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.
Jon Huntsman’s presidential campaign issued a statement today, on the heels of a lengthy statement from New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, saying his campaign would do what it could to protect the integrity of the 2012 nomination calendar and specifically New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.
“In an effort to preserve New Hampshire’s historic first-in-the-nation primary status, the Huntsman campaign will boycott the Nevada caucus as long as the state continues to jeopardize New Hampshire’s primary date,” said Matt David, Huntsman’s campaign manager.
“We call on the other campaigns to join us, especially Governor [Mitt] Romney’s campaign given their involvement in moving Nevada’s date forward.”
Speculation has long existed that the Romney campaign, which is expected to do well in Nevada, encouraged leaders there to push the caucus date as early as possible. Spokespersons for Romney have remained silent on the topic.
Nevada set its caucus date for Jan. 14, which allows no time for the traditional eight-day window between Iowa and New Hampshire and, more importantly, nearly prevents New Hampshire from following its own state law that says its primary will occur seven days in advance of other contests. As a result Gardner, who is pretty much god when it comes to selecting the date for New Hampshire, is threatening a December 2011 primary — a situation that will not only threaten the future status of New Hampshire’s early start, but will be unfavorable to all four early-start states, including Iowa, which has tentatively selected Jan. 3.
Although Huntsman has never pegged Nevada in his White House strategy, the move could have some pull due to the Mormon contingency there. The statement will also settle well in New Hampshire, where Huntsman has played extensively.
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