Richard Gilbert:
I was listening to a candidate at a political meet-and-greet the other evening. As she spoke, I was reminded of a long-ago conversation I had in 2004 with John, a close business friend of mine in Chicago.
John had spent part of the prior evening at a small Chicago's South Side fundraiser for an Illinois U.S. Senate candidate. John was excited as he talked about the political newcomer. I noted that the young politician was in an 8-way Democratic primary for a shot at the highly contested open seat and was hardly considered a shoo-in.
But John said whether he gets the nomination or not, "this guy is a rising star, and I wouldn't be surprised if he wound up president someday. He's that good."
Remember, this was 2004, and Osama Bin Laden was still on the loose. I pointed out that the candidate's last name might be a turnoff for voters, along with the fact that he was a part-time law school prof at the University of Chicago. Yeah, he was an Illinois state senator, but that didn't count much in Chicago, where most voters assumed the Windy City was the state capitol. And like it or not, being Black was not necessarily a plus for a candidate looking for support in downstate Illinois.
None of this dissuaded John, and I took his excitement seriously. After all, John had loaded up on Chrysler stock after Lee Iacocca took on that company's leadership. And my friend was a serial entrepreneur who had started and sold three companies for beaucoup bucks. He had made the right picks in business and now was branching into political prognostication.
So I was thinking that and also thinking about my old boss, whose name is on the drive leading up to the Des Moines Botanical Center, and what Robert D. Ray would think about the 36-year-old black woman who was doing the speaking. As a lifelong Republican, would he be engaged with her presentation as I was despite her allegiance to the Iowa Democratic Party?
Perhaps.
I figured she was at least hitting the right chords for him:
Get serious about Iowa's educational system, once the pride of all Iowans, and now is not.
Be constantly mindful of those Iowans who are powerless to change their plight without help from a caring state government.
And in place of the usual political fighting, she reminded her audience that "Iowans are not mean" and that division need not hold us back as we strive to create a better state.
Sort of a "Hope and Change" message I was hearing.
And being a minority hasn't seemed to hold her back. Neither had it seemed to slow down that young Illinois senator in the 2008 Iowa caucuses, that guy who got my friend John all excited.
And this young woman isn't even a native Iowan! She is originally from Mississippi, lured to Iowa at age 18 by a scholarship from Drake University. She fell in love with the state, started a small business, got involved in party politics, and ran (unsuccessfully) for Iowa Secretary of State in 2018.
She is Deidre DeJear. There's a nice alliteration to her name. As she pointed out, in the list of great former Iowa governors, we had an H.H. (Harold Hughes) and R.R (Robert Ray).
Pollsters give her about as much chance of knocking off the incumbent today as a snowball in a Shelby County cornfield.
But I heard her speak the other night.
If you get a chance, you should take a listen. I wish my buddy John could hear her, too. After all, he's been good at picking winners.
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Julie, here.
First, I must say that I was wrong when I wrote a few weeks before the gubernatorial primary that Iowa Dems needed to find a candidate besides Deidre DeJear. It was a reaction to the financial disclosure report that had DeJear struggling with little cash on hand and a high burn rate of what she brought in.
But DeJear cleared the field, winning her primary without opposition. Then, I thought: ok, she won; her party needs to support her because she is the candidate who will face Kim Reynolds in November. It was more from a place of resignation than hope.
Then I started hearing from people across the state I admire. A friend in Storm Lake called after DeJear spent a Work Day in a local school and held an event in town.
"She's outstanding," said my pal. "Everyone loved her."
There was something in her voice that sounded excited.
I've heard similar reports from other parts of the state.
On July 19, Chuck Offenburger wrote his take on DeJear (Can Diedre DeJear, Eric Van Lancker, the Isiserettes, and perhaps the Obamas Re-awaken the soul of Iowa?). This week, writer/radio newsman Bob Leonard's column headline: Deidre DeJear is the Best Democratic Governor Candidate in Iowa in a Generation.
And in a column by the Cedar Rapids Gazette political columnist Todd Dorman, he compared Dejear's fundraising to past gubernatorial candidates:
So what gives, big Democratic givers? Maybe you think she's not competitive, which is a self-fulfilling prophecy. This is no time to hedge bets.
Do you not want to invest in making history by helping make DeJear Iowa's first Black governor? Or does that prospect make you uncomfortable enough to sit on your wallets? We'd all like to know.
On Wednesday, we finally heard her speak ourselves. We get it now. She owned the room from the moment she entered.
During DeJear's give-and-take with the audience, I sat behind Richard and watched as he nodded and applauded spontaneously. He stood up to speak. I gripped my seat thinking, uh oh. What's my favorite old, white guy about to say?
In a moment akin to testifying at a tent revival, Richard said DeJear reminded him of his favorite former boss, Robert D. Ray, saying he believed she would work to represent all of Iowa.
See for yourself this coming Monday. Democratic candidate for governor Deidre DeJear will be our Monday Zoom Lunch guest. Become a Zoomer by joining our growing list of paid subscribers. Proceeds benefit the Okoboji Writers’ Retreat scholarship fund:
I met Kyrsten Sinema 12 years ago when she was a state senator in Arizona. I thought she was the rising star of the Democratic Party.
Richard and Julie, your reflections about Diedre match the impression Larry and I had when we left the event last Wednesday evening. Diedre is intelligent, thoughtful, and genuine. When the evening was over I told her that I loved the way she thinks and I love the way she speaks from her heart. Larry was impressed with the way she talked about republicans. In that arena she could have taken a shot at the Republican Party and would likely have been cheered. But she did not do that. Instead she talked about how she has always reached out to republicans to start a conversation. She said we have so much common ground to explore together. She sounds like a leader to me!