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.
Tuesday’s election results should be greeted with happiness for Republicans but they should not be seen as a public repudiation of President Obama, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Wednesday morning.
“I don’t think it’s a referendum on Obama,” the Republican lawmaker said in a conference call with reporters. “I think it’s a — it’s a referendum on some of his programs — not that his programs are not well-intentioned, but are they working and, in some instances, are they going too far?”
Republicans won governorships in New Jersey and Virginia Tuesday night, two states Obama carried in 2008. The lesson of 2009 is that the GOP must court the independent voters who supported Obama but are not solid Democrats, Grassley said.
“You haven’t seen Republican numbers go up. You haven’t seen Democrat numbers go down,” Grassley said. So the real battle is for independents, and that is where the GOP can be victorious.
Grassley said he’s heard voters express a lot of fear in recent months, but that doesn’t necessarily reflect an anti-Obama mentality.
“I never hear anything bad about Obama,” Grassley said. “Now, maybe — maybe you can read a lot into ‘I’m scared’ as being anti-Obama, but nobody brings up that, you know, the Obama name very often, compared to the words ‘I’m scared.’”
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