I stayed up past my bedtime last night to watch the Iowa CNN Town Hall with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA).
The energy level was high, and the audience gave her an amazingly enthusiastic welcome. After her powerful campaign rollout in Oakland, CA (Kamala Harris: For the People' is a killer 2020 message) on her home turf, I wasn’t sure how well she would be received in Iowa. Granted, she was at Drake University in Des Moines, but the audience wasn’t just students.
Before the Town Hall — that same day, she received an early endorsement:
I was watching responses on twitter, as I watched the town hall, and depending on what issues are a person’s primary focus — they varied.
I have to admit that one of my favorite moments was when the gentleman pictured above, came up to the mike, and asked:
"Some have also said that, given what occurred in 2016 and the current political climate, that a male nominee will have a better chance this time around than a female nominee," said playwright and composer Robert John Ford, posing his question to Harris at a CNN town hall event. "Would you please respond to this so that this man has a response ready the next time a man tries to mansplain why a man would make a better nominee?"
Harris leaped to her feet, and applauded Ford as the audience roared approval.
Why is that important to me?
Simply because I’ve heard too many naysayer’s — that in order to beat Trump, our candidate “must be” a white male. They say...”because, because, because ….Hillary lost”, even though we know she won the popular vote.
Other people have said, “but, but, but...she’s black...or she’s Asian.”
Well, last time I looked, Barack Obama is black and he won — twice.
We have strong women running — and I’m hoping Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) will enter the race as well.
This quick post is not a review of the entire evening.
For those of you who didn’t see it here’s a video.
Kerry Eleveld said something I agree with in his story:
Over the coming the months, there's going to be a lot of noise, particularly as reporters and rival campaigns pick apart candidates’ biographies and votes. Unless someone has done something that you consider just absolutely disqualifying, I encourage you to try to ignore it for now and focus on whether you think candidates are connecting with you and whether you feel personally drawn to them. No one is going to have a perfect record. What we're looking for is someone who can provide the nation with an inspirational vision that can bring a giant swath of the country along with them. That's the candidate we want to top the Democratic ticket heading into 2020.
Here are a few of the interactions I liked:
For those of you who watched — what was your favorite moment?