SLOGGING through Iowa with John Edwards

Eli Sanders (The Stranger's blog, "SLOG"):

Oh look, it’s 5 a.m. again. They tell me I’m in Ottumwa. While we have another brief moment of electricity, warmth, and wireless, some more photoblogging from the Edwards up-all-night bus tour.

12:00 a.m. Jan 2
Atlantic, Iowa. This was a farm house, very American pastoral, where John and Elizabeth Edwards had cornbread and black-eyed peas…

…and reporters took notes through indoor windows dressed in lacy trim (in the background is the cutest wood burning cooking stove ever)…

…and the farmer who owns the house looked like this:

2:15 a.m. Jan 2
Creston, Iowa. This stop was notable for the fact that we got to sleep two hours before it happened. The drill now is this: Sleep, fret about battery life, wake up, ask where you are, have no idea what it means, pull on jacket, know it won’t help that much, step out into the dark, feel physically ill from the temperature difference, and find yourself, say, in a lovely house with blue interior.

The stump speech keeps getting shorter, and I feel like I could give it myself by now… “Fight for you,” “stand up,” “this is very personal to me…”

Only about 15 more hours and 8 more stops to go. See you at the next stop with wireless. Meanwhile I hear the sun just came up.

It’s morning in America, wherever in America I am, and it’s time to get back on the bus.

Howie P.S.: More SLOGGING here. Oh yeah, the Des Moines Register tagged along, too. And the NY Times adds a few amusing details. Michael Moore chimes in with his feelings about the top three democratic candidates and finishes with a few nicer words for Mr. Edwards.