War vote keeps candidate from spinning yarn
Sen. Dodd won't weave way into Knitting Ladies' hearts
"Not coming?" I responded. "I've got my bags packed and my hotel booked."
The "he" is Sen. Chris Dodd, who is one of the Democratic candidates running for president. Karen is one of the Knitting Ladies of Waverly, Iowa, a group of high-powered women who live in a small town, 120 miles north of Des Moines, and meet every week to knit and talk politics. Karen had invited Dodd to knit with them today and he had initially accepted. She invited me along, too.
"It's the war," she lamented. "It disrupts everything." Including Dodd's willingness to knit with the gals.
Dodd, of Connecticut, was forced to stay in Washington because of a vote Wednesday on a bill to cut off financing for major Iraq operations. For Dodd this is important legislation -- a way to send a signal to the recalcitrant Iraqi government that Americans will not support them forever.
His aides said he really wanted to come to the weekly knitting session but he wasn't sure he was going to be able to make it on time because of the importance of this bill, which is also being supported by Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. So Dodd would take a rain check.
In March they invited me to one of their confabs with the proviso that I needed to know how to knit. I brought my tape recorder and notebook instead, thinking if I was a four-armed Hindu goddess like Lakshmi, knitting and taking notes would be a breeze. But I can barely decipher my notes after I have written them, let alone try to knit and note in tandem.
The women welcomed me even though I had no knitting bag (instead, I wore a red sweater I had made) and regaled me with their opinions on Obama and Clinton -- she pressed a few buttons -- and two of the Anns got into a verbal row over George W. Bush. One liked him -- she said, jokingly, that he looked great in Wranglers -- and this led to a rejoinder that I won't repeat in a family newspaper.
The ladies have decided to meet despite the AWOL Dodd. They will not meet at McDonald's this time but at one of their homes. The hostess, Wendy, wants me to see the Spider-Man slippers she was knitting when I first met her, although Karen says Wendy's "son refuses to wear them because he doesn't think they look 'happy.' " Doesn't he understand that it is for a good political cause?
"Most of us are still undecided and are really committed to meeting the candidates in person before we make a decision," Karen explained to me in an e-mail earlier this week. "I have spoken with several campaigns and am feeling optimistic that more candidates will be sitting down for a chat with the knitters. Once the word gets out that Lois is making her famous mini-cupcakes and Elizabeth is making her apple pie bars, I think we'll even get some Republican candidates."
Most of the group are Democrats, but there are the few denim-loving Republicans who occasionally get tongue-lashed over some blooper or questionable position taken by Bush. They are probably feeling a little Bushwhacked these days and are keeping their mouths shut.
At least one of the knitters of Waverly is close to making up her mind about who she will vote for in the primary. It's one of the Anns and she is an inch away from supporting Clinton. The rest of the knitters remain stubbornly noncommittal. Karen says Dick Gephardt broke her heart in 2004 -- she had backed him all the way and then he dropped out. So this time she is playing it cool.
I will find out more today when I visit the Knitting Ladies of Waverly. Dodd may be stuck in Washington, but I've promised the ladies I'll be there. And I do need to lavish praise on those Spider-Man slippers.