller, the Attorney General; Tom Harkin, our U.S. Senator (and former
ardent Dean supporter); and Tom Vilsack (the Gov.). It seems that, if
you don’t know someone’s name, just calling them “Tom” that will
suffice. (My son had a wedding party like that, only the name, then,
was “Chris.”) Sally Pederson, the Lieutenant Governor of the state
takes the stage and says a few words, as does Bill Gluba, who is
running for office. A VFW member (Troop 9683) leads us in the Pledge of
Allegiance.



5:50
p.m. – A weathered-looking roadie enters and begins tuning the guitar
for Dave Grohl. The kids in the front, (who will later mouth every word
of every song that Grohl sings), become very excited. The “tuning”
process seems to consist mainly of saying “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, hey.
Check, check, check.” At one point he asks, “Do you have separate house
and monitor controls?” When the response is “yes,” he says, “Cool.
Thanks, man,” and leaves.



6:00
p.m. – Music is now Sousa’s “Stars & Stripes Forever,” followed by
Tina Turner’s “Better Than All the Rest.” Bill Gluba’s rousing remarks
are that Bush has “Virtually ignored the middle class.” Gluba is
politely received. Tom Harkin takes the stage and comments that “We
need to fully support our veterans when they come home from this war,”
which gets a big round of applause, and pumps up the crowd by saying,
“Bush is going down! Kerry’s going up! That’s the way God meant it to
be! Like father, like son: one term and he’s done! What we need in the
White House is an OAK, not a Bush!”



6:15
p.m. – Harkin is followed by the Governor and Mrs. Vilsack. The
Governor comments that Harkin is “a hard act to follow,” which proves
to be true. The Gov repeats, “It’s time for a change!” and remarks that
there are now 14 Iowa kids dead in the Iraq war. “It is time to bring
America back to where it once was – a stronger and more respected
America.” He applauds his wife’s speech at the recent Democratic
convention in Boston.



6:30
p.m. – Dave Grohl takes the stage and plays “Learn to Fly” on acoustic
guitar. (I’m lookin’ to the sky to save me….lookin’ for a sign of
life…..lookin’ for something to help me burn out bright…” The song
contains the line “Make my way back home when I learn to fly.”) The
kids love it. Grohl is one of the most convincing speakers all night.
He tells the crowd that it was brought to his attention that the Bush
camp was using HIS songs, and he did not like that. He says that he has
been in bands for 18 years and is now 35 years old (and married, girls.
Sorry.) “I have traveled all over the world, and always before, when I
would meet a person in Russia or Shanghai or Africa, they would reach
out their hand to shake mine and they were happy to meet an American.
Now, under George
Bush, that feeling is gone. I want that feeling back.” He follows up
these remarks with the song “Times Like These” (“I found a new day
risin’…I’m a little divide…to stay or run away…Leave it all behind…It’s
times like these you learn to live again…”) When they asked him if he
would stump with Kerry, he asked if there was a stage. When the answer
was “yes,” he said, “If you build it, I will come.” (Good line for
Dubuque.)



6:45
p.m. – Greg and Kelly Simpson and their family of six kids (one of
whom, Madison, her mother forgets during the introductions) take the
stage with John and Teresa Kerry. The Simpsons have worked very hard
for Kerry in Dubuque. One of their older teen-aged daughters was a
Democratic delegate in Boston. All the kids wear tee shirts of their
own designs, with slogans like, “Maddy Reporting for Duty” and “Believe
in America.”



7:00
p.m. – (approximately) – Teresa Kerry talks. And talks. And talks. She
is a very good speaker and has a lot of opinions. She will be a very
good First Lady. But does the woman talk a tad too much? (I should
know; it takes one to know one.)



Finally,
Teresa turns the microphone over to her husband, the candidate, and
Kerry delivers a speech that is much more biting than others delivered
before, especially on the subjects of Iraq and the economy. He
introduces Andre Heinz, his step-son, and seems at ease and much more
“energetic” than he did during the last speech I heard him give, at the
Davenport Radisson, during the Iowa caucuses, when he was nursing a
sore throat and had a number of his veteran buddies with him. He hits
most of the same themes that he hit during the Democratic convention in
Boston. At the end, there is a flurry of confetti that drops from the
ceiling. It is like a “Mini-Boston.”



I quit
taking notes, because I am now shooting film (2 rolls). Therefore, each
and every word is not recorded for posterity, as I give this task to
the girls and they fail miserably at this appointed task. (“What? You
wanted us to write something down?”) At one point, I look back to take
a shot of the girls in their seats, and they are holding their “Believe
in America” signs upside down. My daughter put her gum under her chair.
Then, she got it all over her jeans. I am not sure whether I am more
upset that she would stick her gum under a chair (!) or that she just
got it all over her new jeans. A motherly lecture ensues. Luckily, she
is now selling clothes at Pacific Sunwear at Southpark Mall and can
replace the jeans at a discount. She is quite upset, as these are her
“favorite jeans.” I tell her about the ice cube/knife trick, and she
immediately tries it in our booth DURING DINNER. (Gack!) I tell her NOT
to use the knife she just scraped gum off her jeans with to eat with.
She gives me a withering look.



I am in
a very good spot for shooting film, and I am enjoying the rally. Nobody
is thrown to the ground and frisked, as happens the next day at the
Bush rally at Davenport’s LeClaire Park, but we did have old people
hitting the ground during the looong wait outside in stifling heat.
(Luckily, I was not one of the old people hitting the ground).



We know
it is raining outside and that there are tornado warnings out for the
area. (Either that, or the Secret Service guys are REALLY working up a
sweat!) We are warm and dry in the arena, however, and, by the time the
rally is over,…. which is hours later,… it is only sprinkling outside.
The girls use their “Believe in America” posters to cover their heads
as we walk the two blocks to the car, but I only have my notebook. (The
one that has no notes written in it after 7:00 p.m.)



We
adjourn to a nearby “brewery”-named restaurant which has excellent food
and service. The girls have school in the morning, so we must drive
home ASAP. (The daughter is now doing the ice cube/knife trick, and I
am sure she will poke a hole in the new jeans with the steak knife she
is using.)



An
incoming call from the husband, at home in the Illinois Quad Cities,
notifies us that he is sitting in the dark listening to his transistor
radio, as all power has failed in the Quad Cities. We have experienced
none of that, although a light rain falls as we drive home. We arrive
by 11:00 p.m. I tell the daughter to take all proof of her civic
activity to her Government class, which she promises to do, but then
does not do. (Typical).



*****Over
and Out from your http://www.blogforiowa.com correspondent, Connie Corcoran
Wilson. Next time, PRESS CREDENTIALS, I’m thinking. What do you say to
that?*****