Friday, August 12, 2011

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.

Ames 2007 Entry

Entering the grounds it looks just like a county fair.

Ames 2007 Romney

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

Ames 2007 Huckabee

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

Ames 2007 Thompson

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.

Ames 2007 Tancredo

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.

Ames 2007 Cox

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.

Ames 2007 Paul Marchers

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.

Ames 2007 Elvis

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

Ames 2007 C-Span Bus

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

Ames 2007 Armstrong Bus

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

Ames 2007 Patriotic Animals

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

Ames 2007 Portapotties

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

Ames 2007 Fairtax Ferris Wheel

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

Ames 2007 Fairtax Pavillion

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

Ames 2007 Fairtax Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam costumes are always popular at these events.

Ames 2007 Ostrich

You see some strange sights at political gatherings.

Ames 2007 Crowd

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.

Ames 2007 Fairtax Misting Fans

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.

1 comment:

Hanny said...

Looks like a lot of fun. I need to get out to more of these.