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 Gasp Junkies
* This is why I'm not allowed to cross the street by myself: I was at the Iowa State Fair Friday morning to do an interview on the Fox News network. I parked my rental car where I was instructed, did the interview and caught a golf-cart-shuttle back to the parking lot. On the way I realized I hadn't noted where I had left my car.
* "No problem," I said to myself, "it's right next to a pick-up truck." I walked up and down rows for a good 45 minutes past the other 137,542 pick-up truck in Iowa, before I finally located my car.
* At Ames, later in the day, the Bush camp thought the Forbes people had placed large speakers outside their entertainment tent and pointed them, in a threatening manner, at the Bush area. The Bush event staff informed the Forbes staff that if they didn't re-orient their speakers the Bush people would go into their equipment semi and get even bigger speakers - Noriega-sized speakers - and crank them up high enough to cause seismic readings at the Smithsonian in Washington.
* Everyone strutted manfully, aggressively smoked cigarettes, assertively sipped coffee, then backed off.
* The main event is tonight. I am now convinced that the Bush campaign is preparing another shocking result - much like the announcement on June 30th they had raised over $37 million so far.
* If Bush doubles the five thousand voters which they have stated is their target, it will cause the press corps to gasp - just as they did on June 30th. If the Bush people can get that done, this baby is over.
* More on Tent City outside the Hilton Coliseum: One reporter suggested, given the amount of money which was being spent on tents, banners, sound equipment, food, and all the rest THIS is the most productive soil in Iowa.
* This is true: On my way to Indianola to attend a Bush event Friday night, I passed a highway sign, an arrow pointing straight ahead, reading: "Church of Compassion." This Bush staff DOES have Iowa organized.
* After the front-porch speech George W. took questions from reporters - one of whom was Saturday Night Live's Al Franken. Bush playfully asked how he had gotten press credentials. I looked at the faces of several members of the Bush senior staff. "Playful" is not the adjective I would use to describe them.
* The scene was pastoral enough to have been a painting. A lovely farm-type house overlooking an upward sloping cornfield, sun setting through clouds, casting perfect shadows. At the top of the hill there was a silo surrounded by a stand of trees. I thought, "This is wonderful. It hasn't changed much in 150 years." Then I was informed the silo isn't real - it camouflages a cellular telephone tower.
* Another thought on the impending Presidential run of Warren Beatty. His sister, Shirley McLain, should channel to find out whether or not Warren had ever been elected President in a previous life. Under the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, "no person shall be elected to the office of President more than two times…"
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