Anyone go to the Hall of Fame dinner in CR with Dean last night?

[pstans]

Just wondering how it went.

[cooperscooper]

1. It was pretty good...

Great to see Howard again...

[Debi]

2. How many were there?

And did the Media behave?

[CornField]

3. I did

It was a nice evening. Many of the people around me were less than thrilled with Dean, although I think he won a few over before the night ended.

He looked personally strained to me - like he had been battling a horrid headache for 2-3 days. It must have been difficult and possible stressful for him to return to Iowa after what happened during the caucus. He really thought the whole thing was in the bag and I think the caucus results really hit him hard.

The only media I've read after the fact was the Cedar Rapids Gazette. I think they were fair with their coverage, although not perfect. The lead seemed to imply that Dean was giving the Iowa Dems a slap on the wrist for only complaining about Bush and not coming up with their own solutions. In reality, Dean focused more on us already having solutions that we need to put before the public (not that we need to develop them).

[progressoid]

4. "He looked personally strained to me"

I bet he did. He has a HUGE job and seems to be one of the few in the party actually working.