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.
With Labor Day on the spent part of the calendar the chase for 2008 Iowa caucuses is now in the deal-closing stage, with candidates making appeals here that history shows can launch an American presidency.
In that context, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, a presidential aspirant who is positioning himself as a descendent of past Democratic Party icons with tomorrow’s voice, jammed the Carroll Recreation Center auditorium Tuesday with an overflow crowd peopled by many who clearly came to see if history is indeed on the side of the 46-year-old Illinoisan.
“I may not have the experience Washington likes, but I am absolutely convinced I have the experience America needs right now,” Obama said. “I say that because hope and change aren’t just campaign rhetoric for me.”
The Carroll Police Department estimated the crowd at more than 600 people, and longtime local political observers say Obama electrified the audience in a manner they thought had been lost – to the memories of the Kennedys or Roosevelts. In terms of energy and turnout the Obama Carroll event surpassed one for Iowa poll-topping Democrat John Edwards. The former U.S. senator from North Carolina drew about 175 people to the Carrollton Centre in June.
Moreover, Obama packed more punch – and pulled a larger crowd – than one for pre-”Scream Speech” Howard Dean at Carroll High School just days before the 2004 caucuses. Dean had about 500 people (including 100 members of the media compared with about a dozen for Obama Tuesday.)Many caucus-goers who were undecided left convinced Tuesday.
“This is the third time that I have heard the man, and I am more impressed each and every time I hear him,” Carroll County Democratic Party chairman Butch Heisterkamp said after Obama’s hourlong speech and question-and-answer session. “I guess you could put me in his camp. He has me convinced.”
Former Iowa Lt. Gov. Art Neu, a Carroll attorney who has closely watched Hawkeye State politics for 50 years, says Obama is as gifted as any candidate Neu’s seen.
“He’s toward the top,” Neu said. “He’s very impressive, very bright. The questions and the way he handled them was very good. I’ve never seen anybody seem more knowledgeable.”
That considered, Neu, a Republican, said he is still shopping for a candidate.
For his part, Obama, lithe and athletic, bounded onto the Rec Center stage around 8 p.m. to sustained applause.
“It is time to turn the page; it is time for something fundamentally different,” Obama said.
Obama, the freshman senator from Illinois, is widely viewed as U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton’s main rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton, the New Yorker and former first lady, has attempted to portray Obama as less experienced, and even na
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