[laughter] the next great senator from iowa, bruce braley. [applause] i know we have a lot of folks from all over iowa. we have folks from waterloo here. we have folks from the butte, des moines, and indianola. [applause] i come from a city that google maps says is almost exactly 1000 miles away from here. san antonio, texas. it is america's seventh-largest city and one of the fastest growing cities in the u.s. economically prosperous and vibrant, 1.3 million people. i have been mayor for about four years. a couple of months after i got elected mayor, i had a meeting with a woman in my office at city hall and i don't even remember what we were meeting about anymore. when you are an elected official, you get a lot of gifts. most of them are trinkets or t- shirts. i think i have something like 200 t-shirts, about five of them actually fit me. i was a rookie mayor, and this woman gave me this gift that was covered with tissue paper. i started unwrapping the tissue paper and i took the gift out. it was a prayer card. it was of st. thomas more. i

[laughter] the next great senator from iowa, bruce braley. [applause] know we have a lot of folks from all over iowa. we have folks from waterloo here. butte, folks from the des moines, and indianola. [applause] i come from a city that google maps says is almost exactly 1000 miles away from here. san antonio, texas. it is america's seventh-largest city and one of the fastest growing cities in the u.s. economically prosperous and vibrant, 1.3 million people. i have been mayor for about them a years. -- four years. a couple of months after i got elected mayor, i had a meeting with a woman in my office at city hall and i don't even remember what we were meeting about anymore. when you are an elected official, you get a lot of gifts. most of them are treated sore t- shirts. i think i have something like -- trinkets or t-shirts. i think i have something like five. , and thisokie mayor woman gave me this gift agate was covered with tissue paper. with tissuecovered paper. i started unwrapping the tissue paper and i took the gift out. it was a prayer

[laughter] the next great senator from iowa, bruce braley. [applause] i know we have a lot of folks from all over iowa. we have folks from waterloo here. we have folks from the butte, des moines, and indianola. [applause] i come from a city that google maps says is almost exactly 1000 miles away from here. san antonio, texas. it is america's seventh-largest city and one of the fastest growing cities in the u.s. economically prosperous and vibrant, 1.3 million people. i have been mayor for about them a years. -- four years. a couple of months after i got elected mayor, i had a meeting with a woman in my office at city hall and i don't even remember what we were meeting about anymore. when you are an elected official, you get a lot of gifts. most of them are treated sore t- shirts. i think i have something like -- trinkets or t-shirts. i think i have something like five. i was a rookie mayor, and this woman gave me this gift agate was covered with tissue paper. -- that was covered with tissue paper. i started unwrapping the tissue paper and i t

they are campaigning on the democrat we saw earlier, bruce braley, he is a congressman be and is running' state. back then, the attendance was 20 people and since then, for example, when bill clinton attended in 1992, there were about 5,000 people at the steak fry, when candidates including hillary clinton attended in 2007, 15,000 people attended. this is kind of considered a stepping stone to the white house. there have been a trio of events today, other fundraisers. vice president joe biden making inroads with iowa democrat .eaders as reported and senator harkin was asked if vice president biden's visit was a testing ground to 2016, senator harkin said he liked to eat steak. that is from the "des moines register." earlier at the barbecue here at the steak fry, one of the reporters standing outside was asking vice president biden if he was ready for 2016. he responded that he wants to win some house and senate seats now. and then another asked him about syria and vice president biden's response there was i think we're going to be ok. so we should be hearing from a number of speakers sho