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.
Two months after the Iowa caucuses, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin still finds himself defending our first-in-the-nation status – not in the future but the here and now, the 2008 election.
At issue is the Hillary Clinton-backed efforts to allow delegates from Florida and Michigan to be seated at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) even though those states jumped ahead in the nominating line, a brazen power grab for more influence in the process.
They didn’t like Iowa being first.
But the rules of Hillary’s own party (ones that were in place well before Iowa) say the calendar-leaping violations should cost Florida and Michigan their delegates.
Sen. Clinton, D-N.Y., wants that changed as she had an open field in Michigan where U.S. Barack Obama, D-Ill., didn’t have his name on the ballot because he adhered to presidential nominating rules.
Obama respected Iowa. Clinton doesn’t.
Florida and Michigan didn’t like the idea of Iowa and New Hampshire being first so they just flat out violated a carefully crafted schedule designed to take into account tradition (Iowa) and diversity (Nevada and South Carolina being moved up in a process people could watch develop more than a year ago on C-Span).
“If Michigan and Florida and the Clinton supporters in those states, if they continue to push to have their delegates seated, it will create an uproar in the Democratic Party around the country,” Harkin, D-Iowa, told Iowa Independent and other media on a conference call this morning.
Harkin said if that happens its sets the stage for a Democratic implosion with a free-for-all deciding the nomination now and a crippled party structure barely standing, if at all, for future elections.
“I think this could be one of the most devastating things for the Democratic Party going into this election,” he said.
Harkin doesn’t expect the DNC to cave in and seat the delegates from Michigan and Florida.
“I talked to Chairman (Howard) Dean about it and he said they’re adamant – not just him but the DNC members from Wisconsin and Illinois and New York and California and everybody else,” Harkin said.
Harkin said the issue is simple: “Rules are rules.”
“We had a national schedule that everyone agreed to
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