Delaware Senator Joe Biden hasn’t been in Iowa — "other than a wedding or a funeral" — for 19 years. He returned today and talked with a handfull of Iowa reporters shortly after he landed in Des Moines. You can hear the just-over-seven-minute session with Biden here (go to the bottom of the page and you’ll see the audio link). I asked him what lessons he learned from 1987. I also asked him about that not-quite raunchy remark he made in June about "making love to my wife." (In his answer, Biden describes his wife as "magnificently beautiful" by the way.)
I remember Biden’s exit from the race back in 1987. He flew to Iowa, and first met with his campaign staff here. The office was on Ingersol about halfway between the tallest building in Des Moines (801 Grand) and what we affectionately call the Crack Trip. Biden emerged from the front door to the office, and I was standing directly to his right in a huge pack of reporters, photogs, boom mics and such. He ruined the sound bite saying he was announcing he was dropping out of the race. He started his sentence, then noticed one of the boom mics was wavering. He stopped mid-sentence, said "Here, let me hold that for you" and put his hand underneath boom mic to pull it up in the right position. Then, he continued with his this is the sound bite of the news conference sentence.
The Register published a picture on the front page the next day, and on the other side of the door frame from me you saw Eric Woolson who looked like he was turning to run back inside the office. EW left the Waterloo Courier to work as Biden’s press secretary. EW went to DC after the campaign break-up, but negotiated a return to the Courier after a few months. Later, he signed on to be Republican Governor Terry Branstad’s press secretary. EW’s now working for Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, along with a list of other clients. EW recently delivered to my office a copy of Huckabee’s book about weight loss. Perhaps I’ll pick it up tonight after I go out to eat pizza with friends.
About O.Kay Henderson
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
I-n-g-e-r-s-o-l-l.
Great blog, by the way.