In Davenport

NOTE: Remember, please, that I am a paid consultant to the campaign of Senator Fred Thompson.

Sen. Thompson is speaking at an outdoor park in Davenport, Iowa overlooking the Mississippi River into Illinois. There are about 300 people here many of whom, as elsewhere on this trip, have brought their children or grandchildren.

This is going to sound silly, but even reporters are beginning – however grudgingly – to feel that something is going on here.

Even in a “normal” Presidential election cycle, Iowans grow fatigued at the pretend-hoopla that advance staffs try to generate at these kinds of stops. In the 2008 Presidential cycle, when candidates have been visiting cornfields and hog farms since November of 2006, Iowans have a right to demand limos and full catering just to show up.

When reporters have asked about whether it is too late to be entering the race, I have pointed out that our crowds have been bigger than we had planned for. Perhaps it is because they have been watching the other candidates (more-or-less constantly) for more than a year and Fred is the new guy on the stump.

But perhaps it is because although they have often seen the others, Iowans are still looking for the one candidate that excites them. And, perhaps, Fred Thompson is that candidate.

It is a little warmer here today than it has been over the past few; and the sun takes its toll on a young girl and an elderly man. Fred noticed the girl and stopped his remarks to make certain she was being attended to.

When the elderly gentleman went down, it was out of his line-of-sight, so I went up behind him and said that someone else had fainted and perhaps we should cut this a little short.

He nodded and asked the audience to be mindful of the sun and to move back under a large shade tree which sat to the left rear of the park.

Both were taken to our bus which had the air conditioning running. The girl bounced back pretty quickly, but the man, although conscious and talking, was a little slower to respond so an ambulance was requested.

In short order EMTs from the Davenport Fire Department rolled up followed by the ambulance.

Because there was a good deal of activity on our bus, we moved the “meet ‘n’ greet” phase of the event under the fairly large gazebo to give the EMTs time to do their stuff.

Fred made his way onto to the bus to check on the gentleman who came down the steps and was placed in the hands of the ambulance crew.

I suspect that of the 300 people that were there, maybe 10% knew of the drama taking place on the other side of the press bus, but I thought you might be interested to see the kinds of things which can happen – even in the best-planned events.

In Sioux City, the other day, toward the end of Fred’s remarks, his daughter, Hayden, who is just shy of four, walked out onto the stage and hugged her dad’s leg. The crowd cheered and Hayden smiled – not because the crowd was cheering, but because she was in contact with her father.

Since then I have become a feature of these events: When it is time for Fred to end the Q & A segment, I stand stage left and signal him. He normally ignores me for an additional question or two but now has begun telling the story of his just-shy-of-four-year-old-daughter in Sioux City coming out on stage to tell him he had talked long enough.

Then he points to me and says something like: I have had to trade my beautiful four-year-old daughter for that 64-year-old man (Lies. All Lies) who tells me when it’s time to stop.

Just another sign of a campaign which is having a good time because it has gotten off to a great start.

Rich