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.
– You just have to feel for former Gov. Tom Vilsack. Well, no, you don't, but there he is at this Harkin Steak Fry Sunday with no major role, sitting to the side in kind-of VIP section. Earler in the day, I overheard some reporters talking to this one-time presidential candidate about of all things … last night's Nebraska game, the thumping the Huskers took at the hands of the USC Trojans.
Vilsack did have some thoughts on Nebraska, though. "(Tom) Osborne's either got to come back and coach, or he has to run for the Senate," Vilsack said.
Why didn't Vilsack just run for a third term as governor? And where does he go from here?
– Strange to think of a Newark, N.J., analogy in the cornfields of Iowa (particularly when said "thinker" is a native rural Iowan) but during a pre-steak fry rally for Barack Obama, a plane with a John Edwards banner circled over and made it (for a moment) a little harder to hear Obama. I'm sure it was incidental, as the plane was far from whizzing by at crop-dusting altitude. Nevertheless it made me think of the movie "Street Fight" about the 2004 Newark mayoral race in which incumbent Sharpe James sent out fire trucks and other loudness to drown out the stump voice of his opponent (now mayor) Corey Booker.
– A new venue with four-lane access? Senator Harkin, let me be the first one to make a pitch for Carroll (which used to be in your House District) as the home of the next steak fry (you represent the whole state so this works). We have four lanes coming into Carroll on U.S. 30 from the outskirts of town, and yet we are rural enough to provide the setting you need. The Indianola balloon fields, with their two-lane access off U.S. 92, left some party activists waiting in cars on the road when they could have been at rallies, etc. I used to live in Indianola, but I moved to Carroll — and perhaps the Harkin Steak Fry should, too?
– Jeff Greenfield interviewed John Edwards, and then the big-name dude kind of went high hat on the press riser. One of his production people motioned to him that a gentleman wanted to say something to him. It was regular guy from the audience who just wanted to shake Greenfield's hand and tell him how much he liked his work. Greenfield did shake the guy's hand but then rolled his eyes as he left the riser, and made kind of a "sheesh" noise. I know it's annoying being bothered at work, but come on Greenfield … Newsweek's Howard Fineman was there, and we had a nice talk about how much steak costs in Iowa. He seems like a decent guy …. Another white reporter and I were pushed out of a press gaggle by Hillary's Secret Service agents … as was an Asian camerawoman who looked at me and joked, "Hey, they don't discriminate."
– In just one row of 50 cars in the parking area I spotted license plates from Missouri, California, New Jersey, Minnesota, Nebraska and Illinois.
– Enough! For the love of God! with the freaking "Field of Dreams" references. Hillary Clinton was the first violator and she actually went with an "if you build it, they will come" line in her speech. Does she have a 22-year-old speechwriter from New York who has never been to Iowa who Googled the state looking for references and came up with this tired business? Actually her speech improved from there — and she may have improvised the cliche herself. Other candidates have used this as well. I have what Bill Maher would call a new rule: In the future, all movie references made by presidential candidates in Iowa must involve the films "Cold Turkey" or "Take This Job and Shove It."
– A fight? A fight! One young man driving his crew out of the balloon grounds, perhaps with a bit of the taste of amber and hops still on his palate, started honking at another driver who was letting people in front of him in line, you know, just being a nice guy. The "nice guy" jumped out of his car and yelled at the honker, "Are you a Democrat or Republican? A Democrat would wait for everyone to get his turn!"
– A few members of the media were speculating that Tom Tancredo's Iowa chairman Bill Salier is going to run for the U.S. Senate in 2008. A Democratic insider told me he thinks U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, is working behind the scenes to build a staff to take on Harkin. Isn't there a gay marriage somewhere in Nebraska or a post office naming in California where King should be stopping instead?
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