IowaPolitics.com BlogWatch

Myself and fellow Drake Democrats have been essentially blessed to have had the opportunity to host or meet two 2008 Democratic Presidential candidates in a 24 hour period. Yesterday afternoon, Senator Joe Biden and Congressman Leonard Boswell held a townhall discussion on college affordability with about 100 students. This afternoon, former governor of Virginia Mark Waner attended an event for Secretary of State Candidate Mike Mauro. About 60 people attended the event at The Plaza in Des Moines, mostly folks outside of the college age. Both Governor Warner and Senator Biden were quite receptive to the students and the audiences at their events and were able to hold the attention of the audiences quite well. Senator Biden stayed for almost an hour after Congressman Boswell left for another event to get to know students and to keep answering their questions.

Chairman of the Commonwealth PAC Doug Gross made the television rounds last week, not to be outdone, Sen. Chuck Larson ducked into "The Big Show" with John Gibson to talk about Senator McCain's presidential ambitions (When Mrrs., Kennedy, Iverson, and Woolson head to the airwaves, we'll cover that as well). Here's a clip from his comments.

So, Mr. Larson, you already chose to join up with John McCain. There were a lot of people courting you. I have got a full screen just to illustrate to people who was after you. Look at this: Mitt Romney, George Pataki and John McCain. They were all breathing down your neck. You picked McCain. Why?

I'll start by saying that I was disappointed in Yepsen's endorsement of Culver's plan. Yepsen wrote, "Chet Culver is getting a bum rap on part of his economic-development plan for Iowa. The Democratic candidate for governor has suggested using more of the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) pension fund's venture capital money to invest in high-tech and manufacturing business start-ups in Iowa. It's something other states do. It would help start more new businesses in Iowa. It might even bolster the soundness of the fund by improving the Iowa economy. Republicans are attacking the idea, saying it might make the fund unsound."

From the Des Moines Register... Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner said in Iowa Monday that the United States should begin to withdraw troops from Iraq, which represents a shift for the Democrat who is taking steps toward a run for president in 2008. But Warner, who kicked off a two-day trip through the leadoff caucus state, stopped short of embracing a timeline to have troops out of Iraq, unlike

Via Iowa Liberal, here's a nice little map that allows you to see exactly how much your community has spent on the war in Iraq. Total for Iowa City, $45,400,000. Total for Oshkosh, $51,200,000. I wonder how much would it cost to provide healthcare for every citizen in those communities?

... Who's going to take on Harkin? A nobody who wants it bad, a Statehouse pol with a 'take no prisoners' attitude, a Statewide pressed & creased numbers guy or our favorite winger. Whoever it is, he or she will have to work hard and work fast.

Harkin's already back up running his Elmo & Me shtick and gearing up the troops to push the next set of hot issues - fat kids, alternate fuels, debt relief for twenty-something college grads.

It's no wonder why most high profile GOP types are not particularly interested in the idea of taking on his well-oiled political machine. But what about that other well-oiled machine on the receiving end of Harkin's generosity with other people's money?

Harkin's connection to the CIETC scandal could become a huge political problem as investigations into other Iowa based quasi-governmental organizations unfold.

Chairman of the Commonwealth PAC Doug Gross made the television rounds last week, not to be outdone, Sen. Chuck Larson ducked into "The Big Show" with John Gibson to talk about Senator McCain's presidential ambitions (When Mrrs., Kennedy, Iverson, and Woolson head to the airwaves, we'll cover that as well). Here's a clip from his comments.

... You picked McCain. Why? SEN. CHUCK LARSON, R-IOWA: John, No. 1 - it's good to be with you today - but for a couple of different reasons, No. 1, Sen. John McCain is a fiscal hawk. Secondly, he is a social conservative, with a 24-year pro-life voting record. But from my perspective, the most important issue, whether it's 2006 or 2008, is going to be national security and the global War on Terror. And Sen. McCain recognizes that we must win this war for our own nation's security.

The 2006 political season is upon us, impelling me to write yet another petition to Rep. James Leach, R-Iowa, to cease his campaign "tradition" of handing out faux Indian headdresses.

Four years ago, I wrote to the papers about this and was pleasantly surprised to note the absence of headdresses at Iowa City and Coralville parades. While biking through the Iowa countryside, however, I came across a parade in Lone Tree.

There, the Leach cadets were passing out the paper feathers, all in the spirit of "having a good time."

First, I'd like to thank the Quad City Times for keeping all of their archives open and free. This is what enables bloggers like me to create posts like this.

From this morning's QC Times article "Culver Touts Education at Davenport Stop": It didn't take long for Iowa's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver to launch into criticisms of Republican opponent Jim Nussle... No kidding, what's-his-face critisized the other guy? Oooh, I just can't wait to hear what the other guy has to
say about that.

Three quarters of the coverage on these campaigns is about who-attacked-who, or who-attacked-what. I guess it just isn't newsworthy unless someone is critisizing, accusing, or ripping-a-new-one. It's happening both in the Iowa governor's race and the 1st congressional race, and it's downright silly.

So the preacher sold an apple pie for $60. Couldn't have been too tough, though; the bidders were the RICO Republican faithful gathered for a barbeque at Indian Bluff tonight. The Rev. Scott Culley, the GOP's County Board district 8 candidate, even worked Mom into the pie pitch. He said she'd helped him make a practice pie, before he made the actual auction pie. To cinch the deal, he declared the pie to the calorie-free. He instantly said he was repenting for that statement but it didn't deter the bidders, who in running the price up to $60 made his pie the biggest money-raiser during the candidate pie auction.

I thought about the calory-free apple pie later, when congressional candidate Andrea Zinga was talking about lowering taxes and the evil "death tax" and being in favor of "more deductions, not more taxes." She didn't say anything about the ballooning federal deficit, which used to be a matter of great concern to Republicans, back in the pre-George W. Bush days when they were the party of fiscal responsibility.

The other day Jim Nussle met with the folks at the Institute for Tomorrow's Workforce to discuss education in Iowa. The ITW is a group created by the Legislature to recommend innovative and bold ways to improve Iowa's education system. Nussle was asked where cuts should be made to deal with budget shortfalls. He responded with, "I think there's a lot of room for consolidation of leadership and administration and bureaucracy in education." The Des Moines Register points out the following facts: Iowa has 325 full-time superintendents and 1,225 principals. The state has 365 school districts, and 1,532 public school buildings.

I don't know if the QC Times made a mistake by saying that both Huckabee and Pataki are "former" governors or if VE made the mistake. However if VE identified both Pataki and Huckabee in the poll as "former" Governors it doesn't speak well of their work. Plus where is Newt at? He's been all over Iowa.

Now I don't think the results of this poll reflect what is going on in Iowa. It is simply too early to start polling on the 2008 kaucus, and I think Grubbs would agree. However this is the second VE 2008 kaucus poll, the last one was conducted this past spring.

I think the real reason why Grubbs is polling so early is because it's free advertising for his company. I think that Grubbs is angling for one of the potential '08ers to hire his firm for the kaucus.

Scientists may have found a way around the stem cell research ban: ...

I'm a little skeptical, to tell you the truth, but I get two things from this article. The first being that obviously they are still doing all kinds of research and making progress even though they aren't getting federal funding for it.

Second, I'm not all that sure they have found a way around the ethical concerns that many people have, myself included. While I believe this research has potential, I'm not ready just yet to climb on board and say "let's do it." I'll need some more convincing before that happens.

From David Yepsen's column:

Democrats have pulled ahead of Republicans in voter registrations in Iowa - the first time that's happened since 1994, according to state registration records. ...

Gee, why is that? It couldn't have anything to do with Vilsack's blanket restoration of voting rights for convicted felons last year, estimated to have affected 30,000 to 50,000 criminals living in Iowa, could it?

Yepsen speculates in other areas, including the war in Iraq and currently laughable notion of economic jitters, but completely misses the boat when it comes the fact that Iowa now has more convicted felons registered to vote. It would make sense that these felons would vote Democrat, at least in Polk County.

According to the Des Moines Register, a recent Victory Enterprises poll shows Rudy Giuliani as the clear leader among likely caucus goers. This result is especially interesting in that Giuliani is a pro-choice candidate while the common wisdom says that Republican caucus goers in Iowa are largely pro-life.

This should alarm Iowa social conservatives, like Steve Scheffler's Iowa Christian Alliance, who are already concerned about the dearth of first-tier candidates with unequivocal pro-life records. The prominence of pro-choice candidates like McCain, Giuliani and Pataki there is cause for concern. Added to uncertainty about Romney's position, pro-life Republicans in Iowa may be faced with difficult choices.

We at the Cooler are considering a policy of only posting on polls that are interesting for some specific reason, because if we have to keep posting everytime a new poll comes out, this place is going to be snoozeville. With that said, here are two polls to chew on.

Giuliani leads a poll of likely Iowa Caucus goers as done by Mr. Steve Grubbs. Rudy with 30%, McCain 2nd with 17% everybody else not registering much. Seriously if we have to post any more polls that have Rudy, McCain or Condi in the lead and everyone else at 3%- with maybe a Newt wildcard- we're going to die of boredum. It's all name ID. The only thing this shows you is that Rudy will a contender if he jumps in.

George Allen's lead is down to three in the Virginia Senate race. Everybody say hello to Senator Macaca over in Richmond. (Editors note: Trust a SurveyUSA poll at your own risk)

The regular weekly rain forest ("Earthpark") Monday update is now available at http://www.nicholasjohnson.org/politics/IaChild. [Every Monday since December 2005 there has been a weekly upload to the pre-existing Iowa rain forest Web site I maintain. In all, printed out it would run over 100 single spaced pages; there are, in addition, links to the full text of hundreds of newspaper stories and reports. It is very probably the most complete resource on the topic anywhere on the Web.

It is found at: http://www.nicholasjohnson.org/politics/IaChild

Over the past few months the scope of the Web site has expanded from the rain forest project to include material related to the broader range of attractions and economic development generally in which the proposed rain forest exists and by which it must be evaluated.]

Manchester and Des Moines, meet Vegas and Charleston: Following a brief but angry speech from a top NH Dem, the DNC formally ratified a plan to add NV and SC to the list of early-voting states for the '08 presidential campaign.

The schedule, previously approved by the DNC's rules and bylaws cmte, is as follows: IA caucus on 1/14, NV caucus on 1/19, NH primary on 1/22 and SC primary on 1/29.

Concluding its summer meeting in Chicago, DNCers approved the plan over the fierce objections of NH Dem Chair Kathy Sullivan, who called it a "hurried and band-aid approach" to the real issue of "front-loading" presidential primaries.

Sullivan opened her remarks this morning by wishing Bill Clinton, who has backed NH in this debate, a happy 60 birthday, which is today. "And frankly, it's a little ironic we're considering this rule today because had this been in effect in 1992, I do not believe he would have been president of the United States."

As of Thursday night, Whalen still had 0 issues, and 1 mean friend. Thanks to Braley's campaign for pointing this our way.

Either Mike Whalen realizes that he is out of touch with people in Eastern Iowa or he feels that if he clearly describes his positions people will see that they line up perfectly with those of George Bush.

Any way you picture it, Mike Whalen doesn't want to trumpet the fact that he will be a rubber stamp for George W. Bush in the next two years.

[Source: http://www.mikewhalen.com/issues.html]

The University of Iowa released its lecture schedule for the upcoming school year. The biggest name is Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, who will be speaking in Iowa City on March 26th.

Plame was a CIA operative whose identity was revealed to reporters shortly after her husband, Joseph Wilson, wrote an op-ed piece critical of the Bush Administration's use of intelligence to justify the war in Iraq. Federal prosecutors continue to investigate whether criminal charges should be brought in the leak.

Valerie Plame, March 26.
7:30 p.m., Main Lounge,
Iowa Memorial Union.

Leading off the lecture schedule is the Yes Men. The Yes Men, Aug. 24. Included as part of the Welcome Week program, The Yes Men pretend to be powerful people and spokespersons for corporations and organizations by making outrageous comments about workers and consumers to show how corporations often act in dehumanizing ways toward people. The group was documented in the 2003 movie "The Yes Men" and the book "The Yes Men: The True Story of the End of the World Trade Organization." 7:30 p.m., Shambaugh Auditorium, Main Library.

The Fix has a breakdown today of which Presidentials are locking up the Bush rangers. (another reason Giuliani and Allen are behind the 8-ball).

He says that Bush's "inevitablity was built in '98 and '99 by securing major money players." Everyone knows that McCain has been lining up Rangers left and right, but Romney has joined the fray. Dr. Frist as a small handful as well.

Another indicator that McCain and Romney are leading the pack at this stage. Interesting article from South Carolina about Rudy's visits there. e

The Romney/Dubuque event was apparently a smashing success for Nussle! The event itself raised over $50,000, and Romney, head of the RGA, announced that a cool half-a-million bucks will be headed Nussle's way.

Not bad for a night's work! Read about it here, here, and here (witht the last one having some more details of what else was discussed that evening).

Romney's supporting Nussle in his way (RGA money, Commonwealth PAC money, and his Commonwealth PAC staffers helping out). We need to be supporting Nussle (Nussle Campaign's Action Center)

What's with Presidentials and racist comments this summer. Senator Allen took the dip out of his mouth just long enough to slur a staffer for opponent Jim Webb. Apu might have to come back for another guest column.

From CNN "This fellow over here with the yellow shirt -- Macaca or whatever his name is -- he's with my opponent," Allen said. "He's following us around everywhere."

Macaca is a term associated with a species of monkeys.

Jim Nussle won WHO's Gubernatorial Corn Kernel Straw Poll with 53% of the vote - Chet Culver received 47% of the vote. While all polls, including this one are meaningless, I think that the November election results might look very similar.

Does Chet Culver even care about Southern Iowa? The Ottumwa Courier doesn't think so. Time is running out and Iowans, including those of us who call southern Iowa home, want the chance to see and hear the views of the two men who are seeking the governor's seat.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle said last week that he wants to debate Democratic rival Chet Culver at eight different locations across the state, including Ottumwa.

Culver, meanwhile, has proposed five debates - three between he and Nussle, the other two between their running mates, Patty Judge and Bob Vander Plaats. No specifics, however, were revealed as to where these debates might occur.

The woman who would be in charge of Iowa elections votes here but lives in another state. How cool is that! Mary Ann Hanusa is a Council Bluffs native. She was named Monday by the Republican Party as its candidate for Secretary of State.

She lives in Virginia. News accounts have alleged that she votes in Iowa. She has worked at the White House for FIVE YEARS.

I'd say that's long enough to establish residence, unless she's still commuting.

Tuesday, Danny Carroll is hosting a fundraiser in a private room on Grinnell College's campus with John McCain.

It's no secret that McCain has run to the right (Exhibit A), but he has never quite been the hero everyone thinks he is (Exhibit B). But for anyone who is still attached to the idea of John McCain the "straight-talker" (and the "straight talk" motif kind of outlives its purpose when the attribution is plastered all over his PAC web site, straighttalkamerica.com), know that the candidate he's shilling for is very much not a straight talker. Here are some of the very un-straight claims Danny Carroll has made:

* Grinnell College students should not have the right to vote for
their state representative (in this 2004 mailing).

* Gay marriage is a bad idea because it would allow two men to marry
for business reasons (in the 2004 Grinnell College SCIPE-sponsored
debate).

* He was the reason why Newton - about 15 minutes away from his house
district - got its new speedway and stadium (in the 2006 "Carroll
Chronicle", which Danny sent out in the newspaper in Oskaloosa and
Grinnell).

"Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) is flooding Iowa with 25 campaign staffers to help Hawkeye State Democrats in the midterms, a move designed to help build good will with influential caucus-goers should he run for president in 2008. The Indiana Democrat is also sending 15 staffers to New Hampshire as well as three to Nevada and two to South Carolina.

The Democratic National Committee is expected to ratify a proposal next week to haveNevada and South Carolina join Iowa and New Hampshire on the early part of the party's presidential nominating calendar.

Five staffers will remain in Indiana, where the Democratic senator trained these new campaign operatives at his campaign school 'Camp Bayh.'

Bayh is not the only potential presidential candidate placing people in important early states this fall. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) has established a similar campaign training program, while Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) has a paid staffer on the ground in Iowa."

Wow, 25 campaign staffers here in Iowa. I know the Selden Spencer campaign is getting one of them.

I don't know how many of you are on Jim Nussle's email list, but yesterday's edition nearly put me into a coma - its noxious photos, mind numbing stories of lemonade stands and lunches, and exceptional ability to kill the interesting somehow combine the worst aspects of a PowerPoint presentation with granny's grand canyon slide show.

In short - it is an unholy alliance between boredom and idiocy. Of course, it does provide a few opportunities for fun. "Jim's Journal," as it's called, tells us that Jim is doing what every other self-respecting candidate in the state does this time of year - he's spending significant time at the internationally-acclaimed Iowa State fair.

Of course, Jim has something else in common with too many politicians - wherever he is, he seems to be at the same tricks. Indeed, true to form, Jim did what he does best. He served up pork. Heck, Jim's been doing it for years. As House Budget Chairman he presided over the evaporation (er, trickledown?) of hundreds of billions of dollars. Where'd it all go? Sure, tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans played a huge part, as did Halliburton contracts.

But another often overlooked culprit was the astronomical growth in pork barrel spending that picked up speed in the early 90's and only
accelerated under Nussle's tenure as HBC.

I'm sure if you asked any regular Joe or Jane on a busy street in Chicago or L.A. where the best place to for a political junkie to live is, Washington D.C. would roll off their tongues. It's an obvious answer, but Iowa offers young aspiring politico's greater access to our Nation's top political talent than D.C. ever will. It is Iowa where you can be in high school or college and can be involved with a Presidential kampaign, it is Iowa where the next political power broker is working 14 hour days for candidate that the main street press thinks of as an after thought. With such a vibrant political climate, you might think that Iowa would have a top-notch political newspaper. Well we don't; the news media in this state sucks.

I've always been intrigued by the prospect of "wife swapping," but I find the idea of getting together to swap cuckold wife stories even more alluring. Jim is hosting one of his "Idea Raiser" parties this afternoon in Sioux City. To help energize things, he invited former house speaker and chronic adulterer, Newt Gingrich, to join us for a "Night of 99 Ideas." I can't wait to be a "fly on the wall" at this reunion of former House-mates and adulterers.

Last night I attended a fundraiser for Tim Hoy, candidate for Iowa House in district 44 at the UAW Hall in Marshalltown. Tom Harkin was the featured speaker at the event. There were around 50 people in attendance including State Rep. Mark Smith and candidates for county races. Tim Hoy spoke first and discussed the key issues in rural Iowa. He discussed the need for an increase in the minimum wage saying, "there aren't enough hours in a week for a worker who makes minimum wage to make a living."

Ryan Lizza in The New Republic has a great article about Republican candidates running from President Bush faster than the wind. It's on tnr.com, but its subscription only.

Here's a funny 'graph: "The trick for vulnerable GOP candidates is to somehow get Bush money without being in any way associated with Bush or the other radioactive members of his administration--a predicament that is tying Republicans into pretzels from coast to coast.

The most common maneuver is for candidates to invent excuses to arrive late at their own fundraisers--or not at all. In March, New Jersey Senate candidate Tom Kean conveniently showed up at a buck-raking event in Newark just moments after the vice president had departed. His explanation? He was stuck in traffic.

Virginia House member Thelma Drake was more creative. In May, when Bush dropped into Virginia Beach to raise $500,000 for her campaign, she didn't bother to show up at all. How could she, after all, when her vote was needed in Washington on a critical piece of legislation? (The bill in question passed 395-0.)

Washington Senate candidate Mike McGavick at least had the decency to come up with an unimpeachable scheduling conflict when Bush showed up in the Seattle suburbs for a GOP fund-raiser: He was attending his son's high school graduation in Pennsylvania."

The WakeUpWalMart.com bus tour has been a huge success thus far (see clips below to give you a sense of some of the press coverage they have had thus far). Don't miss this opportunity to get on board the bus! We are very excited about welcoming the WUWM bus tour to Iowa! The campaign is spending more time in Iowa than any other state! Below is a list of dates and times for all IA events.

Rep. Tom Latham better wash the ink off his fingers and watch out.

"What's playing out here is that being a rubber stamp for George Bush is politically dangerous to life-threatening." --Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), quoted by the Washington Post, on the Lieberman-Lamont primary race and the threats posed to candidates backing the Iraq war.

What has Tom Latham done other than parrot Republican talking points and vote the way Tom DeLay and Bush want him? Of all the Iowa Republicans in Washington, no one is a bigger empty suit than Latham.

Dr. Selden Spencer is out there stressing affordable and accesable health care, renewable energy, reducing the deficit, and providing solutiuons to the problems that Americans face. When people start hearing this message and see they have another choice, Tom Latham may find his political career in jeopardy.

John Hawkins did his annual survey, "Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select Their Favorite People On The Right." I participated, and here were my choices (in no particular order):

1] Newt Gingrich
2] Tony Snow
3] George W. Bush
4] Condi Rice
5] Tom Tancredo
6] Rush Limbaugh
7] Dick Cheney
8] Samuel Alito
9] John Roberts
10] Donald Rumsfeld
11] Ann Coulter
12] Clarence Thomas

I'm sure I'll get some flack for this but let me state publicly that I support Mike Mauro in his candicacy for the office of Secretary of State and I support Ako Abdul-Samad in his candicacy for representative from House District 66. I'm the only blogger that I know of sporting their logos and I support their candidacy. I support Michael Mauro not just because he's more qualified than anyone else in the race (since he's the only one right now and is still more qualified than anyone they can put up against him) but because he's a good and an honest man who fights for integrity in everything he does.

Illegals Not Included In The Report: Iowa, population of estimated at 2,966,334, now has 108,968 people identifying themselves as Hispanic or Latino, up from 82,473 in 2000, the census estimates. That's an increase of 32 percent. Demographers believe there are many more Hispanics in Iowa and across the nation who are not accounted for in census reports because they are in the country illegally.

Former Des Moines Register editor Gilbert Cranberg is worried that the Republican Party of Iowa's state platform could jeopardize Iowa's First in the Nation Caucus. In an op-ed piece this week, Cranberg wrote: "The customary rap against allowing Iowa's caucuses to lead the nominating parade, and thus be in an early position to boost or break candidates, is that the state is short on diversity. The scary platform the state GOP adopted June 17 raises the more compelling question of whether a party that advocates extremism ought to have undue clout in the presidential selection process."

John Hawkins has a post up about the new initiative he and several others have launched. It's called "Right Roots". Here's a brief description:

As you all probably know, the left-side of the blogosphere has endorsed a slate of Democratic candidates and as of last night about 11:59 PM, the "netroots" had managed
to already raise $386,968.31 for them.

Time and time again, Republicans have asked, "Gee, why can't someone on our side do the same thing for us?" In fact, I was asking myself that question a little less than 3 weeks ago and it occurred to me that if no one else was going to put this together, then maybe I should do it.

Go read the rest, and make sure to check out the Right Roots page. Couple of the people they're endorsing are running right here in Iowa, which is good.

Updating my last post, Paul Pate announced today he will not run for Iowa Secretary of State.

So far the Republicans have produced two potential candidates for SOS. The first, Chuck Allison, was the subject of so many bankruptcies and lawsuits he had to drop out. Then the GOP cries out for Pate, but Pate won't run (presumably because he misued his office for political purposes, misrepresented his resume, and tried to copyright Iowa marketing slogans for personal gain).

What will these zany Iowa Republicans think of next? This is more hilarious than Comedy Central!

Ako Abdul-Samad Is A Democratic Candidate For State Representative From Des Moines. Black Panther resigned from the CIETC Board after the scandal broke.

He is the CEO/Founder of Creative Visions Human Development Center in Des Moines. State budget analysts have also raised questions about the way Creative Visions has handled its share of taxpayer money. A new report from Iowa Workforce Development cites these problems:

* Creative Visions was supposed to partner with five colleges that would then evaluate the program's effectiveness. State officials found no evidence of such a partnership. Abdul-Samad said Monday the partnership exists, although no program evaluation was ever conducted. "And I didn't know that," he said. "The buck stops with me."