Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Greetings from the Indianola Balloon Field. After making a drive that should’ve taken 20 minutes in about an hour and a half, I have had ample time to assess the sign wars fought along the sides of the long road leading here from Des Moines.
Sen. Hillary Clinton has by far the most signs. She has what I’d estimate at several thousand standard-sized yard signs lining the streets, without regard for campaign laws which, I believe, prohibit placing signs between the sidewalk and the curb (in the public right-of-way). In general, no campaign appears to follow the rules about placing signs on commercial property, which campaign finance law considers an in-kind corporate contribution. I’ll have to check to find out if this law applies to Caucus campaigns, but I’m pretty sure it does.
Although the Clinton campaign has the most standard-sized yard signs, in terms of warm bodies, former Sen. John Edwards has everyone else beat. He even has a crowd of about 12 volunteers and staff holding barn signs in front of Sen. Clinton’s Indianola office. (Ed. note: I realized on my way out of town that the Edwards office is adjacent to the Clinton office, so they were standing in front of the building that the two campaigns share.)
Sen. Chris Dodd, who has made a surprisingly strong showing in previous sign wars here in Iowa, again went to impressive lengths to display support along the sides of the road.
Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign has many large barn signs, and they are holding a large rally across the street from the Balloon Field until the doors open soon. But their campaign does not appear to have any standard-sized yard signs, which means they cannot come close to matching the number of signs Clinton has. They still have quite a presence. (I only saw a few standard-sized yard signs from the Edwards campaign.)
The most improved sign war presence award goes to Sen. Joe Biden’s campaign, which has specific messaging on their large, handpainted signs, with phrases like “Truth to Power,” “Experience,” and “Expect More.”
Generally, I think sign wars are probably more trouble for staffers than they are worth, but in a town where traffic is almost completely stopped on the roads leading into the event, caucus goers have little to no choice but to pay attention this time around.
Stay tuned for more coverage soon.
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