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.
The Democratic presidential nominating process seems to finally be coming to a close, which means all attention will shift to the general election and the battle with the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain.
For the last few weeks, McCain has been airing two TV advertisements in Iowa. While McCain has focused on foreign policy out on the stump, the ads airing in Iowa and several other potential battleground states (such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio) focus entirely on domestic issues.The first ad, entitled “Leading,” opens with a shot of the two Democratic presidential rivals side by side and an announcer saying “While Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama argue and fight with each other, John McCain leads.”
The ad then goes on to discus McCain’s plan for health care ($5,000 tax credit), high gas prices (a gas tax holiday) and wasteful government spending (apparently he’s opposed to it). It closes with the line “John McCain: Leadership, not politics.”
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Obviously, as the Democrats start playing nice, this ad will disappear. If it hasn’t already.
The second ad does not mention his Democratic rivals by name but similarly focuses exclusively on domestic issues. Entitled “Accountable,” the ad opens with McCain saying his goal is to “get the American economy running at full strength again.” It goes on to say McCain will make taxes simpler, energy cheaper, health care more affordable, and hold corporate CEO’s accountable without actually getting into any details about how he would do these things.
It closes with “Big ideas for serious problems: John McCain.”
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The fact that McCain, who has not managed to rack up the impressive fund-raising totals that his Democratic rivals have, would begin airing ads in Iowa shows he does believe that despite a poor showing in the caucuses, he can compete here. It also signals that he will be spending a great deal of time talking domestic issues rather than what could be considered his Achilles Heal – the war in Iraq.
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