IowaPolitics.com BlogWatch

This blog correctly predicted that Ed Fallon was going to lose in his
attempt to wrestle the Democratic nomination away from Leonard
Boswell. Funny how you don't hear any Democrats waxing on about how
being against the war is a political advantage. After all, Fallon is
against all wars and Boswell voted for the war in Iraq. Now, it seems,
Fallon is begging other Democrats to bail him out of $35,000 worth of
campaign debt. I don't know why the Republican Party of Iowa doesn't
approach Fallon and promise to pay off his debt in exchange for
running as a hardcore, anti-war, left-wing independent candidate
against Democrat Tom Harkin in November. That might look a little
weird, seeing how the RPI has to throw money at yet another lousy
Senate candidate (some loser name Christopher Reed).

Labels: Christopher_Reed, Ed_Fallon, RPI

The Iowa Democratic and Republican party conventions are Saturday, and
draft copies of the party platforms offer a glimpse of just how
different the rival parties view the role of government. Work on the
platform drafts has been going on since the precinct caucuses in
January. The process will finish this weekend at the state
conventions, where the platforms will be debated, possibly rewritten
and eventually ratified. Observers are quick to point out that the
platforms are drafted by party activists and not elected officials, so
they usually represent views that are more extreme than those of the
majority of the party. For example, in education, the GOP draft favors
teacher- or student-led prayer in public schools, as well as the use
of the Bible as a textbook.

Labels: IDP, RPI

Are you going to call for a recount or not? Yesterday after the
kanvass Christopher Reed, had 24,916 votes, Eichhorn had 24,392 votes
and marathon kampaigner Steve Rathje of finished with 21,106 votes.
The question now is will Eichhorn call for a recount and prevent Reed
from using the State Convention this Saturday to rally support for his
campaign. Also of note I have received a handful of emails claiming
that Christopher Reed is not on the agenda to speak at the state
convention, I'm sure it's a typo, especially if Eichhorn doesn't ask
for a recount. While I respect that Eichhorn has every right to ask
for the recount the best outcome that he kould get would be for it to
go to konvention, another battle that he would lose.

Labels: Christopher_Reed, RPI

I always enjoy the State Convention. The State Convention is an
opportunity to see many of my political friends and make new ones. We
get to hear our candidates and elected officials and their vision for
our party, our state and our nation. It is a great way to get fired up
for the election season. This year's convention should be an
interesting one. First, there remains the possibility that the
convention will select a candidate for US Senate. The vote canvass
should be going on right now but an interesting wrinkle is that
flooding may have an effect on the canvass. As one example, the Floyd
County courthouse (Charles City) is underwater.

Labels: RPI

Earlier today we received information that Republican Party of Iowa
Chairman Stew Iverson is calling around to members of the Republican
Central Committee urging them to have the State Party pay for the
recount of the U.S. Senate primary vote. That information is was
incorrect. I apologize for putting fourth any misinformation, but I
believed my source was credible and went with it. I still believe
however that the State Party and Iverson would be wise to stay as far
away as possible from the recount situation. Any involvement, even
with the best intentions will cause massive distrust between current
and future candidates running for office under the Republican brand.

Labels: RPI, U.S. Senate

Iowa GOP Chairman Stew Iverson revealed Monday two of the big draws
for the Republican state convention in Des Moines on June 14. Former
presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who is now rumored to be a
leading VP contender, will make an appearance. Also in attendance will
be former House speaker Newt Gingrich. It looks like the jockeying in
Iowa for 2012 might already be beginning...

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Newt_Gingrich, RPI

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Stewart Iverson today praised the
Republican National Committee's rules committee for passing what's
called the "Ohio Plan," which would keep Iowa first in the
presidential nominating process. The plan, passed this morning in
Albuquerque at a meeting of the Republican Rules Committee, would
retain the lead-off roles for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and
Nevada, and rotate remaining states on a quadrennial basis. Iverson
says this is the first significant step for Iowa's effort to keep its
first-in-the-nation role in the presidential nominating process.

Labels: caucus, caucus dates, RPI

Floor debate in the Iowa House had an interesting turn this week, when
House Democrats admitted that without a tax increase on Iowa
businesses, they will be unable to balance the state budget this
session. Prompting the comment was an amendment put forth by House
Republicans that would have mirrored the federal economic stimulus
package by allowing an accelerated write-off for businesses for
certain assets they own, called bonus depreciation. The Democrats
defeated this amendment on a partisan vote, 53 to 47, with every
single Democrat casting a vote against the bill. This was a great
opportunity to stand up for hometown Iowa businesses, who will be hit
with a tax increase of up to $30 million.

Labels: RPI

The reworked Republican Party of Iowa is getting up to speed. On the
heels of the (encouraged?) departure of Sioux Cityan Ray Hoffmann from
the chairmanship and former key Congressman Steve King strategist
Chuck Laudner from the executive director post, the new state
leadership team is taking shape. Former state senator Stewart Iverson
now is the chairman and yesterday Iverson announced that Caleb Hunter,
28, is the new executive director. The chairman generally picks the
director. And today we get word that Ida Grove native Tim Albrecht
will be the RPI spokesman, er, communications director for the 2008
election cycle.

Labels: RPI

It didn't take GOP operative Tim Albrecht (known as "Timmy" among
members of the press corps) to find work after Mitt Romney's
presidential campaign came to an end. The Republican Party of Iowa on
Wednesday named the eternally cheerful Albrecht its new communications
director. He replaces Mary Tiffany, who served as the party's
spokesperson during the caucus campaign. Albrecht, 30, is an Ida Grove
native. He most recently served as the Iowa spokesman for Romney's
campaign and stayed on past the caucuses as the national media
coordinator. Before that, he served as a press aide for Christopher
Rants.

Labels: RPI

Dave Price at The Price of Politics reported today what those in the
know have been murmuring about for days. RPI Chairman, Stew Iverson,
has tapped longtime Iowa politico, Caleb Hunter to be RPI Executive
Director. Hunter of course has a history with the party, but as a
grassroots guy, I really don't know him very well. Therefore I would
call myself cautiously neutral as to whether he is a good candidate
for the job. In fact just today I noticed that the bookmark in my
current read is an old RPI Caleb Hunter Regional Field Director
business card -- what a coincidence! Qualifications not withstanding,
when the State Central Committee meets this weekend for their retreat,
I hope that they reject Hunter's appointment.

Labels: RPI

If U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, has an opinion of the recent house
cleaning at the Republican Party of Iowa, he isn't sharing it with
outsiders. Last week, new state chairman Stewart Iverson fired RPI
executive director Chuck Laudner and political director Craig
Robinson. Laudner is King's former chief of staff. "I can't measure
the motive at this point. It doesn't seem to be, it doesn't seem to be
the kind of move that one could have anticipated," King said Thursday
during a visit to the Iowa State Capitol. King said he doesn't know
what the current state of the party is in Iowa. "I need to have that
face-to-face conversation with the new chairman," King said.

Labels: RPI, Steve King

The following is an e-mail from RPI Chairman Stew Iverson: "Thank you for your comments from last week’s email. I certainly caused a stir when I used the term Big Tent. Many assumed that my thoughts meant we will let anyone in the door and do whatever they wanted regardless of what we, the majority, desired. This is not the case. I invite everyone to come in and have discussions. We cannot get our point across about limited government and fiscal responsibility if we don't talk to people. So in other words, we can bring people into our Party while maintaining our core principles."

Labels: RPI

While Christopher Rants proclaimed that Iowa House Republicans will regain their majority as the party of health care and education, the two leading staffers at the Republican Party of Iowa were fired by new Chairman Stu Iverson. While Iowa Republicans had a mixed record in 2004 and a colossal collapse in 2006, it doesn't help to be starting from scratch nine months before the election.

Labels: RPI

... are heeding their calls. As Simon Stevenson noted here last week,
the Iowa Republican Party's fundraising lags well behind what Iowa
Democrats have raised for the upcoming elections. Now the Des Moines
Register reports that Tom Harkin has $3.4 million in the bank going
into his re-election campaign. Prominent Republicans are taking a pass
on this race, and Harkin's only declared opponent 'is Steve Rathje, a
Cedar Rapids businessman. Rathje as of Sept. 30 had raised about
$49,000 for his campaign and had $259 cash on hand.' Finally, Harkin
gets to take it easy. He had to fight hard against Greg Ganske in
2002, although he ended up winning by a comfortable margin.

Labels: RPI, Tom_Harkin

Leave for a three-day weekend and what happens? Ray Hoffmann of Sioux
City quits his position as Iowa Republican Party of Iowa chairman, and
a successor (Stewart Iverson) is named the following day. The
possibility of Hoffmann stepping down from the chairmanship had been
aired, therefore it was going to happen. Something like this doesn't
reach the public level without an almost certain likelihood that
Hoffmann was departing. But prior to that, the ankle biting on
Hoffmann had been taking place, as some were saying it was time for
him to go, that he hadn't been effectively leading the party. When the
simmering chasm in the Woodbury County GOP blew open big and bad in
late 2006, some were critical of Ray for not stepping in to help solve
the problem in his own home county.

Labels: RPI

Well, the waiting is over. Today the Republican State Central
Committee elected former state senator Stewart Iverson. This blog has
been critical of Hoffman since his re-election so I cannot say that I
am sad to see him go. But Iverson? Iverson's ouster from the Senate
leadership gave us Mary Lundby. Neither one was very effective in
standing up to Governor Culver. Iverson failed as Senate leader and
now he expects to lead the whole party? Perhaps it is time for a
change on the State Central Committee.

Labels: RPI

As I wrote in a post last week, it appears that current Republican
Party of Iowa Chairman Ray Hoffmann of Sioux City will be ending his
tenure in that position in the near future. Clearly, that means that a
replacement must be elected. That election will take place Saturday in
Des Moines as the State Central Committee meets to discuss the
business of the party. The decision boils down to a group of 15 to 20
Iowa Republicans that are elected from each of Iowa's five
congressional districts. However, that's for another post. As is noted
by a number of sources but written nicely by Grant Young, it is
predicted that it is a three person race.

Labels: RPI

Word comes this afternoon that the Dec. 4 Republican Party of Iowa
debate, slated for Des Moines and for broadcast by Fox News, has been
cancelled. Only one candidate, Mike Huckabee, had confirmed for the
event. There were state Republican Party debates earlier this year
aired by Fox in New Hampshire, Florida and South Carolina, but there
won't be one originating from Iowa. We in Sioux City, of course, know
the sting of bypass by GOP candidates. A debate announced way back in
summer got little support by the candidates, and by the time it came
off on Oct. 25, the Orpheum Theatre event was downgraded to a forum.
Huckabee and John McCain were the two participants.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, RPI

Those crazy Linn County Republicans are at it again. They are
apparently trying to outdo Woodbury County as the most dysfunctional
GOP County Central Committee in Iowa. I was reading The Real Sporer
today and I saw in the comments, a link to KWWL. The headline at KWWL
reads: 'Former Linn County GOP Chair Under Ethics Investigation.' The
news report states that the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board
is investigating former Linn GOP Chairman, Eric Rosenthal. The report
says that there is a complaint alleging that Rosenthal received a
check to reimburse a vendor, cashed the check and pocketed the money.

Labels: RPI

Last year over at the now defunct Krusty Konservative blog, the blog
comments displayed a rather ugly and personal squabble in the Linn
County Republican Central Committee. This week, there is a new shake
up going on in Linn County and the ramifications will be interesting
at all levels... Linn County currently has three Supervisors elected at
large. Last year a successful petition drive forced an election to
expand the Board of Supervisors to five members. This week, another
election was held to determine how the new five member board would be
elected. There were three plans on the ballot. Option 1: All
supervisors elected at large. Option 2: All supervisors elected from
a district but voted by the entire county. Option 3: All supervisors
elected from a district voted only by their own district.

Labels: RPI

• iPol: Romney Campaign Chair Rips Iowa GOP Rank and File
• Price of Politics: Minus 2 Straws
  
• Price of Politics: More Straw
• Iowans for Romney: Giuliani/McCain Campaigns on Life Support . . . They Flip-Flop on Ames Straw Poll
  
• Iowa Voice: McCain, Giuliani To Skip Iowa Straw Poll
  
• John Deeth Blog: Rudy, McCain Bail On Ames Buy A Vote Straw Poll
  
• On The Campaign Trail: We're outta here
  
• The Real Sporer: Rudy and John and Fred! Oh my!
  
• Iowans for Romney: Rudy Giuliani will skip Iowa, no show at the Straw Poll
  
• Iowa Independent: Giuliani to skip Iowa GOP Straw Poll
• Iowa Independent: McCain Follows Giuliani's Lead
  
• Essential Estrogen: McCain, Giuliani Disparage Straw Poll
  
• State 29: I've Seen The Future, And It Isn't A Bald-Headed Drag Queen From New York
  
• Iowa Insider: Giuliani, McCain back out of Iowa straw poll
  
• Back roads to the White House: The straw men
  
• Radio Iowa blog: Republican Party of Iowa reacts
  
• Radio Iowa blog: "Ringmaster" Romney reaps reward
  
• Radio Iowa blog: Giuliani will not participate in Straw Poll
  
• Politically Speaking: Giuliani gripes, and McCain misses too
  

Labels: John_McCain, Mitt_Romney, RPI, Rudy_Giuliani, straw_poll

When I was chair of the Iowa Democratic Party (back in the day), one of the questions I heard most often in the months leading up to the 2004 Iowa Caucuses was, "Why don't Iowa Democrats do a straw poll like Iowa Republicans do?" ... There's a simple, clear cut answer to why the Iowa Democratic Party doesn't do a straw poll and doesn't allow county parties to do them either: it's against the Democratic National Committee rules. That's because it would give Iowa two bites at the apple -- a pre-contest in addition to the one that counts in January . . . or December as the case may be). ... Don't get me wrong -- I'm a junkie for almost any kind of poll. I remember watching with fascination on C-Span the phenomenon that was George W. Bush at the 1999 straw poll (at that event, the Bush campaign blew through its self-imposed spending cap of $750,000 to buy even more $25 tickets to hand out). And I must admit I admire with envy the gobs and gobs of money the Iowa Republican Party is able to raise through the event. I'm not naive about the importance of money in presidential campaigns -- it's a valid measure of a candidate's strength and without enough of it, a campaign is doomed. Still, though, a contest of who can buy the most votes in a straw poll doesn't seem like a very rational way to determine the serious contenders, which is what the Iowa Republican straw poll will do.

Labels: GOP_straw_poll, IDP, RPI

... I'd have to say that Romney was the clear winner at this event. He had a strong message, a great speech, and he delivered it like a pro. John McCain showed himself to be a one-issue candidate, in my opinion. Yes, Iraq is important, but by the time we hold elections in 2008, Iraq very well may be off the table. What will he campaign on then? Rudy…well, as I said, this wasn't a great speech, and it wasn't delivered all that well. Just seemed like he was taking a "yeah, I'll serve if you elect me, but I could really care less" approach. We don't need a person running whose sole ambition in life is to be President, of course, but we do want someone running who clearly wants the job…and Rudy just seemed (at this event, anyway) like a man just going through the motions because people expect him to.

Labels: John_McCain, Mitt_Romney, RPI, Rudy_Giuliani

... RPI's Lincoln Dinner Winners: Huckabee, Tancredo, Thompson, McCain
... For what I saw on CSPAN and the reports people have emailed me, I think all the kandidates did a good job Saturday night, but I think some did a better job than others. I know that many of you think I'm a Huckabee homer, but I thought Huckabee used Saturday's event to make a very favorable impression on Iowa caucus goers ... Kongressman Tom Tancredo might have served up some cheesecake in his post event reception, but he dished out a ton of red meat right after dinner. ... For months I've given kudos to Tommy Thompson's Iowa kampaign team, but I was impressed by Thompson's speech. He offered the most detailed plans of any candidate that spoke at the dinner. ... Senator McCain's speech was more about style than substance. Usually I give people bad marks for this, but one of the biggest obstacles McCain must overcome in Iowa is his image.

Labels: John_McCain, Mike_Huckabee, RPI, Tom_Tancredo, Tommy_Thompson

This year's event was off the charts and I want to extend a gigantic kudos for the successful event to the planners and organizers of this year's event. ... I thought the event had a real fighting attitude about it. Republicans are angry about the Democratic agenda in Des Moines and Washington. They are ready to make the Republican Revolution real again.

Labels: RPI

... My initial opinions of the two leaders was that Brennan clearly came prepared and ready to talk about the issues as a seasoned political professional while Mosley was the down-home Republican who said what he meant, even if it was offensive or wasn't politically correct. Largely, it made me wonder how this man could possibly be chosen to represent a party as their chairman. While his down-home style, seemingly like most ordinary Iowa Republican caucusgoers, might be appealing to some I think it was a big turnoff to those in the audience seeking a more enlightened and vigorous discussion about the issues, not just gut reactions.

Labels: IDP, RPI