We’re more than half way across Iowa! Yesterday was a tough day – it was in the mid-90s for much of the 70-mile ride. Don Hooper took a header when another biker fell in front of him. Don’s fine – just a few scrapes and a popped tire, which got fixed by a good samaritan cyclist. The other biker is fine as well. But it can be a bit dicey out there – there were about 15,000 cyclists on the road in blazing heat. We’ve all witnessed a few doozies.

OK, back to politics. We never did see Sen. Edwards on the road with Lance. But we saw some small Biden ’08 posters, a couple of kids with Rudy ’08 signs, and some big Ron Paul for President billboards out in some fields. The prevailing question from cyclists going passed the Ron Paul signs was: Who is Ron Paul?

But Edwards was on the road with Lance for a few miles, according to news reports.

Some news reports say Democrat Joe Biden’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, was scheduled to ride today, and Republican Mitt Romney’s sons are riding tomorrow.

Kate Hofmann spoke with Christy Vilsack, wife of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. She was volunteering at a Clinton campaign booth. Kate said Mrs. Vilsack was very eager to discuss global warming, and asked Kate some probing questions that she said she would relay to Sen. Clinton. The message – make global warming a priority in the campaign!

Our team has spoken to so many local and state politicians this week, as well as hundreds of Iowans and others on RAGBRAI. The overriding theme – Iowans really get the issue of global warming, and want some action from political leaders.

We’re headed to Independence, IA today. Three days to go! Send me some comments or questions, will ya?

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Published: July 26, 2007