2010 Jefferson Jackson Dinner - Oct. 20, 2010

Hello everyone! Let me say first of all, to Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky, thank you very much for the little stool to stand on. It’s the first time that I’ve been at one of these where I actually felt like I fit the podium. So thank you, that’s great.

It’s good to see so many of you here tonight. So many good friends. I’ve seen many of you, as we have crossed the state, time and time again. Chet and Mary and I have been out on the campaign trail as you know. But you know there is a person that I have not seen a lot of, and that is Terry’s running mate, Kim Reynolds.

I want you to know, that that’s not because I haven’t been trying. Well Kim and I have been offered an opportunity to debate, and I was certainly ready to go, but Terry wouldn’t let her do it. I certainly hope you remember how he jumped out in front of her to talk to the press when she was asked about debating me, rather than letting her speak for herself.

Now, my friends, I love Chet Culver just like my brother. But believe me, nobody tells me when or where I can talk. Well, Terry and his people said that Kim’s schedule was full, she needed to be out talking to Iowans so I told her that I would just bring the debate to her, if she’d just tell me where and when. I’ve been out looking for her.

I couldn’t find her here, so I tried the mall, but she wasn’t there either. I couldn’t find her here, or here. Well, I did see her once, here. Right after Chet won the debate in Cedar Rapids. But she didn’t stick around, she seemed to be in an awful hurry. For some reason, I just don’t understand why, all I really wanted to do was have a chat.

Well, it would have been fun to debate Kim. It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, however. I had faith that Terry would eventually let her debate if we kept talking about it. But you know what, he let us down one more time. So, I’m just going to take that faith and I’m going to put it into every one of you. Because every time that Chet and I have asked you to show up, you’ve been there for us. And we thank you for that from the bottom of our heart, and we need you to continue to do that, to keep showing up for us for the next 17 days, and we know you will do that.

Now, someone else who has always shown up for me is my husband John, my husband for 41 years on Monday. I can’t imagine that my parents let me marry so young. John is away tonight, he’s in Quantico, Virginia. His officer candidate school class is meeting. They were the subject of a recent book called the Boys of 67, which tells the story of those young Marines of that time, and the sacrifice they made for the country. Thirty-nine members of John’s class were killed in Vietnam, and tonight a memorial is being dedicated to them at the National Marine Corps Museum. John really wanted to be there, and I understood.

I understood that he needed to show up, that he needed to be there for the families of the Marines that didn’t come home. So I promised tonight, I would take a minute to talk about the commitment that Chet and I have to the men and women that severed in our armed forces. More than just saying we support our troops, we have taken action. Last legislative session with the help of many fine legislators that are here tonight, we became the first state in the nation to pass all 10 of the Department of Defense’s recommended policies for our troops and trailing families. The first in the nation.

Those recommendations included things like unemployment compensation for trailing spouses, increased educational benefits for spouses and dependents, and expanding parental rights for deployed parents. Important stuff. Chet and I are pretty proud of that.

Chet even went overseas to visit deployed troops, they are fighting for all of us, and we will keep fighting for them and their families. And now, I want to introduce to you someone who is going to keep fighting for vets, for seniors, for children, for all of us. This is Chet culvers 14th public event this week. He is running a campaign that you would not believe.

He is doing that because it is so important to each of us, so important to our families, so important to the children of this state. Terry Branstad is not really running as vigorous of a campaign. I believe he’s had 7 events this week, maybe we need to start looking for him instead of Kim Reynolds.

I have been proud every day for the last 4 years. To serve alongside Chet Culver. And you know what, I’m going to be just as proud to serve beside him for the next 4 years.

Speech from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJKaAVfxtM.