The center of my world is Wyoming.  But Wyoming is often a long way from the political center of America.

The center of the world when it comes to American Presidential politics right now is the state of Iowa. 

         Located in the middle of the country and smack during a time of what locals call “dog days,” those humid, sticky days in mid-August, the 20-plus candidates for president all come to the Hawkeye state.

         The middle of the state in the middle of the country is Des Moines, Iowa’s state capitol. It was a busy place this year.

         I found myself in Iowa for 10 days in August as we were attending my wife’s high school reunion one weekend and the wedding of a niece the following one.

         GOP presidential hopefuls Jeb Bush, Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee showed up.  Democrats Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley were there too.

         One of the biggest events of the summer in the Midwest is the famous Iowa State Fair. It is there the Des Moines Register hosts its “soapbox” for candidates and they all show up

         On a Friday in August, former Florida governor Jeb Bush was the big attraction. I waited in traffic for 90 minutes before finally getting into the fairgrounds. I was positive that I was going to be late, but made it with 10 minutes to spare. The crowd was huge and crushing. It was hot and humid. It was exciting and electric.

         Bush was not late. He was right on time. And he did a terrific job. There were a few protesters yelling about either Planned Parenthood or the Iraq War but mainly his talk went well.

         He mainly boasted about being a reformer in Florida and how much that is prepping him to become president.  He sounds like a guy wanting to put US troops into the Arab region to deal with ISIS, which received a cool reception in generally anti-war Iowa. It appeared he was trying to back away from his brother, former president George Bush, but was also blaming current President Barack Obama for the Iraq debacle.

         The slimmed down Bush (he’s lost 40 pounds) seemed youthful and energized.

         The next day Donald Trump showed up at the fair about the same time as Hillary Clinton.

         Trump is mad at the Des Moines Register so he skipped their event and landed his helicopter on a softball field near the fairgrounds. He answered reporters’ questions and was very critical of both Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton.

         He contends Bush is a puppet to his donors and Hillary is in deep legal trouble because of her email accounts possibly having classified documents on a private non-government email server.

         Trump flew his fancy helicopter into the fairgrounds and gave children rides in it. 

         Both Trump and Hillary created huge distractions at the fair with large crowds that prevented them from seeing a giant statue of a cow made of butter.  I saw it.  Not that big a deal.

         It is traditional for candidates to eat pork chops on a stick and drink beer at 10 a. m. in the morning. Bush did these things as did Trump and Hillary. Crazy times in a crazy place.

Over 1 million people attend the fair. It reminded me of Cheyenne’s Frontier Days.

         Earlier, on our way to Iowa, we stopped in Laramie and visited with the folks at the University of Wyoming Alumni Association.  We hope to be working with Keener Fry and Chase McNamee on some future promotions.

         Keener told me he was hosting a UW event in Omaha on the following Monday, which was just 35 miles from where we were staying in Iowa.  Thus we showed up and joined a rousing group of UW grads at the Upstream Brewpub at Omaha’s Old Market, hearing some exciting news about the university being told to some very enthusiastic grads. Lots of fun.

         At Nancy’s 50^th class reunion in Harlan, Iowa, we discovered that two of her classmates had spent much of their adult lives in Wyoming. Rhea Jean Magnuson and her husband Gary lived in Gillette for years. They now live in Arizona.

         Jan Hughes McIntosh and her husband Tom were teachers in Green River for most of their careers. They now live in Loveland, CO.

         Out of 100 students in Nancy’s graduation class (50 boys and 50 girls), three ended up spending their adult lives in Wyoming. Seems like a good percentage.