Desmoinesdem shamed me into it; I've only done a brief comment on Edwards Evening News Roundup about it.

Lots of politics going on this last week; phonebanking two nights, canvassing Saturday, parades Sunday and Monday. (I was on the trailer tossing candy to little kids, but there were at least two Edwards people working the crowds.  Two little rural Iowa towns, but they did muster crowds for their parades!)

The BIG highlight of the weekend was going to see John Edwards at a park in my hometown.

About a week ago I was doing some plain-vanilla phone-banking at the Edwards office in Davenport, when suddenly we all switched into event calling - Elizabeth Edwards was going to do a town hall meeting at the Figge Museum on July 17!

When I got home I called one of my sisters, the one who lives nearby, used to be in the Army, and has a son in the Army in Iraq.  Want to go with me to see Elizabeth Edwards? Yes, indeed!

So this will be about Elizabeth's town hall, but also about my sister's reactions to it.

I am an Edwards supporter, and I spent the evening watching the debate and taking notes with a bunch of other Edwards supporters. (By the way, I am in awe of people who can liveblog.  For me, it's hard enough just taking notes!)  I liked the premise of a diary Meteor Blades did recently, so I have gone through my notes to find good things to say about non-Edwards candidates.  Could we do the same thing we did in his diary, and find good things to say about candidates other than our first loves?

John and Elizabeth Edwards had a meeting at the Golden Leaf in eastern Davenport.  The room was pretty full, I'd guess at least 200, maybe 300. It started late, it was scheduled for noon but didn't get going till nearly 1 pm.  The crowd stayed pretty mellow, we've seen what candidate schedules look like.  The couple next to me did have to leave, apologizing to all as they worked past us that they had another commitment.

Update: On the radio this morning, they reported 500 people present.  Shows how well I estimate crowds!