Fun with Genealogy!: Trip to Iowa Part 2

Sorry this has taken so long to get the story out.

I got to town before I was to be at the event. So I went to look for somewhere to eat. I found a cute little cafe in downtown Ames, Iowa called Cafe Diem. It was in an old building. I had coffee and a muffin. The decor was awesome. At about 8:30am I took a cab out to the University of Iowa.

As I was walking down the road leading to the Hilton Coliseum I saw his bus. I got there and met up with Vincent Harris. He's the contact person for the bloggers. He introduced me to Lauren Huckabee, who helped me get situated at the tent.

She told me to sit at a table where there was copies of New Man Magazine with Mike Huckabee's picture on the cover, some info cards about Mike, bumper stickers, buttons, Paul Shanklin (he is the guy who does the satire songs on Rush Limbaugh. He also supports Mike Huckabee), and help answer questions people may had.

I got a glimpse of Mike "The Man" Huckabee in the morning. He was talking to people in the crowd. He seemed so genuine. No fancy suit. Just jeans and a nice shirt. He seemed so natural. Even though I was sitting a little ways away, I could feel an aura from his presence. As though he was glad to be there and glad to meet his supporters. He seemed genuinely interested in talking to them and hearing their questions. Now I can not compare this to other candidates that were there, since he was the only one I got to see. I do know one thing though. When ya look at his eyes, he has soul in them. Even though I did not see other candidates in person I know from seeing them on TV, there may be smiles across their faces, but no soul in their eyes. Ya can fake a smile, but as The Eagles once said, "Ya can't hide your lyin eyes." I didn't get to hear him make his exceptional speech, but I could hear the crowds inside cheering for him.
There was three sides of tables at the tent. The large side had people giving tickets. Then there was another side that was also giving stuff. They also had t-shirts, but not for long. People were picking up stuff left and right. I was told to only let people have one or two of something, since alot of people wanted to take souvenirs home to friends and family. They wanted to have enough stuff for the people who were actually there.

I also heard rumors that Mitt Romney supporters were taking Mike Huckabee literature off of the tables and throwing them away. This doesn't surprise me. They were all over in snot yellow shirts with green lettering, walking through other candidates areas. It is rather funny that Mr. Polished has no fashion sense when it comes to providing for his supporters. Mike "Down to Earth" Huckabee provided awesome t-shirts for his supporters. He may not have been able to pay for as many, but my momma always said, "style over substance." That's the best way to describe the t-shirt comparisons.

Some of them were walking up to the table wearing their little bus tickets. It just made me sick to see that. It was oh so organized. The tickets had names and bus numbers, group numbers or names too. They could have at least taken them off and put them in their pockets. It was almost like these people were bragging, "I am bought and payed for." Perhaps Mitty wanted them to wear them around to show off how much money he had payed.

Of course I was nice to them none the less. The way I figured, these people could always be swayed to see the "Huckabee Light" at any time. If they think of Huckabee people as snotty they would discount him. Another saying my momma also had, "Ya can catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

His supporters also walked around with these stupid Mitts on their hands saying, "Mitt, Mitt, Mitt." Unlike other candidates supporters, they would get as near to opponents areas. The other supporters only walked down the main street. One of the Huckabee supporters who stopped by the tent yelled "Mitt-wits" as they were walking between the Huckabee and Tancredo tents.

Capitol Offense had two showings. As I had already posted they were great. I meant to add in my original post about Capitol Offense is that they will be playing the Surf Ballroom for a victory party after the Iowa Caucus. That would be so freakin awesome to see.

Lunch was provided by Kin Folks BBQ. I had a pork BBQ sandwich, with tortilla chips. As their advertisement said, it really is the best BBQ north of the Texas state line. And I lived in Texas for two years. I have to admit though, I like Mexican barbecoa taquitos best, but I digress.

I did not the story of how Mike Huckabee payed for this great food until I was waiting for the bus the next day. The bus station was closed, so I sat on a bench to wait for my bus. As I was waiting for the bus I saw that the local paper had been delivered. Normally I would have left something like that alone, but I saw the front page had about the Straw Poll. So I couldn't help myself. I had to take it out of the clear orange wrapper. Even though I knew the results, I still wanted to read it and see what was going on at the other campaigns. Plus I also wanted to make sure I wasn't stuck in some dream about Mike Huckabee having a second place showing.

Oh, back to the story. As I was reading the details of the Straw Poll I read that the owners of Kin Folks BBQ asked Mike Huckabee for one of his autographed guitars as payment for the food. I was so in awe that he would make this sacrifice, just for his staff, volunteers and supporters. If ya look closely at the pic, ya can see the guitar in the center.

Things started winding down after about 5:oo or 5:30. As much fun as I was having, I was kinda glad to see the closing time approaching. The temp was almost a hundred degrees. It was a very positive experience. People who were coming up to the tent were saying how much they liked Mike. Some of them were saying they had only heard about Mike Huckabee just before the Straw Poll. They wished they had heard about earlier, so they could have told friends and family.

After it was all done Mike Huckabee wanted everyone to gather around so he could thank them and talk about what it was like having so many people working and volunteer for him. He made a joke about his new weight loss program that he takes his staff and volunteers. Put them in the hot sun for about half a day to walk around and they'll lose about 20 pounds in a day. OK, it was more funny the way he told it.

He thanked all of us and said he couldn't do it without the people working and volunteering. He mentioned that there were some people who came up from Arkansas, Florida and Georgia and thanked them.

The whole atmosphere was jumping and positive. He talked about how he was able to get all this organization going without much money. He talked about how some other candidates, didn't mention names, spent about 10 times as much as his him. He talked about how he didn't bus people in or offer fancy incentives. He was glad that people showed up for him and the conservative ideals he stands for.

One thing he said that was just awesome was that of all the things be written and said about him and that he would hope to be said about him, was something that no reporter or supporter could say. When all is said and done, and he has accomplished all the things on earth he is to do he wants to hear God say "Well done good and faithful servant." He said that he hopes that will be a long time away for both he and those of us who were there. But he said "I want to tell all of you 'Well done good and faithful servant' now." He said we deserved to hear that now.

As I was standing there listening to him. I thought, wow, this is the guy I have been supporting since March and everyone thought I was crazy. I just couldn't understand why no one was paying attention to him until this time. I wanted to giggle and cry tears of joy at the same time. I don't mean giggle like make fun of him, obviously. I mean I was just so happy to be standing in the same room as Mike Huckabee. There is no possible way I could explain how powerful his words were when he spoke. That is why it took me so long to work on this post. Because I wanted to write a post that would do Mike Huckabee justice.

Now for why I think Mike and Janet Huckabee are such sweet down to earth people. After his speech a friend of theirs from Arkansas asked me where I was from. I told her I was from Michigan and that I took a bus. She said "Oh wow, have you met Mike and Janet, yet?" I told her no. She first introduced me to Janet Huckabee. Mrs. Huckabee thanked me and gave me a big ol hug. She said, "you gotta meet Mike." She took me by the hand and led me over to Mike Huckabee. I got separated. I so he was being interviewed, so I just waited until he was done. Mrs. Huckabee waved over for me to go over there and meet him. She told him my story, he thanked me and shook my hand. Then he gave me a big hug.

I expected a handshake from both of them, but not a hug. I thought that was sweet.

They both give decent and honest firm grip handshakes. One pet peeves of mine is limp handshakes. It makes me feel like the last thing the person wants to do is meet you. Like they have better things to do. Not the Huckabee's. They shake hands like they mean it.

Mike Huckabee said he would be in Michigan soon and that way I wouldn't have to travel so far next time to see him. I can't remember anything I said. I hope it wasn't too dorky. I have a habit of open mouth insert foot. I did get both of them to sign my bag. He also signed my copy of his book Character Makes a Difference. I was too nervous to ask him to get a pic with me. I did get Mrs Huckabee to take a picture with me holding the "I Like Mike" bag.