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.
Taken collectively, the nation’s rural areas, from small southern towns to the vastness of the plains, are leaning toward a Democratic president – if the measure is fund-raising.
“Democratic candidates took in 55 percent of the $6 million raised from rural residents in the first quarter of 2007; 45 percent of the total went to Republicans,” reports the Daily Yonder, a recently launched Web site dealing with rural issues. “The Democrats' lead in rural fundraising is the mirror opposite of the presidential vote outcomes of 2000 and in 2004; in both elections, Republican George W. Bush won nearly 60 percent of the rural vote, support that was crucial to his victory.”
The nation’s rural population is only 26 percent. What’s more, of the $114.3 million raised by the 17 presidential candidates in the first quarter of 2007, only $6 million comes from rural counties.
That said, the totals are trending Democratic. Of that $6 million, $3.3 million (55 percent) went to Democrats, with $2.67 going to GOP contenders.
University of South Florida political scientist Seth McKee tells the Daily Yonder that “in the 2000 and 2004 elections, Republican George W. Bush would not have won the presidency if not for the support he received among rural voters.”
In terms of specific candidates, Republican Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, leads all White House aspirants in rural fund-raising with $1,148,000. John Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, pulled in $1,068,000 for that reporting period to lead Democrats and finish second behind Romney.
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