John Kerry spoke in town today. I thought it would be a great experience for Keaton. So we stood in line for a half hour to get in. Keaton was a little less then thrilled about that. But I still think it was a great idea.

The arena was packed. There was not a single section that did not have people in it. People kept piling in throughout the night. By the time Kerry came out to speak at 6:15 there were very few seats left and the floor was covered with people.

Ron Livingston (you know the guy from Office Space and a season of The Practice) started out the night. Ron is a Marion native so it was good to see a hometown actor coming back to the area to support our candidate. I believe Ashton Kutcher was also supposed to be there, but he wasn’t. I know he was in IC with Ron just a few days before.

So anyway, Ron introduced Senator Tom Harkin. Tom gave a great speech about drivers ed. Drivers ed, you say?!? Well, he said [paraphrasing, of course] imagine you are in a car and you look over and see George Bush driving. He’s all slumped over the steering wheel, veins popping, brain trying to put in some overtime [ok, I added that last part]. All of a sudden you realize there’s a big curve coming up. You mention this to Bush and he replies “I started this trip out going straight and I’m going to continue going straight.” So, of course, you go off the cliff and end up car mangled and you dead or severely hurt. Now imagine you’re in that same car and look over to see John Kerry driving. You tell him about the big curve and he replies “I’ve already seen it and I’m taking action to keep you safe.” And you and your car safely make it to the bottom of the cliff. Tom Harkin went on to say when you are in your car and you want to go backwards you put the car in “R.” But when you want to go forward you put the car in “D” for Democrat. I really enjoyed his speech.

Following Harkin we heard from a long time fire chief (I think he was a chief…he’s been with the fire department for more then 20 years). He gave a very moving speech about America’s heroes…our policemen, firemen and other safety personnel.

After his speech, Governor Tom Vilsack came out. I was excited to Tom Vilsack because Keaton already knew him. Two years ago, Keaton’s principal Mrs. Chen received the Milken award (cause she really is an amazing principal) and Tom Vilsack presented Mrs. Chen with that award at a ceremony at the high school. So it was really neat to see Keaton’s reaction to Governor Vilsack supporting John Kerry. I could tell that Keaton was impressed.

After Tom Vilsack Jon Bon Jovi performed four songs. And he was awesome. Is he ever not awesome?!? It was just him and his guitar and some girl and her violin. It rocked. I just wish we had been a little closer so we could’ve actually made out some facial expressions. [Did I say make out? I wish...I mean...sorry honey! Love you!]

Finally, John Kerry came out. And the place went up in a roar. It was really like a pep rally in high school. Only there were about 100 times more people and famous people were there cheering on the team. It was so cool! Kerry talked a lot about what a great state we live in (like we didn’t already know) and he also talked about his plans for our nation. He didn’t really tell us anything he hasn’t already told us. But it was awesome to see him say it in person.

I am so glad we went. It really was a great opportunity. I asked Keaton “Putting aside some of the moments of boredom, are you glad you came?” And he said he was. He actually said he thought it was cool. I’m so excited that he is keeping himself informed. In fact he is going to join me next Tuesday so he can see what you need to do to vote.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 27th, 2004 at 11:14 pm and is filed under A day in our life. Comments are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.