Posted on the campaign website
January 4th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Senator Biden, I only got a chance to speak to you briefly in Iowa last week. I did not want to take any time away from your interacting with Iowans - prospective caucus supporters.
I told you when we met that I had never been more thrilled in my life than that moment when you stepped over, extended your hand, and said “Hi Don, I am so glad you could be here!”
Of course you had just spotted my volunteer’s nametag (boy, was I glad I had made it and put it on not five minutes earlier), and were greeting everyone; I guess I could have been a fence post and you’d have been warm and friendly, because that is the way you are. So I try not to take it personally that you smiled warmly and shook my hand, but I can’t help it. I’m still thrilled. I have been a Joe Biden fan since the Bork hearings. I was glad when you decided to run, and will be eternally grateful to my daughters for telling me to “go to Iowa” after I gave them my persuasive “why Joe” pitch. It was eerie to hear Richard Schiff’s explanation of what got him there and know that my story was so similar.
When I next got a chance to speak to you, several hours later, I told you “knock ‘em dead in Iowa, and I’ll be ready to work for you in Illinois.”
Well, ok, that script had a hiccup. You DID “knock ‘em dead in Iowa” - tons of people got your message loud and clear. Tons of people outside Iowa have heard the Biden perspective on things, and are better informed for it. You said when you decided to run it was because you felt the Presidency was the only position in which you could make more of a difference than you can in the Senate. That may be so, and now we all know that is not to be. But your impeccably-run grassroots campaign and your presence in the debates have undoubtedly elevated even more the influence you can have from the Senate. Many Americans now realize who you really are, and view you with the respect you deserve as a national leader, as (dare I say it?) an elder statesman.
The message of your campaign that we need to remove the “rock in the road” that is Iraq if we are to deal with the myriad other issues is, of course, as true today as it was yesterday. Your commitment to bringing that about as honorably as possible could well make you some day yet another unsuccessful presidential candidate with one of those Swedish prize thingys. If I had my say I’d give you next year’s right now.
As to working for you in Illinois - well I guess there won’t be a need for that directly. So I’ll work to get a Democrat into D. Hastert’s seat in the House, and the eventual Democratic nominee into the White House, and just go back to being a Biden cheerleader.
Thank you for your service. And thank you and your entire family for all the hard work and long hours spent in Iowa getting the message across.
Have you thought about putting together a PowerPoint presentation, maybe making a movie? You make international affairs and civics as interesting and exciting as climate change!
Don
Wheaton, Il
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