By all accounts it was an honest mistake, political party convention attendees said.

Republican congressional candidate Dan Dolan of Muscatine arrived early at the Monroe County Courthouse for the Republican convention being held Saturday in Albia, Iowa.

Unfortunately, the county Democrats were holding their convention in the same building, and Dolan spoke to the wrong group of people.

“Nobody asked enough questions before he started speaking,” Monroe County Supervisor Denny Ryan said. “It finally got to the point in the speech where one of the people said, ‘Are you sure you’re at the right convention?’”

Dolan laughed Monday when he described the encounter.

“It was a crazy day,” Dolan said. “We had scheduled 10 speaking engagements through the district.”

Dolan and a staffer arrived at the courthouse and headed up the stairs into the convention.

“My staffer runs up and says, ‘Hey, Dan Dolan is here. Can he speak?’ So they stopped everything, and I get up there and give my speech,” Dolan said. “I get done, a guy raises his hand and says, ‘I think you want to talk to the Republicans.’”