Iowa delegates score prime seats at the Democratic National Convention

Fifty-six Iowa delegates will be among the throng of Democrats attending the presidential nominating convention that starts Monday in Boston. John McCormally, a spokesman for the Iowa Democratic Party, says Iowans have prime seating on the convention floor.McCormally says the Iowa delegation will be seated in the front row in the hall, alongside the hometown Massachusetts crowd. McCormally says Iowa has voted for the democrat running for president in each election since 1988. He says having party nominee John Kerry and his runningmate John Edwards finish first and second in the Iowa Caucuses probably played a part in the decision to seat Iowans in front. Away from the convention hall, Iowa Democrats will be seeing some of the party luminaries in person during daily breakfast meetings.Several from this year’s pack of democratic presidential candidates will speak to Iowans, including retired General Wesley Clark and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, the convention’s chairman, and Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy will also speak. We’ll bring you their comments next week on Radio Iowa. McCormally says the convention is a party-building exercise.McCormally says it’s a way to showcase the party and what it stands for but it’s also a reward for those at the local level who’ve toiled in get-out-the-vote efforts.