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.
Terry Branstad
Branstad said there’s been a short window in the special election, which has hurt Republican Cindy Golding and helped Democrat Liz Mathis. Branstad set the date for the special election on Sept. 16.
“I believe that the Republican candidate, Cindy Golding, has a great background and great business experience and is a hard worker, but also I think she has a considerable name recognition disadvantage,” Branstad said. Mathis is a former television news anchor.
Liz Mathis
Mathis has outraised and outspent Golding in the district, according to campaign finance reports. Branstad also noted the Iowa Democratic Party has vastly outspent the Republican Party of Iowa in the district, pouring more than $200,000 into the race in recent weeks.
The race will determine control of the Iowa Senate, and has attracted interest from national social conservative groups like the National Organization for Marriage.
Cindy Golding
But despite the national interest, unusually large spending and political implications of the election, Branstad said not too much should be read into the results.
“When you look at special elections, they are not much of an indicator … they’re an indicator of that particular district at that point in time,” he said. “So I don’t think people should read too much into it but obviously we’ll see.”
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