It's a day for political opportunity. In separate events, Governor Vilsack and Candidate Blouin went off with cloying talk on issues that need apolitical compassion.

Vilsack, when asked to comment on the death of his former chief of staff, used his trademark style of weaving this unrelated tragedy into a political message directed at giving the cigarette tax a media boost.

Vilsack tied his friend's suicide brought on by the abuse of prescription drugs to increasing the tobacco tax. The string of logic on this one: tobacco products are a "gateway" drug. Vilsack quotes from Radio Iowa.