For being less than a year old, Chins is really taking his responsibility as an Iowan seriously. Monday night he attended his very first political event, when Hillary Clinton came to Main St. to give a speech on a suitably Rockwellian (Whoa. I first typed "Orwellian". Whoa.) street corner. It wasn't set to start until 7:00, so Chins had his bath, donned his jammies (or rather screamed and writhed while d.w. tried to maneuver his hands and feet into their respective compartments), and the three of us set off, stroller and Ergo in tow.
A better-managed campaign event you will not find. The crowd was herded into the street between police barricades, packed densely below a banner with some vague, forgettable slogan scrawled across it. There were bleachers, too, positioned exactly to fall within the camera frames of the bevy of press and campaign photographers. It was a little odd, though, being in an audience completely behind and to one side of the candidate (the side opposite the press area, naturally). The sight of a candidate speaking passionately in the direction opposite from those assembled was, frankly, a little surreal.
Chins did great actually, considering Clinton arrived an hour late, an hour overflowing with the most tedious filler one can imagine. One of our local politicians droning on about...something. An old lady, who I think was the county Democratic chair, relating the most soul-crushingly boring story about...something. Then there was the middle school girl haltingly reading something clearly intended to be inspirational. Maybe it was, but by that point my heart had turned to stone.
(But you know, that's how these things usually are. Obama was late to an event here a couple of weeks ago, so we the assembled were subjected to the impromptu, pulled-out-of-the-ass speeches of self-important political science majors. Kill. Me. Now.)
Shortly before Clinton arrived, the late hour, the lack of toys, and the standing around finally caught up to Chins, so d.w. and the be-Ergo'ed, jammie-bound baby made their way, bouncing and singing, through the crowd. We had been offered a spot on the dais with the other nuggets of the political gold mine (union members, old people, any people of color they could find), but I have a feeling the sight of a crazed, sleep-deprived woman bouncing her crazed, sleep-deprived giant of a baby would have drawn the ire of all assembled. Or at least campaign handlers.
But then again, Chins probably could have single-handedly sealed the deal on Clinton getting elected — I mean, what politician could resist those cheeks? And what politician wouldn't get elected in a landslide, with a photo of something like that?
Maybe I'm on to something here.
Hey! Jaymi and I were there too!
Posted by: Danielle in Iowa | 10 October 2007 at 08:59 PM
Hillary blah, blah, blah, Obama blah, blah, blah--check out that cute baby! He's adorable, and looking very much like DW to my eye in that pic. Love the PJs, too. We just got the red monkey version at the Carter's outlet on the way to Grammy's last week. So cute on Chins, so cute!
Posted by: Papa Bradstein | 14 October 2007 at 10:29 PM