Leach on Romney--Mormon Handcart Pioneer Event

Last week one of my blog entries was informing folks of the upcoming Iowa City event commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Mormon Handcart Pioneer Trek from this very location to the Salt Lake Valley. The event was yesterday and was highlighted by the presence of the leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, President Gordon B. Hinckley, who spoke at this event that was broadcast worldwide to church membership. It was a wonderful event with powerful and moving messages and music.

As chance would have it, my wife and I were included in the pre-meeting "VIP" reception (long, and silly, story on that one) and we had the opportunity to meet with our U.S. House of Representatives Congressman, Jim Leach. I ended up sitting by him for the entire program as well and he stated that he was impressed by the historic and religious import of the talks given by Boyd K. Packer and President Hinckley.

Interestingly, last Friday evening I marched with the Johnson County Republicans (website and blogsite) in the North Liberty "Fun Days" Parade where I was wearing a . . . you guessed it, "Jim Leach for Congress" T-shirt. Obviously, he seemed pleased by this. (Laura was sporting a "Jim Nussle for Governor" shirt and we walked the parade route as a family, with all four boys).

Representative Leach and I discussed various topics (including an interesting conversation on ebryonic stem cell research) and I informed him of my interest in Gov. Romney for President in 2008. He had been with "Mitt" (as he called him) a few weeks ago for a fundraiser and had been duly impressed with how personable Romney was and how people seem drawn to him and feel they "connect" with him. He felt that this was a definite advantage that Romney had over several of the other potential GOP nominees (though he felt Pataki had this skill as well, others, who shall not be named, definitely lacked it). He also felt that this was going to be one of the most interesting presidential races in recent history because of the lack of an incumbent or "heir apparent" VP.

Overall, I was very impressed with Representative Leach. He was nice enough to pose for a photo with me as well. Although, he's a little bit more moderate than I am on several issues, I have no problem supporting him in this re-election race (especially when compared to the Democratic opposition). Leach will definitely be getting my vote in November!