(IA-4) Iowa 4th Congressional district race
NPR's Political Junkie, Ken Rudin, has Selden Spencer's campaign button on display in this week's column. Calling Spencer a "long shot," Rudin says: "Latham has never shown any signs of vulnerability...
View ArticleA Prayer Circle for Obama
Clinton's comments to the Argus today, about the assassination of RFK, took me back to the Obama rally in Des Moines Tuesday night. Standing on an outdoor stairway above the stage, I had to get out of...
View ArticleOut Of The Mouths of Boobs- Steve King (R-IA5)
Congressman Steve King (R-IA) asked Scott McClellan today whether he could not have "taken some of this with you to the grave and done this country a favor?" If I were McClellan's insurance carrier, I...
View ArticleWanted: Website to help retire Steve King (R-IA5)
Granny Doc is always reminding us to support the DNC, and a contribution with your credit card is a great way to do it. But there are other ways to contribute. (Remember "Had Enough"?) I am asking...
View ArticleA Servant, Not a King (that's Steve King, IA-5)
Steve King is one of the most loathsome members of Congress, but that is not news to most people. A compendium of his greatest hits can be found here. My personal favorite is his observation that Al...
View ArticleObama Smear Email: can I get some help?
My uncle is a certified wingnut of the evangelical species, who sent out an awful email about Obama. Googling the original author, I find that this email is all over the internet, but there aren't any...
View ArticleBreaking: Trippi joins Hubler campaign
{h/t Iowa Independent's Douglas Burns]You know who Joe Trippi is. Who is Rob Hubler? In his own words: I am the candidate for Congress who is going to retire Congressman Steve King. In my words: Rob...
View ArticleNo debates for Chicken a la King (Steve King, IA-5) updated w/photos
Howie Klein asked a good question this week: Why Are Republican Incumbents Afraid To Debate In Their Home Districts? He listed numerous races in which the GOP incumbent is ducking debates with his or...
View ArticleIA-5 Rob Hubler makes DCCC watch list (w/poll)
This morning the Hubler campaign announced that Rob has made the Races to Watch list:This places us in the Red to Blue program, which supports competitive Democratic challengers in Republican districts...
View ArticleIA-4,IA-5 Dear Tom Harkin: Use It Or Lose It
Dear Senator Harkin, We are 25 days from an election. At the Jefferson-Jackson dinner you talked about how important this election is, and how we need to send Becky Greenwald and Rob Hubler to...
View ArticleIA-5 Chickens Coming Home to Root for Rob Hubler
Onawa, Iowa is a tiny spot on the map of Iowa's huge western Fifth District, a community of 3,000 or so, with a lovely old courthouse, and home of the widest main street in the U.S. On Saturday it was...
View ArticleIA-4,5 Earthquake Coming in the Heartland
Whether it's an earthquake or a tsunami, something big is coming to the heartland. Survey USA calls Iowa solid blue, with Obama up 48 to 45 in the deep red northwest corner of the state, and 54 to 41...
View ArticleMichelle Bachmann and Steve King, Worst Persons
Kossacks have been hot under the collar about comments made by Michelle Bachmann, and hot on her trail, as she so richly deserves. Now Elwyn Tinklenberg probably thinks Christmas comes before election...
View ArticleMichelle Bachmann and Steve King, Worst Persons [UPDATED]
A shorter version of this diary went up yesterday, and in the comments and in other threads, I was asked to update it. Jeff Lieber and otherschallenged me to name races that this community could take...
View ArticleIA-5 Madelyn Dunham and GOP Family Values [Updated]
This week we saw Barack Obama fly to Hawaii to be with his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, near her life's end. In the middle of a presidential campaign, he showed us that family is his first priority,...
View ArticleIA-5 Thank you, Keith Olbermann
Steve King finally gets his closeup. Thanks Keith.Go simpler, like Michelle Bachmann's only rival for least stable member of the House of Representatives did. Steve King (R-Iowa) Fifth District, but...
View ArticleNo thanks for those bridges
Don't trade the public option for public works.Via Mark Ambinder, we learn that the White House will try to buy off the Democrats who support the public option: The president continues to operate under...
View Article3:15 EST Harkin & Shaheen on filibuster bill
Senators Harkin and Shaheen are holding a press conference at 3:15 on a bill to reform the abuses of the filibuster that have been on full display lately. Not all legislation can be stuffed into a...
View ArticleRoxanne Conlin live chat over at C&L
Roxanne Conlin has written diarieshere and stayed around to talk as she starts her run for the Senate against Chuck Grassley. Those who saw Senator "Pull the Plug on Grandma" yesterday at the health...
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MI-01 Help Connie Saltonstall Retire Stupak
Connie Saltonstall stepped up to run against Bart Stupak because he was willing to vote no on health insurance reform unless the Catholic bishops approved of the bill. In her own words: Mr. Stupak’s...
View ArticleIA Ag Sec: Why Iowa Matters For What You Eat
Why should you care who the Secretary of Agriculture is in Iowa if you don’t live here? Do you want locally-grown healthy food at your local supermarket? Do you avoid meat and dairy products that are...
View ArticleIA-Senate Grassley Slides Under the Big 5 Oh
Research 2000 polled for KCCI Channel 8 in Des Moines. Senator Chuck "pull the plug on grandma" Grassley is finally below 50% and he doesn't even have a chosen primary challenger yet. The poll paired...
View ArticleDick Morris Calling For Citizens United
I just got called by Citizens United. How I made it onto one of their lists is a mystery. They should probably fire whoever sold it to them, since they asked for me by name. I was asked whether I...
View ArticleTom Harkin's Steak Fry This Sunday!
The patron saint of the Iowa Democratic Party has a little bash every year, and invites his closest friends, i.e., Iowa Democrats, to spend a Sunday afternoon eating, drinking beer, and listening to...
View ArticleSocial Security and David Plouffe: An Action Diary (Updated)
Yesterday I talked to David Plouffe at Tom Harkin's famous annual Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa. I wrote about that conversation in comments, and Kitsap River asked me to turn it into a diary. The...
View ArticleMichael Pollan: "The Most Important Election This Year"
That assessment of Francis Thicke’s incredible grassroots campaign for Iowa Agriculture Secretary came from food writer Michael Pollan via Twitter. Another assessment, via a pollster, is that it’s...
View ArticleIA Sec Ag-Jim Hightower Picks Francis Thicke
Jim Hightower is an outspoken advocate for the Powers That Ought To Be, not The Powers That Be. He is a populist progressive, and a funny, irreverent thorn in the side of the powerful. He says that...
View ArticleHired Gun for Big Ag Endorses Francis Thicke's Opponent
Yesterday the Iowa Agriculture Secretary, Republican Bill Northey, got an endorsement from a Democrat in his effort to get rehired by Iowans. Jerry Crawford is not just any Democrat. He is a close...
View ArticleHey Iowans, Send Braley an "attaboy" on SOPA
Congressman Bruce Braley has a video up that responds to the threat of SOPA/PIPA. As he speaks, his words are beeped out and black strips keep appearing over his face. Braley is trying to let us...
View ArticleUpdated: Accountability is NOT The Word of the Day
Not when it comes to the banksters, anyway. While I would like to be optimistic on this topic, I think the claim of victory is premature, at best. Last night I heard that Huffington Post was...
View ArticleTom Harkin's Rebuild America Act
Have I mentioned that I love Tom Harkin? He is a tonic for when I have lost my optimism that Democrats stand for anything but bailing out banks and tacking to the right when someone says "boo." This...
View ArticleACTION WI: Under Walker's Deer Czar, Hunters Will Lose
We need to get the word out to hunters. How would you like to pay $2000 for a deer license? Their right to hunt on public lands by paying an affordable price for a deer license is under attack in...
View ArticleWI ACTION: Deer in the Spotlights
The Save Wisconsin Deer Campaign is picking up speed. We have been running ads on Facebook this week with the cash you kindly donated. If you would like to help keep that going, go here:...
View ArticleWI: The Deer Czar is not the Problem
The Deer Czar is getting a lot of bad press and he is not happy about it. But he is not the real threat to public land in Wisconsin. The guy who hired him and is paying him $150,000 dollars in...
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Hello Dolly! The War on Women, Iowa Edition
Merlin Bartz is an Iowa State Senator who carries around an unusual picture of his opponent, State Senator Mary Jo Wilhelm. The photo is a life-size legless paper doll. At public events he sets his...
View ArticleACTION-Iowa Special Election in 32 days
We need help here in northern Iowa, to elect Todd Prichard in House District 52. He is a real Democrat, a better Democrat, one of our own, a grass-roots activist who knows why he is a Democrat. No...
View Article"A Leninist Strategy" for Social Security, Decades in the Making
Today I read a blueprint for applying the Shock Doctrine to Social Security. It was published by the Cato Institute in 1983, and tweeted today by economist Stephanie Kelton (@deficitowl). It is really...
View ArticleIowa's Governor tries again on his education "reform" plan
Iowa is one of the states where Michelle Rhee, ALEC, and a Republican Governor have joined forces in support of an agenda of education "reform" that is all about funneling public dollars to corporate...
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Hell No! Joe Biden in Iowa 2015
The Iowa caucuses will be in full swing by the summer of 2015. In September we will attend what may be the last of the wonderful Harkin Steak Fry gatherings in Indianola. All the Democratic candidates...
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