Opponents of health care reform shook signs, shouted and heckled U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack during a town hall forum in Cedar Rapids on Saturday. Compared to reports from other parts of the nation, however, the four forums Loebsack held in the 2nd District over the weekend were mild.

“Part of the job that I had today, I think, was to do the best that I could to explain the bills that are before us now,” Loebsack said. “My main job, however, was just to hear people and learn what they had to say. In that sense, I think the meetings were very successful, and I hope those who participated feel the same way.”

Across the country, congressional town hall events previously attended by only a handful of the most wonkish citizens have become shouting matches between opponents and supporters of health care reform. More often than not the elected official hosting the forum has ended up playing a sideline role to the action of the participants.

While there is no denying that Loebsack’s events in eastern Iowa were spirited, they did not devolve into the anger and violence seen in other parts of the nation. Before beginning his tour, Loebsack, a Democrat, acknowledged that emotions are running high and expressed his hope that there would still be opportunities for measured discussion.

“At every stop today that held true much of the time,” Loebsack said. “Clearly people are extremely passionate about this issue. And that’s especially true for those who are opposed to the type of health care reform that we are talking about. So, yes, there were folks who were very upset about one thing or another, and I did the best I could to hear what they had to say and to engage them.”

Loebsack’s largest and most raucous stop was the first of the day in Cedar Rapids, where more than 500 people crammed into an auditorium with a capacity of 432 and others were turned away due to space constraints. Even before Loebsack entered the room, Emma Nemecek, a Mount Vernon Republican who launched two prior unsuccessful campaigns for Iowa House, drew applause and boos as she paraded through the center aisle with a sign that read, “Obama Lies, Grandma Dies.” Loebsack, like U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, entered the room to cheers and jeers from those attending. Throughout the forum, opponents attempted to interrupt by shouting comments from the audience, but Loebsack, who had a microphone, ignored the heckling and continued to answer audience questions pulled from a basket.

Mount Vernon Republican Emma Nemecek was applauded by many attending U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack's town hall when she raised a sign that read, "Obama Lies, Grandma Dies!!!"

Although most disruption was limited to verbal shouts — between audience members just as often as toward Loebsack — Cedar Rapids Police did remove two individuals when an argument involving a pro-reform sign escalated and the sign holder was knocked to the floor. After visiting with law enforcement about the incident, both were allowed to return to the audience.

Loebsack’s other stops in Mount Pleasant, Burlington and Fort Madison were much smaller and much less rowdy than the Cedar Rapids event.

“As I said, there are some folks who are really, really upset about a lot of things. And, I think many of them — perhaps most of them — are upset [by] misinformation that’s out there,” Loebsack said. “I did the best I could to explain what’s in the bill that I voted for and that we are now working on in the House of Representatives, and I hope that will convince some of the folks that some of their fears are a little bit unfounded. I think many of [their fears] are unfounded, but I still understand why there is so much concern. When we talk about health care, we are talking about life and death decisions. Given that, I have no desire whatsoever to de-legitimize their feelings on this.”

As expected, Loebsack fielded questions on end-of-life care and abortion. Perhaps not expected were audience request for Loebsack, a former college political science professor, to define socialism or discuss medical loss ratios. Despite all the input and activity, however, Loebsack said he didn’t really hear anything from constituents that he hasn’t already heard.

“Keep in mind that before these town hall meetings, I had already visited every hospital in the District and talked with health care providers. I come home nearly every weekend and, even when I’m just stopping at the Casey’s, I try to talk with people.  So, I had already heard many of the concerns that were voiced today, including those concerns on the side as to why we need health care reform,” he said.

“I think the real difference for me today was that it was an opportunity for 500 people in Cedar Rapids and 200 people in Henry County to all be in one room and express these concerns that I’ve been hearing for quite some time. I did hear all sides of the issue. I think that’s what is really important.”

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speaks at a rally in Des Moines last Friday.

Langston, a Democrat, scouted the full field, arguably the deepest ever for her party in terms of resumes and star quality, before picking U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as her candidate — a choice she made during a ride to the Cedar Rapids airport with Obama amid discussions of the state’s understated beauty.

She saw something within Obama that helped her to make what was a personal decision to support the first-term senator.

“As we were talking, we just became four people,” Langston said. “At that moment in time what I saw was that Senator Obama still had a piece of his humanity. Running for president and all the challenge and hoopla can really put you into a very unusual atmosphere.

“It can change you. I had at that moment, and I continue to have, a sense of Obama as a person. That’s also certainly true with (his wife) Michelle. There is a humanity that still exists within that family that has not been subverted by running for president.”

It’s that unflappable quality and connection to people that Langston believes helped Obama win the nomination.

John McCain speaks to a crowd in Le Mars during the Iowa caucuses. Immigration dominated that forum in northwest Iowa.

While insiders spent time recently thinking about what has made Obama’s campaign successful, most talk of the McCain campaign was more about its missteps than its successes.

Many see McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running-mate as a turning point in the election.

Former GOP gubernatorial candidate David Oman, a top staffer for Iowa’s last two Republican governors, says McCain would have been better served by picking former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

“I’ve thought a handful of times the past month that he would have helped, perhaps a lot, in energizing GOP base, appealing to folks deeply troubled by downturn and so-called bailout, and in several southern and border states now close,” Oman said.

He said that Palin has not benefited the Republican ticket.

“Look at the [Des Moines Register] Iowa Poll breakouts with 60 percent of people feeling she is not qualified to assume the presidency,” Oman said.  “Huckabee would have passed that test. Romney, too, though he would have cemented many peoples’ classic impressions of the GOP brand — wealth — and probably not turned around a single state, including Michigan.”

Oman said that if Obama is elected Tuesday he will have to remember where his journey initially received traction.

“It wasn’t in Pennsylvania, or many other states,” Oman said. “It was in Iowa, first.  Lack of success here followed by second in New Hampshire would have shut down his campaign for the nomination.”

Oman said Obama clearly will have higher priorities that need to be addressed before he can focus on a more specifically rural agenda.

“I suspect Obama will focus first on the mega problems of the economy, energy, and health care, not to mention national security with or without the incident [VP nominee Joe] Biden forecasted,” Oman said.

Former Iowa Democratic Party chairman Mike Peterson, now an executive with AT&T in St. Louis, Mo., says at this point, it seems as if the presidential race is all about margin of victory.

“I will be surprised if Obama receives fewer than 350 electoral votes,” Peterson said.

Peterson said he still believes that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty would have made a stronger running mate for McCain than Palin.

In terms of governing following the election, Peterson said an Obama win is good for rural Iowa.

“I am told that Obama’s first legislative package will be an infrastructure bill,” Peterson said.  “Iowa’s seniority should be a plus there.”

Veteran Iowa writer Chuck Offenburger runs a popular Web site and churns out prolific articles for a variety of publications from a renovated farmhouse outside of Cooper in Greene County. He sees Obama as a stronger leader for rural Iowa than McCain.

“Rural Iowa will fare much better under Obama than it would have under McCain,” Offenburger, a Republican, said.  “Obama understands the Midwest. He understands agriculture and what a huge role ag will play in the new energy era. And he will never forget the huge role Iowans played in enabling his candidacy.”

On the eve of the election State Rep. Tom Schueller, D-Maquoketa, recalled the early days of the Iowa caucuses when he was receiving call after call from candidates.

“I supported Joe Biden in the caucus,” Schueller said. “I thought he would have done better. To be honest with you, I really blame the media for that. They picked up on who they thought was the front-runners and that’s who ended up being the front runners. The other ones didn’t get hardly an honorable mention. Those folks — Biden, (New Mexico Gov, Bill) Richardson and (Connecticut Sen. Chris) Dodd — had a lot of good things to say too.”

Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues in Lexington, Ky., puts it flatly.

“I see no chance for McCain,” Cross said. “Hindsight is always 20/20. Romney would have brought the base around, though not stimulated crowds and volunteers like Palin. He would have been viewed as qualified, and could have probably made more coherent arguments than McCain, so the election would have been closer.

“But this is all a parlor game because McCain wasn’t about to pick someone he couldn’t get along with, and I agree with that approach. You have to think about governing, not just winning. Obama did that with Biden, an example of his better judgment.”

Down in southern Iowa, State Sen. Jeff Angelo, R-Creston, says McCain has a chance when one looks at the internals in a lot of the state polls.

“Right now, both the Democratic base and the Republican base are fired up,” Angelo said.  “So you assume in a record turnout that the bases are cancelling each other — sorta like my wife and I — you then look at the number among if McCain can swing some of them and the undecideds in the battleground states, he pulls out the electoral win.   Obama was hoping for a blowout based on the participation of new and infrequent voters — but early returns indicate that the early voters are mostly the same voters who always vote early.”

Angelo said McCain’s selection of Palin brought passion to base and delivered a middle-class relevancy.

There is a reason that “Joe The Plumber” became a central figure in this campaign, Angelo said.

“With Palin and Joe’s involvement, McCain got his campaign groove back by realizing that there are a large group of middle class voters who didn’t believe their concerns were being addressed in the campaign,” Angelo said.  “Romney doesn’t have that power to harness the energy of those voters and get them to the polls. Palin does.  She’s ‘one of us.’  In short, I don’t think the race is close without Palin.”

Sarah Palin at a recent rally in Sioux City.

Offenburger thinks McCain’s problem wasn’t in choosing Palin, but in shackling her to a script and cocooning a natural campaigner.

“Let me admit that I still think Palin was a good choice, especially given where the McCain campaign was in August” Offenburger said  “And that leads me to what I think is the biggest mistake McCain made — letting his campaign staff mismanage Palin from the moment she said ‘yes.’  They should have let her talk one-on-one to every reporter, columnist and broadcaster who wanted to talk, instead of packaging her up for those huge exclusive interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric — under the glare of the brightest lights and widest audiences imaginable.  That was unfair to Palin.

“If the rest of the press corps had been getting frequent access to her immediately, one-on-one and in small gatherings, she would’ve learned quickly to relax and be herself.  I think she would have then shown people the knowledge, ability, personality and savviness that have helped her become governor of a huge, complex and important state.  By the way, I think she would do very well in the kind of retail politics that the Iowa caucuses require.”

For his part, Schueller said Obama has picked a running mate who understands the middle class.

“Look at how he gets to work everyday and look at what he’s done since he’s been there,” Schueller said. “Second of all, Obama has some Midwest roots, being from Illinois and all. So, he’s going to understand our needs a little better than McCain ever would or could. And he’s going to have a better grasp of agriculture than McCain ever would or could. That’s been reflected in Obama’s campaigning. McCain’s record reflects what he thinks about ethanol, renewable energy and so-forth.”

Langston said she knew McCain was in trouble when she saw him speak during the caucus campaign season at a Cedar Rapids Rotary Club meeting.

“That’s a rather large group of over 200 significant business people,” Langston said. “Really, [McCain’s] presentation was not good. By my estimation, it was appallingly bad. While the campaign was talking about having no money, they came into the meeting with drapes and curtains and tele-prompters. I thought, ‘Oh my.’ I mean if you can’t stand up in front of an Iowa Rotary and give a speech without all of this.”

Obama, an Illinois senator, was the choice of 54 percent of likely voters, while McCain, an Arizona senator, was the choice of 37 percent.

The poll of 814 likely voters, taken Tuesday through Friday by Selzer & Co., came at the close of a key stretch of the fall campaign. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

The poll also found that six in 10 Obama supporters said they were 100 percent confident he is the best person for the job, compared to only half of McCain supporters.

Four years ago, three-quarters of President George W. Bush’s supporters expressed total confidence in the Republican, compared with about 60 percent for Democrat John Kerry. Bush narrowly carried Iowa during his re-election campaign.

In a poll released Oct. 31, 2004, The Register’s found Kerry and Bush virtually tied. Bush was eventually victorious by only 10,000 votes.

“It’s surprising: Despite all the campaigning and intense media coverage, the percentage of American voters who believe Obama is Muslim has not gone down as much as we might expect since a similar Pew study in June, which found that 12 percent believe he is,” said Hawkeye Poll Director David Redlawsk, associate professor of political science in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

In the national poll of 680 registered voters conducted Oct. 1-11, 8.4 percent of all respondents considered Obama Muslim, and 33.4 percent could not name his religion when asked in an open-ended question to identify it.

One thing has changed since the Pew poll: The percentage of Democrats who mistake Obama’s religion dropped notably, while the percentage of Republicans who do went up. In June, the percentage was equal regardless of party. Now, the Hawkeye Poll shows that 14 percent of Republicans say Obama is Muslim, compared to only 5.5 percent of Democrats and 4.8 percent of independents.

In the Hawkeye Poll, 39 percent of Republicans and 37 percent of independents did not know Obama’s religion, compared to less than one-quarter of Democrats. Likewise, almost 70 percent of Democrats correctly identified him as Christian, compared just 46.3 percent of Republicans and 57.5 percent of independents.

“That’s a difference of over 20 percentage points between Republicans and Democrats on perceptions of Obama’s Christian religion,” said Hawkeye Poll Co-Director Caroline Tolbert, associate professor of political science at the UI. “Media coverage or online information sources linking Obama to the Muslim religion may be responsible for the misinformation.”

Another possible factor responsible for voters mistaking Obama’s religion may be tied to a voter’s education level, the poll found. Seventy-two percent of those who believe Obama is Muslim have not graduated from college.

Moreover, the poll found that nearly 14 percent of those who identify themselves as born-again or evangelical Christian think Obama is a Muslim, compared to 6.6 percent of non-evangelical voters.

The University of Iowa Hawkeye Poll is directed by David Redlawsk and co-directed by Caroline Tolbert, associate professors of political science in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The poll is a teaching, research and service project of the Department of Political Science and is housed at the UI’s Social Science Research Center. The university’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Office of the Provost provided funding for the poll.

Steve King

Nearly 400 workers were detained by immigration officials at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant on May 12. The enforcement operation and subsequent deporations have cost taxpayers at least $5 million, although all costs are not yet known.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, a Republican who represents Iowa’s 5th District, said that government agencies must enforce immigration laws, regardless of expense to taxpayers.

“If we start saying, ‘Well, it costs too much money to enforce the law,’ then we will see more and more of these radical, pro-illegal immigration activists drive more wedges between us and make it harder to enforce the law,” King told William Petroski of the Des Moines Register.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials responded to a freedom of information request from the Register, telling the newspaper that the agency’s expenditures totaled $5,211,092 as of Aug. 21. Of the 389 people detained by federal authorities, 302 were quickly charged and convicted of criminal wrongdoing, primarily related to identity theft.

U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat representing Iowa’s 1st District, has questioned various aspects related to the immigration raid since the enforcement took place. Like the media, his requests for detailed cost expenditures for the Postville and Marshalltown immigration raids have not been fully answered.

The $5.2 million figure quoted by the Register does not include costs associated with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, local Postville authorities or the U.S. Department of Labor investigation into possible wage discrepencies at the plant.

Michigan legislative leaders are talking about rushing a bill through the legislature that would say that anyone discussed in the news media must be on the presidential primary ballot, unless the candidate signs a statement that he or she is not running for president.

Would this force a Sherman statement out of fantasy candidate and new Nobel laureate Al Gore?  Maybe, maybe not.  But it couldn’t force candidates to actually go to Michigan.  The top six Democrats have signed a pledge not to campaign in states that violate the Democratic National Committee’s calendar.  Chris Dodd, one of the candidates who left his name on the Michigan ballot, told Iowa Independent Friday, “I haven’t been to Michigan in three years, and I’m not going there.”Meanwhile, Michigan leaders are calling the kettle black by challenging New Hampshire for… violating the calendar, writing to DNC chair Howard Dean on Friday: 

Sen. Carl Levin, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and DNC member Debbie Dingell allege that New Hampshire is set to violate the DNC’s rules by moving earlier than Jan. 22.

“We want to know what the DNC intends to do about the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s decision to move forward the date of the primary to select their delegates even though that date violates the DNC rules,” they wrote.

“Michigan Democrats have always said that we would abide by the DNC’s rules on the timing of the delegate selection primaries and caucuses as long as other states abided by them. That is now no longer the case.”

And the big picture of Michigan’s effort, putting its issues on the table, has backfired in the case of one candidate.  In an article titled “Is Obama giving Michigan brush-off?”, the Detroit Free Press notes that Obama is running a new television ad in New Hampshire describing himself as the candidate who has taken on Detroit, telling automakers in their backyard how they need to build cars that squeeze more miles from a gallon of gas.

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, who started the battle to move Michigan’s primary up, said he doesn’t think the Illinois senator is writing off the state.

“He’s just shooting the dice to win in Iowa and New Hampshire. It’s just more evidence of the power that those states have in this process,” Levin said.

The Obama crew marches to the Harkin Steak Fry, led by the drum corps the Isiserettes.

Iowa Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge welcomes the crowd early in the program at the steak fry.

The catering crew worked over hot grills preparing the meals for over 12,000.

Iowa vocal talent Effie Burt passionately sings the Star Spangled Banner.

Ruth and Tom Harkin say hello to the record crowd at the Harkin Steak Fry.

Barack Obama takes to the mic to deliver the first speech of the six special guests.

Hillary Clinton and Ruth Harkin have a chat up on the stage.

Bill Richardson gives the second presidential candidate speech at the steak fry.

INDIANOLA – Hillary pulled out the best line of the day.

Obama’s team orchestrated some powerhouse optics.

Edwards did that lawyer-leaping-from-the-John-Grisham-novel-to-face-the-forces-of capitalism’s-excesses-for-those-Americans-bogged-in-the-backwater thing,

The candidates had their moments, some big ones at that.

But the win at U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin’s Steak Fry, the trophy on this day of the Emmys, goes to the State of Iowa. A record number of Iowans for this event, more than 12,000 by Harkin staffers’ official count, poured into the balloon fields in this Warren County town south of Des Moines, just weeks before harvest and four months until candidates learn if their own toils and tending yield a bump for New Hampshire or South Carolina or Nevada in the chase for the White House.

“Whoever comes out of Iowa is going to get one heck of a boost,” Harkin told members of the media before the formal speeches.

Six Democratic presidential candidates appeared before a boisterous crowd on a hay-bail lined stage with a serene countryside, the solitude of a Sunday sun tea on the porch only a light breeze away and stretching as far as the eye could strain.

As Edward R. Murrow may have said: This is Iowa.

Yes it is. And love him or hate him, you have to give it to Harkin for showcasing the state in a genuine manner like this.

At Sunday’s steak fry – the event Harkin used to launch his own presidential candidacy in 1991 with clever attacks on Bush – the activists came to eat the read meat and digest it by getting an ear full of some. Like in 1991, it was a Bush, this one hemorrhaging like a pi

The four endorsements moved Obama into second place in the Endorsement War. He still trails New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who leads the pack with 16 endorsements from Iowa lawmakers.

As the Democratic hopefuls hit the campaign trail in Iowa this week and gear up for Sen. Tom Harkin’s Steak Fry in Indianola on Sunday, the lawmaker endorsements are beginning to sizzle. Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware announced the endorsement of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines on Wednesday, his eighth endorsement thus far, which now bumps him into third place among his Democratic rivals. Biden was in second place Thursday.

Miller said this in a press release: “Senator Obama courageously stood up against the conventional thinking in Washington, D.C., and used his good judgment to speak out against the war in Iraq before it was popular to do so. This good judgment combined with his ability to work across the aisle and build consensus are qualities our country desperately needs in our next president. As President, Barack Obama will use that experience to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home.”From Peterson’s statement: “Senator Obama has the leadership and drive to enact his health care plan that goes furthest to meet the needs of working families. America is ready for a leader who can bring our country together and change the way we do politics in Washington. Barack’s ability to build consensus and reach across the aisle on issues such as health care are what we need to bring our country together to meet the challenges we face.”

With less than 48 hours remaining before the grills begin firing up at the Harkin Steak Fry, there’s still time for candidates to pad their resumes with endorsements before they hit the stage Sunday.