The 2011 Ames Straw Poll Photo Tour, Vol. 2

Volume 1

In the first post, I mentioned the large presence of “green” energy advocacy groups. A blade from a wind turbine was on display to be signed by attendees and was very popular. I won’t get into the financial follies of windmills generating electricity, but please note that the politicians from Iowa all made a pilgrimage to sign the blade in front of the press.

Food lines dominated the back lot. You had to cut your way through them to get anywhere. Notice all the NRA caps. Multiple times I was stopped and asked where the NRA tent was because I was wearing one.

McCotter’s area got next to no attention except for those of us who realized there were no lines to get Bomb Pops from the ice cream truck. Oh did that taste good on a sunny day!

I felt bad about the lack of traffic and support there. McCotter can be a very funny guy but not many people know him. Hardly anyone stopped by to look at his literature.

Santorum’s tents were always jumping. Having a decent band didn’t hurt at all and I was pleased to hear some covers of Buddy Holly songs.

This sign had people stopping to take pictures of it. It summed up the feelings of the crowd pretty well.

The back of the FairTax tent. I’d gotten separated from everyone from the bus very quickly and was looking for my father there. That’s the penalty for having one’s eye in the viewfinder most of the time. There was a constant flow of people through the tent.

The FairTax tent adjoined the Tea Party Patriots’ stage and associated tents. It was a nice setup that was almost completely ignored by the crowds.

I don’t know if Santorum was going for the Scottish American vote or if the bagpiper was just there. There was no smell of haggis being grilled, so that can’t be the reason he came. Though I did hear the hot dogs tasted like haggis.

A lot of families visited the FairTax tent, just like four years ago.

The media was everywhere interviewing people and chasing candidates. Little did I know I’d end up on camera twice later on in the day.

A lot of animated discussions and occasional argument over the FairTax took place. At first it looked like a bad location compared to last time, but it turned out to be a great spot.

Next door, a gospel singer failed to get much of an audience at the Tea Party stage. It was a preview of things to come as even inviting people to speak from passersby fell flat.

The police presence was widespread. I still can’t take Segway scooters seriously even if police officers are on them. How can you command respect when you look so dorky?

The media outnumbered the cops by wide margin. An amazing amount of television trucks were present.

I kept waiting for a bird or two to be roasted by the microwaves, but that never happened so I had to settle for this shot of the satellite uplink dishes.

To be continued…

The 2011 Ames Straw Poll Photo Tour, Vol. 1

Mixing free food,  free goodies, free entertainment, political activism, large crowds, and candidates desperate for votes makes for a unique experience under any circumstance, but the circus that is the Ames Straw Poll beats anything I’ve ever seen. Wandering through the University of Iowa grounds with my trusty Canon Digital Rebel, I did my best to capture the sights. Here is my experience in chronological order:

 

The bus to Ames we were on was packed with self proclaimed “terrorists” and “hobbits” who had so much fun together it should have been outlawed. Maybe I shouldn’t have written that, the government might get ideas.

Once we were disembarked, we found some of the campaigns had volunteers to greet us at the entrance to the grounds. First up were from the Rick Santorum campaign.

This gal from the Ron Paul volunteers was happy to smile for the camera.

There was a small stage with flood lights that messed with my first attempt to photograph these two gentlemen from the Tim Pawlenty campaign. They didn’t hesitate to move to a better position when asked. Having a big camera confers unusual power, I found out.

This is Jerry Lanser, one of what I call “micro-candidates” running for President. He was handing out business cards and was very frustrated at being barred from the debate. There were more like him who don’t have a prayer, but Mr. Lanser was the only one I was able to talk to.

Michelle Bachmann had a lot of gals walking around to show her colors. Her organization was very impressive.

A couple of volunteers from the Herman Cain campaign. He’s my favorite candidate and doesn’t have much of a chance at the nomination. I have to say his supporters were the mellowest of the bunch there.

You see a lot of advocacy groups at the Straw Poll, but this year it was amazing how much “green” energy groups dominated. While the Iowa Republicans were enthusiastic about it, many of the people attending from out of state weren’t.

Patch.com was there and I had no clue what they were about. Looking at their website, it appears to be a social network with news and views oriented around community hubs.

The Faith Family Freedom Fund had their Values Bus there. You guessed it, they promote family values.

Citizens United Productions were selling DVDs from this tent. Traffic was a little higher later in the day. No doubt it was hard to compete with the freebies being given away.

Another vendor was selling T-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers. Oddly there were no free bumper stickers being given away by candidates or advocacy groups, which is the norm at big political gatherings.

Mike Huckabee was everywhere and I managed to miss him every time. But his people from his PAC were all over the place. He hasn’t lost any of his popularity in Iowa.

The NRA presence was much bigger than in 2007. Even bigger was its popularity, people were swarming the tents. Fortunately for me, I got there early enough to score one of the extremely popular blaze orange NRA hats they were giving to new members. Good thing I mentioned I was a lifetime member or I wouldn’t have gotten the hat.

Another micro-candidate was Fred Karger. Having no clue who he was, I looked up his web site. Karger is extremely far left socially and his only claim to fame is that he’s the only gay Republican running for president. Running on a platform lowering the voting age to 16, legalizing marijuana, federal gay marriage, and amnesty for illegals isn’t going to get you far. I wonder what goes through some of these candidates’ heads.

 

Across from the NRA tents was the Iowa Gun Owners tent. Like the NRA tent it ended up getting huge traffic as the day went on.

The National Association for Gun Rights was there and got decent traffic, but nothing like the NRA. They are a more recent rival to the NRA and formed by people who didn’t think the NRA was right wing enough.

The bulk of the candidates were in back of the coliseum where the actual vote takes place. The busiest tent there was Bachmann’s and I never did get decent photos since I vowed not to stand in any lines. Her bus was parked outside the huge air conditioned tent.

 

Drifting above the massive tent was a balloon. At first I though it had come unmoored but discovered there was another line besides the one with streamers. My 18-55mm IS lens did a good job and I never had to get the big lens out.

I finally found Herman Cain’s tents when I spotted the bus.

Cain never had the huge crowds Bachmann and Santorum had in the same lot, but I saw a lot of supporters from other campaigns avidly watch him speak. I never heard a disparaging word about him and suspect he was the number two choice for many of them. Cain even sang a couple of gospel tunes and was accompanied by Mike Huckabee on base guitar on one of them.

Cain and McCotter both had inflatable rubber rooms for the little kids, which I thought was a nice touch. There were a lot of young families in attendance.

To get in Bachmann’s tent, you had to stand in line and get a paper bracelet taped around your wrist. This did not deter people and I later heard  she had bussed in 6000 supporters. I can’t verify that but it looked like that many. Like mentioned before, she had the best organization on the grounds.

To be continued…

Off to See the Circus

It is that strange time again in politics when the straw poll is held in Ames, Iowa. I’ll be heading to the Twin Cities today to catch a bus down there on Saturday if all goes according to plan. That’s something that could change, but I’m going ahead anyway.

Describing the Ames Straw Poll as a circus is pretty accurate. In 2007, I went there to see it first hand and how the Fairtax pavilion was doing. If you have ever gone to a county or state fair, you have a good idea of what it is like. The only difference is that almost everything is free.

For some reason, I failed to blog about it four years ago in 2007. So here are a few pictures with some hazy memories to accompany them.

Entering the grounds it looks just like a county fair.

Every candidate had their own pavilion. There was live music later at Mitt Romney’s which was a very posh setup.

Mike Huckabee’s wasn’t as elaborate, but got a lot more attention.

Tommy Thompson’s run fizzled shortly after this but the bikers who came out in force for him made an impression while driving there. They were a fun bunch.

Tom Tancredo failed to drum up much excitement. This time around he’s sitting out and sniping at Perry over illegal immigration issues. Perry isn’t as conservative as people believe he is.

John Cox was one of the micro candidates who show up at affairs like this – desperately hoping to gain any kind of traction. Hardly anybody was there.

Ron Paul supporters were ever present and stridently marched around shouting his name to drown out other candidates interviews with reporters or discussions with others. As you can see, there is a heavy hippie influence. Some people were very uptight around Paul’s supporters and you could see they were afraid of them. Not a good impression.

Duncan Hunter had an Elvis impersonator performing. Make your own jokes here.

C-Span made a big deal about having their bus there. I don’t remember getting to see what the fuss was about.

Lance Armstrong’s charity was there. Why? I have no clue.

I have even less of a clue what they were about.

There was no escaping the Ron Paul presence. Nowhere was safe. Nowhere.

Over at the Fairtax pavilion, we had a Ferris wheel giving rides. It was a heavily trafficked pavilion.

One of the less crowded moments in the pavilion. I saw a lot of families in there and the atmosphere was good.

Uncle Sam costumes are always popular at these events.

You see some strange sights at political gatherings.

This is the closest I got to a crowd shot. I was so busy trying to get photos of specific things that I failed to capture just how many people were there. One of these days I should get a wide angle lens.

It was hot down there and misting fans were very popular. A good idea by the Fairtax bunch.

That’s what it looked like in 2007. I wonder what I’ll find tomorrow? At least I’ll have a better camera this time.