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.
Recent polling of Iowa Republican voters found three-quarters believe President Obama was either not born in the United States, or are unsure if he was.
Forty-eight percent of respondents said they were unsure, 26 percent said they thought he was not born in the country. Only 26 percent believe Obama was truly born in the United States.
The poll also found Donald Trump was in third place with 14 percent of the vote. Trump has been trumpeting the so-called “birtherism” belief; challenging that there is a conspiracy to explain why Obama has not only an actual birth certificate stating he was born in Hawaii, but also a newspaper clipping announcing his birth.
Mitt Romney came in third with 16 percent, while Mike Huckabee — who has largely remained vacant from the 2012 candidate scene — leads the pack with 27 percent of the vote in the poll. If Trump was not included in the race, both Huckabee and Romney held their position with increased support. If Huckabee was removed, Romney took the lead with 25 percent of the voters.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was nearly tied with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul in most of the polling.
Results came from a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling of 419 usual Republican voters in Iowa conducted April 15 to 17.
Despite the support for Romney, only 11 percent said they would vote for a candidate that backed a mandate to buy health insurance, as was required in the health care reform Romney signed into law in Massachusetts as governor. Romney won the Iowa straw poll in the summer of 2007. He came in second, behind Huckabee, in the Iowa caucus in 2008.
The results also indicated a majority of Republicans in Iowa were unsure of some of the candidates who have spent the most time in Iowa when asked if they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion. They included Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, and Haley Barbour.
Two dark horse candidates pundits throw out as possible last minute candidate, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and outgoing Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, were nearly unknown among respondents.
A majority also indicated they did not consider themselves a member of the tea party.
Follow Tyler Kingkade on Twitter
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter