Obama to Iowa City Thursday

President will visit Iowa City Thursday

Yes, it's big headline time. The Reg has all the details we have so far: Thursday, Iowa City. White House release mentioned that the original health care rollout was in Iowa City, which would point, maybe, to a UIHC venue...


I was at that event in May 2007 with full liveblog coverage; compare notes on what was proposed then with what passed last night.

Last Obama visit to Iowa was in Newton last April for wind energy. Last presidential visit to Iowa City was when W choppered in at flood time in June of `08.

UPDATE 1: Gazette says IC law enforcement has been prepping and Secret Service got to town Friday.

Now that the health care bill is a reality, the sales pitch continues, and the Dems have no better salesman than The Prez.

We in Iowa City are an interesting choice: Iowa is still a purplish state, but my People's Republic is the most Obama friendly spot in the state (70% in 2008, 50+% on Caucus Night). The Reg says Iowa is the only stop of the day; I don't know if he's taking it on the road anywhere else earlier in the week.

No word on venue yet. A UIHC site, to parallel the 2007 event, would imply limited, invited attendance, but Obama could easily fill a much bigger space if they want to go the big crowd route.

Speaking of which, this joke is already making the rounds; I'll quote one of my Republican readers Todd Versteegh, though I heard it elsewhere first: "Maybe President Obama is coming to Iowa City to interview for the Iowa Men's Basketball job...Carver attendance problem would be solved. Obama could just issue executive orders from the bench to give Iowa a victory whenever they were behind." and we certainly could have used such authority last season...

Stay tuned...