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.
Only a day after reports surfaced that a Karl Rove-affiliated group has begun a $20 million ad campaign against President Obama, efforts to combat those ads are already underway.
According to Creative Loafing, Crossroads GPS, a group founded in part by Karl Rove, began airing a series of attack ads on Monday. The ad is being shown in 10 states, including Iowa, and the group is reportedly spending $5 million on this blitz while holding an additional $15 million for advertisements later this summer.
Crossroads recently came under scrutiny by the Federal Election Commission, which requested a list of the group’s donors. During the 2010 election cycle, the group spent $15 million on attack ads — including $354,016 going after former Gov. Charlie Crist during his U.S. Senate bid against Marco Rubio.
Priorities USA Action, an independent expenditure PAC formed by two key Obama supporters that describes itself as supporting candidates “who will advance policies that provide the strongest and most sound outcomes for middle class families,” has unveiled a multi-state, $750,000 advertising campaign as a means of defense against the Rove ads.
According to a press release, the ads aim to “inform voters about the source of the Rove ad and the truth about the Republican plan, a Rick Scott-style budget that would slash health care for seniors and cut education for the middle class while giving tax breaks to big oil and the wealthy.” They will run in Iowa, Florida, Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia over the course of the next two weeks.
“Republican candidates are embracing the Rick Scott agenda of tax cuts for big corporations and the very rich while asking middle class families and seniors to pay more for health care and education,” said Bill Burton, senior strategist for Priorities USA Action, referencing Florida’s controversial and conservative governor. “The people … see right through the right-wing attacks put forth by Karl Rove.”
View both ads below:
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