On Tuesday morning this week, former Vice President — and current Democrat front-runner for President — “Sleepy” Joe Biden stopped by Council Bluffs for a visit.
The button brigade was outside as usual as a couple hundred people showed up to squeeze into the Grass Wagon events center. The crowd included the usual media types along with former Congressman Brad Ashford, local blogger Dave Begley, and the pair of autograph hounds who followed every candidate back in 2016.
Biden was introduced by a local cancer survivor named Connie Gronstal shortly before eleven, and then Biden gave a remarkably short stump speech — just under 19 minutes — focusing on standard Democrat topics like healthcare and free college. He didn’t spend a whole lot of time on Trump or his recent controversial tweets, first delving into his healthcare plan, which was more public option than Medicare or All. He didn’t seem to know all the details himself and told everyone to check his website to read them. He seemed to lack a lot of energy and stumble around up until the end, where he suddenly started raising the volume as he wrapped things up.
Afterward, Biden stayed for nearly an hour afterward to greet everyone along the rope line and get photos with anyone who wanted one (including me, of course). I’ve never been a fan of Biden, but sticking around to meet and greet that many people when you’re already the party front runner put him up a notch in my book.
