Corning, Iowa — There are 40 chairs set out in the foyer of the Corning Opera House. For the record, Corning, Iowa, does not seem like a big opera town. Just 1,600 people live here, and just 4,000 stouthearted Iowans reside in Adams County, making it the least populous county in the Hawkeye State. For a political event, 40 chairs should be plenty.
By the time Ben Carson begins to speak, at 8:30 a.m. on a June Friday, some 130 people have arrived. We’ve abandoned the foyer for the opera house itself, where the crowd takes up every seat on the main floor and has forced a handful of listeners into the balcony.
Comments