Protestors at Romney event - QC Times photo

I went down to join Progressive Iowa and local Quad Citians protesting the appearance of Willard Milton Romney in Davenport today. About 30 citizens showed up, but of course in this land of free speech we were so far removed from where the actual event would take place that no one aside from TV cameras could see us.

There was an hour or more between the end of the protest and Romney’s appearance. Reminder: the day was hot and the wind howling at a horrendous pace. I decided to drive around downtown Davenport to see where the Romney event was. Google map had it about 5 blocks from where it actually occurred.

I was sad to see Davenport kind of run down, but I am getting used to seeing once proud towns hurting because of the new Walmart and the lack of revenue. I was unable to find the location, so decided to come home. I drove down River Street and low and behold, Romney signs. I followed the signs and found the venue.

If I was picking the most ironic place for a Mitt Romney speech, I could have done no better than his own staff did – right next to the gambling boat. I wonder yet if they have figured this one out yet?

As I drove in I saw a handful of protesters. Figuring if I could find a parking spot, I’d go talk with them. When I did find a parking spot, it was right near the move-on.org “Team RomneyMobile” – a Cadillac Escalade covered with corporate logos and a stuffed dog tied on top. I spoke briefly with the “Team”, thanking them for their work. They will be following the Romney bus around the Midwest.

I then joined the 4 protestors. They got some dirty looks and some yells from afar. Only one guy bothered to go face to face. He spoke of how proud he was to be rich and we said congratulations. He went on, we ignored him and last I saw he got turned around and was headed out. Oh, well.

We had several Ron Paul supporters come by and about half a dozen who said they backed Obama.

It was after 4 and no Romney. I was hot and tired of the wind, so I decided to leave. I was able to drive by the “crowd.” My guess is 300 to 400. Pretty sparse, but then there was never many going in. Not much for a metro area of @300,000.

As I left I chuckled about the crowd, but then caught myself. These appearances are just for show. The Republican plan to win involves billions of dollars of commercials and maybe some well-placed vote counting  software.