Last night I attended the Republican Party of Iowa's Rising Star event. On a scale of one to four stars (like a hotel), I would give the event one star. ... The bar. A folding table with young ladies handing out bottles of beer, water, soda and glasses of wine. The surprising thing about the bar, you had to pay dearly for everything. A bottle of water and a small soda each cost $2, beer and wine were $3 - $4. No free water. I thought it odd that we would have to pay for water and sodas but the best was yet to come. We entered into the rooms displaying the art and joined the others milling about. There were no tables set up with finger foods, hot foods, cold foods, nothing but a small bowl of chex mix.