On the way to Adel was the first time I had rode with Newt. (Michael, a terrific video guy, had to leave to go home between John Wayne's hometown trip and this, so everyone was able to fit in one car.)
Newt made a point of asking me to sit in the back on the driver's side so that we could talk (he, of course, was in the front passenger seat). Some of the topics were the campaign (of course) as well as the upcoming movie Moneyball, based on a book about the use of metrics in baseball. Newt refers to it quite a bit in his own book The Art of Transformation.
Once at the fair, Newt was greeted by many people even before he got to the bleachers for the dirt track. While he and I sat down, his press secretary, R.C. Hammond, began taking pictures of the track, and unbeknownst to me, this one:
In between requests for pictures and handshakes from those around us, Newt and I talked about the NASCAR track that is about an hour from where I live (and how my hometown made a huge mistake in passing up on it) as well as some political matters. He finally recommended a book I should read -- I was shocked it took this long!
We ended up leaving around 10 PM and making the thirty minute drive east back to West Des Moines.
I thank Speaker Gingrich, Michael Krull, and R.C. for allowing me a chance to travel around this weekend.
I will be back in the Hawkeye State in about a month for the State Fair.
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