This week, we received two wonderful stories from two excellent young writers, good enough to warrant their own entries. 

First, in honor of Independence Day (and you have to admit Iowans are known for being independent-minded!), newgeneration offers us this memory:

“Thank You, Iowa”

I wanted to make sure the first vote I cast in the Iowa caucus was a smart one, so when I started college in the fall of 2003, I went to see every presidential candidate I could. As the candidates continued to clarify their positions, I switched allegiances more times than I can count. By about four days before the caucuses, I finally had it narrowed down to two; the final deciding factor in Kerry’s favor was that his standing in the polls had suddenly taken a significant upswing, while the numbers for my other favorite candidate, Dick Gephardt, were slowly but steadily dropping. So, on caucus day, I squeezed into the IMU Ballroom with a few hundred other college students and stood in the preference group for John Kerry, feeling sure I was helping save the world by sending my man forward to New Hampshire with a strong showing.

When it became increasingly obvious that he was going to be the nominee, I decided to use the six months or so until the convention to learn more about him, since I’d already made up my mind to work for whoever would become the nominee. I thought I had a pretty solid grasp on his platform already, having already scoured it for anything that would help me make up my mind in January. I didn’t know much about the man, though, beyond the basic information about his military record that had been mentioned in his commercials (Vietnam, three Purple Hearts, and the rest), so I looked forward to reading the new book about his military service that had come out just before the caucuses. If nothing else, I thought, it would at least be an interesting read, since I was (and still am) an avid watcher of “Mail Call.”

Nothing could have prepared me for Tour of Duty.

By the time I finished it, I was amazed that I’d guessed correctly. Although my caucus vote for John Kerry was based on little more than a basic comfort with his issue positions and his likelihood of winning the nomination, I became a very proud, vocal supporter. John Kerry was my candidate, and the more I learned about him, the more impressed I was. He started out for me as nothing more than an educated guess, but in learning about him, I came to realize that he was truly a rare occurrence — that men like him don’t come along every day. Though I knew I could never live up to his example, I desperately wanted to. And beyond that, I was more convinced than ever that my country deserved a chance to restore its good name. It needed him as president — so did I.

Flash forward to December 10, 2004 — I had just spent the bulk of the fall semester balancing a full course load with working every available hour at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Clinton Street office, convinced it would all be worth it in November. I bummed a ride to the “Thank You, Iowa” event the IDP was holding, hoping that watching John Kerry thank us all for our hard work in person would make me feel less guilty about taking a week off during midterms. His speech, I thought, was just what we needed; in essence, acknowledging how we’d all worked our fingers to the bone on his behalf. But the reception afterward was what really confirmed his worth for me.

I can only imagine how he was feeling at the time — I felt bad enough, and I’d only been a hardcore supporter for a few months. He’d been on the road for two years and looked like he’d spent most of that time not sleeping. I wanted to tell him how much he had inspired me those last few months, how much being part of the campaign had meant to me, how much hope he’d given me that everything would be okay in the end — but I couldn’t find the words. I just gave him a hug instead and opted not to say anything dorky I’d regret later, because I knew I couldn’t really articulate what I wanted to say anyway. I did manage to say “Thank you so much” afterward, to which he responded “Thank you so much” — a stock response, probably, but it made me feel better. God bless him. He’ll never know how much that one hug and simple response meant to me.

Though I might have been able to make the Dean’s List if I hadn’t taken on so much campaign work, I don’t regret a minute of it. I’m glad I had the opportunity to learn from the campaign, and even though it ended in heartbreak, I’d do it again tomorrow if I could.

Thank you, Senator Kerry.