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.
Despite his party losing a critical Iowa Senate special election on Nov. 8, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad believes the GOP can pick up five or six seats in the Iowa Legislature in 2012.
Terry Branstad
“I’m looking around the state and I’m not going to tell you what districts those are, but I think with the changes in reapportionment there’s some open seats and I think there’s a great opportunity,” Branstad said.
Republican Cindy Golding was defeated by Democrat Liz Mathis in that Senate District 18 special election. Had the GOP won, control of the Iowa Senate would have been split, 25-25.
Instead, Democrats maintained the narrowest of majorities and the Senate will likely remain the only roadblock to controversial legislation from the Republican-dominated Iowa House.
Branstad said he told the Senate Republican caucus on Thursday “every campaign is different,” with major factors being the quality of candidate, how hard they’re willing to work and what kind of message they bring.
Jerry Behn
“The most important thing is to recruit the very best candidate,” Branstad said. “And you’ve got to work extraordinarily hard, you’ve got to raise the money, the resources you need to do the job, and I think that we can do that and I’m very encouraged.”
Senate Republican Leader Jerry Behn (R-Boone) said the caucus is on the same page after analyzing that special election. The group determined the abbreviated election made a big difference in the race: Mathis is a former TV news anchor with excellent name-recognition in the district.
“I think with a short election like that and a very well-known candidate that made it very difficult to actually have issues become part of the campaign,” Behn said.
Branstad made similar comments the day before the election, saying the GOP “faces an uphill battle” in the race and warning people not to read too much into the results.
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