At the Iowa Democratic party's Jefferson-Jackson dinner tonight in Des Moines, I found myself sitting in front of Hillary Clinton's section on the balcony. (Veterans Memorial Auditorium was seated like a college football game, with each team getting its own sections and wearing its own colours.)
About 30 minutes before the start of the programme, Hillary campaign chair and former DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe showed up on the balcony with music legend Quincy Jones in tow to help rally the troops. Jones was wearing a Hillary pin and has endorsed the New York senator's presidential bid.
I didn't get an opportunity to interview Jones, who looked exhausted and a little out of it and sat in the row directly behind me. But just after he signed some autographs I caught his eye. "I'm tired," he told me. "They're killing me. I only slept two hours last night."
"Hang in there, man," I told the man who produced Michael Jackson's first three albums and has won multiple Grammy awards. "You know I will," he replied. He grasped my extended hand and leaned on me for balance as he stood. Then he walked out of the section with McAuliffe.
