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.
[Update: A commenter with a longer historical perspective than mine says President Lyndon B. Johnson drew a crowd of 125,000 to a campaign rally. Still, 25,000 is the largest crowd in recent history, at least.]
There does not seem to be a reliable source to cite for this claim, but Sen. Barack Obama’s rally today in Des Moines might be the largest single-candidate political rally in Iowa history.
Sen. Barack Obama rallies a crowd estimated at 25,000 in Des Moines
Four years ago, at an evening rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Sen. John Kerry drew about 15,000. At the time, many asserted that it was the largest crowd in the state’s long history of campaign rallies.
Today’s turnout for Obama was estimated by Des Moines police at about 25,000.
That number pales in comparison to the crowds Obama has drawn elsewhere — 100,000 in Denver, for instance — but by Iowa standards, crowds do not get much bigger.
GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin drew a crowd of about 10,000 in Des Moines last weekend.
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