Myself and 4 others from my town were in Burlington, Iowa this weekend...

[helleborient]

It was only a 2 1/2 hour drive for us, but we were all glad we went.

We left after work on Friday and got to Burlington about 8:30 p.m. Friday night. Demographically we were, myself and my wife, age 37 and 36, a 33 or so year old father of 2 with 1 on the way, a 23 year old recent college grad, and one student still in college.

Anyone we got to the Burlington Dean headquaters just as a van with 9 Louisiana people arrived. They had started with 5 from New Orleans and picked up 4 more in Baton Rouge...then drove straight through all night to get to Burlington. We also met a contingent of about 15 from St. Louis. Later, while we there, met folks from upper New York state, Ohio, and another person from Illinois...and then plenty of Iowans!

Saturday morning kicked things off well with an appearance by Al Gore. The first time I've seen him in person - it was great!!!

We walked door to door about 5 hours on Saturday, then went to the motel rooms we split the cost for...we could have stayed at the church camp 45 min. away, but opted to pay for the ability to have hot showers.

The next day we did another 4 hours or so of door to door work promoting Dean in general and his appearance tonight at a free spaghetti dinner in Burlington.

We saw the clear presence of the Kerry, Gephardt and Edwards campaigns in Burlington. Also, Dennis Kucinich made an appearance late in the afternoon on Saturday, but we were too busy going door to door to get to attend. We all sat up late on Saturday night to watch the Linn County (Cedar Rapids) Democratic event with Dean, Kerry, Edwards, and Kucinich speaking. That was great to see all 4 just speak in a non-debate format. I still don't know why Gephardt wasn't at this event...

Coming home my faith in the overwhelming "cleanness" of this campaign...no signs of any dirty tricks or accusations thereof in Burlington from any of the campaigns...and my faith that the style of campaign put together by Dean is how democracy should happen in the U.S., regardless of who the candidate is.

We'll be gathering here in central Illinois to watch the caucus returns next Monday..and it looks like we've convinced another contingent from here to make the trip to Iowa next weekend. The opportunity to truly participate in the democratic process in this way is outstanding!!

[iowapeacechief]

1. Great report!

As an Iowan (50 miles north of Burlington), I agree with your impressions. Sorry you didn't get to see Dennis.