Vilsack gets personal, Clark says a vote for Trump a ‘strategic mistake’: Iowa DNC reporter’s notebook, Day 4

FORMER REAGAN OFFICIAL, IOWA NATIVE FOR CLINTON: Doug Elmets, an Iowa native who worked for Republican President Ronald Reagan, spoke in support of Hillary Clinton at the convention Thursday evening.

Elmets, who grew up in Des Moines, contrasted Reagan with current Republican nominee Donald Trump, who he called 'a petulant, dangerously unbalanced reality star.”

'I knew Ronald Reagan. I worked for Ronald Reagan. And Donald Trump, you are no Ronald Reagan,” Elmets said.

Elmets said he will for the first time vote for a Democratic presidential candidate, and encouraged concerned Republicans to do the same.

Elmets has donated to both Republican and Democratic state candidates in California, where he lives.

VILSACK SHARES PERSONAL STORY:

U.S. ag secretary and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack wants to inspire Democratic activists to work hard during the next three months to elect Hillary Clinton as president. Just like Mark Weiner.

Speaking at the Thursday morning gatherings of the Iowa and Wisconsin delegations to the Democratic National Convention at the Philadelphia, Vilsack implored activists to not be content with attending the convention. Go home and work for the presidential campaign, he said.

Vilsack cited the example of his friend Weiner, a Democratic activist from Rhode Island, who died Tuesday. Weiner, who had leukemia, died as he was preparing to come to the convention, according to the Providence Journal.

Vilsack said Weiner, also a close friend of the Clintons, supported Vilsack as Clinton's running mate and made calls on his behalf, even though he was living in hospice.

'He cared that much about our country,” Vilsack said. 'Each of us needs to care that much about this election, and if we do, we're going to make history.”

Former President Bill Clinton mentioned Weiner during his address to the convention Wednesday night.

STRATEGIC MISTAKES:

Just like it was a 'strategic mistake” for him not to campaign in Iowa in the 2004 Democratic caucus campaign, retired Gen. Wesley Clark told Iowa delegates to the Democratic National Convention it would be a strategic mistake to elect Republican Donald Trump.

Clark, who now works with America's Renewable Future, which promotes ethanol and other fuels, said electing Trump would be the 'biggest mistake in history.”

No other presidential candidate, he said, has shown less willingness to respect other people, less attention to detail or less respect for his opponent.

Clark also suggested Trump violated the Logan Act when he encouraged Russian cyber-hackers to look for Hillary Clinton's 30,000 lost emails. The Logan Act forbids Americans from siding with its enemies.

On Thursday, Trump said he was being sarcastic when he made the comment.

- Gazette Des Moines Bureau