What a night! It was like a family reunion, a homecoming. First, shout outs to Joy and Laura, whom I saw tonight (meeting Laura for the first time). Second, shout outs to all the other thousands of folks celebrating with us tonight. So many familiar faces, some of whom I've seen at district and other events, some whom I haven't seen since the last rallies here, but I used to see them regularly. Remember the dude with the long white beard who was front and center at the Oprah event? He was with us tonight, too. And so many of our staffers returned as well. They got the band back together for IA!
Tonight I got more of a sense of what folks in other states have experienced. First time I had to wait in line, for 2 hours. But that just gave me more time to make new friends, who are all FIRED UP! First time I had to go through metal detectors. Back in the day, you could basically just waltz in. Even at the JJ, they didn't so much as check our tickets, which surprised me. We had the Speaker of the House and several key Democratic leaders. It made me a little uneasy how lax security was back then. But it sure isn't now, thankfully.
As soon as I got in, I saw the lovely Joy, with her beautiful smiling face. She got to volunteer. I was told if I hadn't had my offer to volunteer specifically accepted by the campaign, I couldn't volunteer, although that turned out not to be true. So I'm glad Joy got to do it.
We went to our special precinct captain area, which was just to the right behind the stage, as well as directly behind it. It was a great vibe, though not the same kind of giddy anticipation there was before the caucuses. We settled ourselves in for a long wait, but it turned out to be a lot shorter than we expected. We assumed he wouldn't go on until after OR had been called. But of course as he was only 15 or so pledged delegates away from the majority, he didn't need to wait. His beautiful family came down from the steps behind us, and the joy and excitement was like a damn bursting. He came over to us, shaking our hands, and I took a really blurry photo on my newish cell phone. Sorry I can't share it, but it's not worth it. Maybe Joy and Laura brought their cameras?
The speech was phenomenal, as you've no doubt heard yourself. The best was the ROAR when he announced that he had returned to IA with a majority of delegates--and you couldn't hear anything but the deafening exhilaration of Iowans, thrilled at the achievement that we thought was so closely in our grasp on the night of January 3. I confess, I thought it would be over a lot sooner. In my naivete, I thought on that night that we had essentially clinched the nomination. But then NH taught me a thing or two (especially, make sure you can verify the vote count). And NV taught me more lessons I'd rather not have learned (though I am happy about the ultimate resolution). And, in a way, I am glad that it wasn't decided back then, as each state is having its say, and so many are stepping up in wonderful, glorious ways. Besides, this makes his return tonight, on this night, so much more meaningful. We are very grateful, Barack, that you shared tonight with us.
I waited around to see him off, getting one of his glorious, gorgeous smiles in return. And I met Laura briefly, before I went off in search of food. Hadn't really eaten all day, as I was too FIRED UP! I felt like I did on caucus day for most of today, so excited, inspired, and HOPEful for the future we will create together.
Change is coming to America! And WE are that change! Yes we can!
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