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.
It seems more and more likely that Arizona Sen. John McCain will skip the Iowa Caucuses. Today's death watch edition, coming off parts 1 and 2, is warranted because his Iowa campaign just lost two more important members: Tim Miller, McCain's Iowa press secretary, and Marlys Popma, McCain's Iowa Coalitions director.
No news yet on whether McCain will hire a new Iowa press secretary. In a statement, via O. Kay Henderson, Miller directed further press inquiries to McCain's national headquarters. It seems hard to imagine that McCain could credibly carry on a campaign in the state with the first-in- the-nation caucuses without a state press secretary. If he doesn't hire a new one, that would certainly indicate that he intends to skip Iowa.
Losing Popma is also a sizable blow to McCain's Iowa chances. Popma is a prominent evangelical Christian in the state and has been executive director of the Iowa GOP twice, as well as president of the Iowa Right to Life Committee. McCain was already having a hard time attracting support from Iowa social conservatives. Losing her seems like another nail in the coffin.
According to two of Henderson's sources, only five paid staffers remain on McCain's Iowa campaign. She even titled her post, "Last one out, turn off the lights?" My guess is that question mark won't exist for much longer.
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