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.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, D.-Del., launched his new ad, “Cathedral,” which not only strikes the emotional chords of parents having lost loved ones in the Iraq War but those parents who risk losing loved ones in the future – including Biden, whose eldest son, Beau, has received orders to deploy to Iraq next year.
Stumping for his father, a passionate Beau Biden addresses members of the Iowa Democratic Party Veterans’ Caucus
Biden begins retelling his story with the setting details: “It was my fourth trip to Iraq; we were leaving Baghdad. It was pitch black,” Biden says before segueing into a description of a flag-draped coffin strapped in the middle of his C-130 cargo plane. “They turned that cargo plane into a cathedral,” he says. “And all I could think of was the parents waiting at the other end. We must end this war in a way that won’t send their grandchildren back.” Knowing that Biden may be one of these parents on the receiving end of the C-130 cargo plane, it’s these lines that strike an emotional chord with television viewers.Biden’s son, Beau, is the attorney general of Delaware and a captain in the U.S. National Guard. Beau Biden told a room full of veterans at the Presidential Extravaganza that his father is not happy about the possibility of his deployment, quoting his father, “I don’t want him going. But I tell you what, I don’t want my grandson or my granddaughters going back in 15 years, and so how we leave makes a big difference.”
Unlike his poll numbers in Iowa, where he’s been consistently polling at about 2 percent, Biden’s “Plan for Iraq” has been gaining traction with his congressional colleagues and foreign policy experts on both sides of the political aisle. Biden’s campaign crew hopes the ads will help him garner name recognition and traction in the polls.
Larry Rasky, communications director for the Biden campaign, said this to the Des Moines Register: “There’s no question that Iraq is the major issue on the minds of the voters, and there’s also no question that Joe Biden has been the leader in trying to push George Bush to get out of Iraq. It will certainly raise the senator’s favorable name recognition, but as for the horse race question, I think it remains to be seen as to when people really begin focusing on making that choice, but it will happen over time.”
“Cathedral”
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