I went to the rally with John Kelly held at U.S. Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids, today.

Iowa State has 7 votes. According to the poll, Bush and Kerry are very close. Both got nearly 50 percent of the approval rating. So, this visit would affect the result in Iowa States.

However, not so many people came, because at first, the president nominee John Kerry was supposed to come here, but he had a problem with his throat. The vice president nominee John Edwards came instead. According to the newspaper, requests of the ticket were about 5000, but the attendance was only 2500.
I heard this news last night. It must have made people disappointed. It was obviously less people that when the president Bush came to Cedar Rapids in early September. In my opinion, he should have come here. It can be regarded as the Democrats think of Iowa not so highly.

In the center, I saw various kinds of signboards here. Laborer, veterans, women, and other organizations had own signboards to support Kerry. I brought some signboard as souvenirs.

I knew speech starts at 6pm, but my friends and I went there in advance, at 4pm.
At 5pm, all the audience stood, and then singer sang the National Anthem. After that, the governor of Iowa State made a speech.

Around 6:30pm, John Edwards appeared at last. The audience stood and applauded. Although I saw him from the 2nd floor, he looked so handsome.
He was a good speaker.
First of all, he didn窶冲 use any papers to have a speech. That was amazing. For one thing, he was a lawyer, so he stood trial many times. This experience made him good speaker. My friend, Gen, said it was because he made lots of speeches in the same contents. Certainly, it is true, he have been to most part of the United States, and has a meeting many times, but in contrast, Geroge.W.Bush has a paper when he has a speech. It could be said a big difference. Second, he made efficient eye contact some times, my teacher pointed out. Eye contact is one of the most important things when making speeches. I am not good at making eye contact, so his speech was good example for me.

I couldn窶冲 figure out the contents of the speech at all until I read newspaper. According to the report, he talked about the Iraqi affairs, health care and Medicare occasionally with criticizing the Bush administration.

While his speech, the audience held up own signboard, and yelled something. I was overwhelmed so much that I couldn窶冲 shout any words out. I also couldn窶冲 understand what Edwards said at all until I read newspaper, for one thing, we couldn窶冲 hear clear voice because of the microphone窶冱 problem. In addition, he talked so fast. According to the report, he talked about the Iraqi affairs, health care and Medicare occasionally with criticizing the Bush administration. If I could figure out the contents of the speech, it must have been much more interesting. It was regrettable, but anyway, it was so exciting experience.