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.
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich may be making all the right rumblings that he is ready to toss his hat into the 2012 presidential contest, planning trip after trip into Iowa to woo potential caucus goers, but his former wife believes his time for political greatness has come and gone.
Marianne Gingrich, who was married to Newt for 18 years, believes he “has to be historic to justify his life,” which began in poverty.
Newt Gingrich (Lauren Victoria Burke/WDCPIX.COM)
“There’s no way,” Marianne said, when told by John Richardson of Esquire magazine that Newt wants to run for president. “He could have been president. But when you try and change your history too much, and try and recolor it because you don’t like the way it was or you want it to be different to prove something new … you lose touch with who you really are. You lose your way.”
The former Georgia representative has already made trips into Iowa to promote local candidates and begin building the grassroots network he will need if he hopes to compete in the upcoming caucus season, and a recent poll points to an eventual showdown between him and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Later this week, Newt Gingrich will return to the Hawkeye State for an appearance at the Iowa State Fair and to promote a Republican women’s political action committee.
The politician has believed, according to his former wife Marianne, that he could present himself in such a way that there would be a disconnect between his public and private life. While that might be a good trait for someone who wants to run for president, it doesn’t bode well for his electability, according to Marianne.
As for Newt himself? He’s still four-years-old, he told Richardson, and trying to find a cookie.
“There’s a large part of me that’s four years old,” he said. “I wake up in the morning and I know that somewhere there’s a cookie. I don’t know where it is but I know it’s mine and I have to go find it. That’s how I live my life. My life is amazingly filled with fun.”
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