Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa (Lauren Victoria Burke/wdcpix.com)

“There’s not a seat in America held by a Democrat that can’t be won,” House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio told “Fox and Friends” Monday. “Massachusetts proves that. When Scott Brown wins Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, any seat’s in play.”

But while Republicans are hoping Brown’s victory foreshadows a GOP landslide, a number of political experts are warning that the country’s restless anxiety — as evidenced not only in Massachusetts, but in Virginia, New Jersey, and now Florida as well — is less a backlash against Democrats in particular than a rebuke of the business-as-usual politics of Capitol Hill in general.

Even as unemployment soared and housing markets tanked, voters have watched lawmakers bicker endlessly over a stimulus bill that proved too small and a health reform proposal that remains unfinished. Meanwhile, the banks have bounced back on the wings of a taxpayer bailout, paying out billions of dollars in employee bonuses this month while the jobs crisis outside Wall Street only worsens. In such an environment, some experts caution, incumbents on both sides of the aisle could find themselves surprisingly vulnerable in November.

“The public is mad, and they’re prepared to take it out on the establishment,” said Tony Coelho, the former California congressman who served as campaign chairman for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential run. “That doesn’t just mean the party in power. That means everyone.”

In Iowa, Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is looking at the first tough re-election campaign of his career, as three Democrats line up for the right to challenge the veteran lawmaker. While his approval numbers remain above 50 percent, something many incumbents can’t say, they are down significantly from 2008.

Iowa’s Democratic delegation is no safer, as five Republicans are vying to take on 3rd District Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell and three are running to unseat 2nd District Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack.

There are even two Democrats starting the uphill struggle of unseating 5th District Republican Rep. Steve King.

David P. Redlawsk, a political scientist at Rutgers University and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling, agreed. “The stock market has gone up, but that’s Wall Street, and many voters do not see how that benefits them,” Redlawsk wrote in an e-mail. “There is real risk to incumbents on both sides of the aisle.”

Redlawsk said that the Democrats, because they control both Congress and the White House, have absorbed the brunt of the nation’s discontent. But for Republicans to interpret that as partisan anger, he added, would be a mistake.

“This is not a partisan backlash by voters as much as it is a backlash against the powers that be — who happen to be Democrats,” he wrote.

The evidence of voter discontent has been everywhere in recent months. An early signal came in Virginia and New Jersey last November, when the incumbent Democrats were swept out of the governor’s office by Republican challengers who wouldn’t have stood a chance a year earlier. More recently, the virtually unknown Brown overcame a 30-point deficit to steal the Senate seat vacated by the late Edward Kennedy in the liberal bastion of Massachusetts.

“The message coming out of the Massachusetts special election is clear: No Democrat is safe,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “In the aftermath of Scott Brown’s victory this past week, it has become evident to Democrats that to run for reelection in this toxic political environment is to ensure defeat at the ballot box in November.”

Yet recent polls indicate that the voters aren’t exactly thrilled with Republicans either. In a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted earlier this month, for example, just 24 percent of respondents said they have either a “great deal” or “good amount” of confidence in Republicans to lead the country – down from 29 percent a year earlier. For Democrats, the number was 32 percent, down from 43 percent in January 2009.

Another survey, conducted this month by NBC and the Wall Street Journal, tells a similar story, revealing that just 30 percent of respondents have a positive feeling about the GOP, while 42 percent view the party negatively.

The message hasn’t been lost on some Republicans. Indeed, Brown packaged himself more as an independent outsider than a man of the Republican Party — a bow to the anti-establishment tea-party movement that mobilized so ardently behind him. Republican consultant Brad Todd told CQ recently that the mid-term elections will be governed by a “taint of incumbency.” Even Boehner conceded this week that voters “don’t trust either party.”

Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., might have summed it up best. “The American people have fallen out of love with the current direction, but they haven’t fallen in love with Republicans,” he said last week.

“It’s a pox on both your houses,” Coelho said of the country’s mood toward Democrats and Republicans alike. “That’s why the teabaggers have a voice. They’re saying, ‘The hell with both of you.’”

Supporting that theory, new polls Tuesday revealed that Marco Rubio, the upstart Republican contender fighting for Florida’s Senate seat, is leading GOP Gov. Charlie Crist by three points. The party scheme is different, but Rubio’s anti-establishment theme mirrors that of Brown’s message to Massachusetts voters.

“There is a deep and increasingly restive anger stirring in the country,” L.A. Times columnist Tim Rutten wrote last week. “Its focal points at the moment may seem to be healthcare and ‘big government,’ but if there were a Republican in the White House, they might just as well be tax cuts and ‘limited government.’ The fact is that the president and both parties’ congressional delegations have approval ratings under 50 percent.”

The Massachusetts shakeup means that Democrats are without a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and that has left party leaders scrambling to prevent a catastrophe in November. “Every state is now in play, absolutely,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said last week. “You have to make the case that you’re the one that’s on the people’s side. And people have to get it.”

With that in mind, President Obama will address Congress tonight in hopes of relaying the thought that he feels the country’s pain. The real audience, though, will be an American people grown frustrated with lawmakers’ partisan hostility, and skeptical of their capacity to lead in times of duress. For Obama, Coelho said, it’s also an opportunity to reframe his approach to governing, recognizing that the 2008 elections were a cry from voters for real change in Washington.

“It was a revolt against the system,” Coelho said of those elections. “Obama interpreted that to be a victory for his policies. But what it was was a frustration with the system not working.

“His political operatives needed to read the tea leaves,” he added. “And they failed.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Des Moines last year.

Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, is viewed favorably by 70 percent of Republicans. That outpaces Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who is viewed favorably by 60 percent of Republicans. Former Massachussetts governor and 2008 caucus runner-up Mitt Romney comes in at 58 percent.

When all voters are factored in, Huckabee’s favorability rating falls to 54 percent, with 22 percent unfavorable. Palin’s favorability falls to 37 percent, with 55 percent unfavorable. Romney comes in at 40 percent favorable and 32 percent unfavorable.

Should Huckabee or Palin decide to enter the 2012 Republican presidential primary, these numbers would put them in the front of the pack.

The Iowa Poll also looked at Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former New York Gov. George Pataki.

There has long been a debate over whether ethanol is an environmentally sound alternative to gasoline. Critics contend that due to the amount of fossil fuel used to harvest and create ethanol it actually releases more greenhouse emissions than fossil fuels. But this study adds health costs to the mix, especially when ethanol is made at coal-fired production facilities.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that for every billion gallons of fuel produced and combusted in the U.S., the combined climate-change and health costs are $469 million for gasoline and $472–$952 million for corn ethanol, with the higher totals coming from coal-fired production.

Health and environmental costs plunged dramatically for cellulosic ethanol, which is derived from prairie grass, corn stalks, switch grass and other sources besides corn, costing only $123–208 million. Cellulosic ethanol, however, is not yet a commercially viable alternative.

Researchers, which included Minnesota, Stanford University and the U.S. Energy Department, said the debate over whether substituting biofuels for fossil fuels benefits or harms the environment needs to be expanded beyond greenhouse gas emissions in order to get an accurate picture of costs.

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), the industry’s trade association, condemned the study, saying it bases its findings on erroneous assumptions about corn-based ethanol.

“I’m disappointed with what appears to be another politically motivated study with an ax to grind against corn ethanol,” said Brian Jennings, executive vice president of ACE, in a statement “The steps our nation must take regarding climate change and energy policy must be founded on the most thorough and defensible science, but this paper does not represent a meaningful contribution to the discussion surrounding these critical issues.”

The group said the primary assumptions the study relies on disregard technology innovations that help farmers produce additional corn and companies produce ethanol more efficiently.

The Minnesota study also contradicts another study released in January by the University of Nebraska that found corn-based ethanol directly emits an average of 51 percent less greenhouse gas than gasoline, as much as three times the reduction reported in earlier research, thanks to recent improvements in efficiency throughout the production process.

According to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, the state has 38 operational ethanol refineries with a combined annual capacity of over 3 billion gallons. There are also five ethanol refineries under construction that will add nearly 700 million gallons of capacity.

Des Moines Register Political columnist David Yepsen staked his credibility on the claim that “The fix is in” — that the state’s sale of the lottery was “a done deal” — last Thursday.  That’s because “Powerful people such as Gov. Chet Culver, Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy and Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal are saying nice things about the idea.”  (Or maybe it’s because Civic Skinny said so.)

Never mind the fact that, at least as of last Thursday, there were too many unanswered questions in the capitol to assess whether the idea has legs at all.  Never mind the fact that “saying nice things” entailed speaking noncommittally, in generalities, after being pressed by Des Moines Register reporters on the subject.  Never mind that Jason Clayworth, the paper’s own captiol reporter, said “I don’t believe it has serious consideration this session” in a web video debate with Yepsen on Friday (below).

Even the announcement from the governor’s office Saturday that its proposed budget would not include selling the lottery failed to convince Yepsen to change the subject.  He wrote not one, but two columns about selling the lottery over the weekend.  The Register newsroom also pushed out two breaking news text message alerts to its list of mobile phone subscribers regarding Culver’s announcement that he was not going to sell the lottery, as if it was shocking, front page news.  (And then, in the Sunday Register, it was.)

The Register may see this as a victory for themselves.  They lambasted a proposal to sell the lottery that no elected official was willing to put his or her name behind, and Culver ultimately rejected it.  But not before GOP legislators were able to use Yepsen’s work as a springboard to launch their own media offensive.

This was a manufactured controversy from beginning to end.

(Of course, if the proposal becomes more serious even after Culver’s decision to exclude it from his budget, we’ll be watching it as closely as anyone.  We just prefer to wait for more hard information than our ink-stained colleagues before we unleash a series of critical articles and columns about a particular subject.)

Responding to a column published this morning by The Des Moines Register’s David Yepsen, Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, said it appears some backroom deals have been made and Gov. Chet Culver and Democratic leaders are intent on selling the lottery to private investors.  Instead, the state should consider selling it to the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System, known as IPERS, McKinley said.

“This is only a scheme to get some very short-term financial gain for some long-term budget pain,” McKinley said. “There are other options that we should pursue, and one of those options that we’re pursuing is that the IPERS board look into buying the lottery.”

Selling the lottery to IPERS would pump needed cash into the state budget and would provide support for many of Iowa’s retirees, McKinley said.

House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said Republicans don’t think the lottery should be sold, but if it is, the deal should not be limited to big Democratic donors. Dan Kehl, an Iowa casino operator who is heading a consortium that hopes to lease the Lottery, donated $25,000 to Culver in 2007.

“If we are looking at that, we need to ensure everyone gets the opportunity to bid on it, and if the rate of return is 17 percent, that sounds like a good deal for IPERS and they need to look at that,” Paulsen said.

Paulsen admitted that he has not seen a proposal to sell or lease the lottery and that all the details he has seen have come from newspaper speculation about what the plan may look like. He is, however, meeting with an attorney next week to try to better understand the mechanics behind selling something like a state lottery.

“The numbers I’ve seen, which from a large extent come just from reading your paper, since we don’t have a formal proposal, the numbers don’t add up,” Paulsen said.

IPERS manages a multibillion-dollar investment portfolio that finances the retirement benefits more than 300,000 Iowans. Since July it has lost more than $4 billion in the stock market.

McKinley said if the reported numbers are true, the lottery would generate $200 million up front for the state and 17 ½ percent revenue to IPERS, a figure he said is “safer than the stock market and has a greater rate of return.”

Culver’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, says GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is running a “People magazine” campaign short on substance. The Iowa Democrat wonders how long that can last.

In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Harkin said Palin reminded him of artificial flowers. To the eye they seem to accomplish the job, but by definition they lack realness.

This thought jumped to Harkin’s mind as he learned more about Palin, the first-term Alaska governor tabbed as a running mate by GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

“I remember walking into a hotel, kind of a fancy hotel, and I saw this big bouquet of wonderful flowers,” Harkin said. “They just looked beautiful, gorgeous. I walked up to them to, you know, smell the flowers. There wasn’t any aroma. All of a sudden I reached up and touched them and found out they were fake. From a distance it looked great. But once I got closer, it turned they weren’t real after all. I think this may happen to Governor Palin, too.”

As the pages turn on the political calendar, Palin’s going to have to get more serious, show more substance, Harkin said.

“More and more as we get into this people are going to be asking serious questions about Gov. Palin and the fact that she keeps saying things that are just not true and somehow seems to get by with it,” Harkin said.

As an example, Harkin raised one of Palin’s biggest applause lines at the GOP National Convention and on the stump: her alleged opposition to the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” — a $400 million structure that would have connected the little town of Ketchikan, Alaska (pop. 7,500) to an airport on Gravina Island.

“The fact is Congress stopped the bridge to nowhere,” Harkin said. “It was Congress that did that. Plus she kept the money.”

The Wall Street Journal notes that Palin’s claim comes with what the newspaper calls a “serious caveat.”

“She endorsed the multimillion dollar project during her gubernatorial race in 2006,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “And while she did take part in stopping the project after it became a national scandal, she did not return the federal money. She just allocated it elsewhere.”

Harkin said he was outraged at Palin’s billing of taxpayers for more than 300 nights she spent at her own house in Alaska. Those “per diem” charges are generally regarded by public officials as being fore travel expenses “” not for staying in your own home, Harkin said.

“I go to Iowa a lot,” Harkin said. “I stay in my house in Cumming. I don’t charge the Senate per diem and the government per diem when I’m staying in my house in Cumming.”

He added, “What kind of reform is that?”

Harkin said he expects the focus of the presidential contest to shift quickly back to the major issues of the day and away from Palin and the McCain campaign’s efforts at creating distractions with meaningless personality issues.

“I think we’re sort of in the silly season right now and I think because of what Rick Davis, his (McCain’s) campaign manager, said, you can see that’s what they want to do. They just want to do this personality kind of thing — sort of run a ‘People’ magazine kind of campaign, you know. There’s not much substance. There’s just a lot of fluff, a lot of pictures and that kind of thing.”

Davis just days ago said “this election is not about issues.”

“What could be more of a public-be-damned statement than that — that we can’t trust the American people to talk about issues,” Harkin said.

Harkin said the November election can be boiled down to one question:

“If you like Bush, you’ll love McCain,” Harkin said.

"Letters from Abu Ghraib," by Joshua Casteel

In the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in 2004, Casteel, 24, who served with the Army’s 202nd Military Intelligence Battalion as an Arabic translator and U.S. Army interrogator inside the prison, faced an internal struggle between his sense of duty as a soldier and his moral and religious obligations.

After he had executed over 100 interrogations, Casteel’s internal battle coalesced in the case of a 22-year-old Saudi detainee, a self-proclaimed Jihadi who never fired a gun in his life, yet came to Iraq to fill his cousin’s shoes.

Ironically, Casteel, who had already been fighting a moral struggle before the interrogation, ended up being the one interrogated.

“When the Saudi told me that I wasn’t following Jesus, I told him he was right,” Casteel told the Iowa Independent during an interview. “If anything, I should be in his shoes, because the people who are the most important to me in my life were prisoners: Jesus, Saint Paul, anti-Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King. They were never the captors.”

It was this epiphany that convinced Casteel to tell his commanding officer that he couldn’t interrogate the Saudi prisoner anymore because he saw him as a 22-year-old kid and a person, not an object of exploitation.

“I couldn’t argue with him about the virtue of nonviolence, so it was at this point I decided that I needed to make a practical decision in my life,” Casteel said. “I, too, had to lead by example.”

Casteel’s conscience and morality as a human being overcame his duty as a soldier, and it was here that he initiated the process of filing for conscientious objector status, eventually ending his military career.

“I didn’t tell anyone over there about these struggles except my best friend,” Casteel said. “Although I did process them through e-mail messages that I had been writing to my family and friends back home. These letters ended up serving as the background for my CO status, illustrating my growing resistance to violence.”

Moreover, these e-mails sent home from the confines of the Abu Ghraib prison served as the foundation of Casteel’s book, “Letters from Abu Ghraib,” which was published this year – just before Casteel began his final year at the University of Iowa nonfiction writers’ workshop.

“I had this huge vat of correspondence that showed the trajectory of becoming a CO,” Casteel said. “I never wrote these letters with the intent of publication, and it wasn’t until I got hooked up with my editor at Essay Press, Eula Biss, a graduate from the UI’s nonfiction writing program, that I decided to publish them. Since I was too close to the material, I needed Biss to help shape the material and streamline an arc that I couldn’t see.”

Casteel, who had another month-and-a-half of interrogating left in 2004 after his decision to file as a CO, wanted to complete his tour in Iraq. “After telling my company commander that I was filing for CO, I refused to go to the promotion board, because I didn’t want to say the NCO [noncommissioned officer] creed,” Casteel said. “I didn’t believe it anymore, but I [said I] didn’t want to hand in my weapon until I returned to the States. I would continue the tour and wouldn’t demand being made a noncombatant, but I told my commander that if he would rather have somebody who is not nervous about pulling the trigger, then he might want to consider that.”

Casteel completed his tour, returned to the United States in January 2005, submitted his CO paperwork in February and was honorably discharged in May.

“This is wildly fast for a CO to get processed and discharged,” he said. “I had never heard of such a quick turnaround. Under the military’s ‘Needs of the Army’ clause, a CO is a lag to morale, so the military didn’t want me around killing morale.”

Casteel soon enrolled in the UI’s graduate playwright workshop, graduating with an M.F.A. in 2008. As a student in the workshop, he wrote a play about his experiences as an Abu Ghraib interrogator, which premiered at the UI Theaters in February.

Since his return to civilian life, Casteel has been very active in spreading his message through organizations such as the Catholic Peace Fellowship, Iraq Veterans Against the War and UI Anti-War Committee, and he facilitated a panel discussion during the Winter Soldier hearings in Washington, D.C.

“I started doing a lot of public speaking after I left the military, and the more I spoke, the more people wanted copies of my speeches,” he said.

While collaborating with the IVAW, Casteel and other members formed a writing group, Warrior Writers, which recently published a book.

Casteel also shared his experiences on camera in the documentary film, “Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers,” and portions of his “Letters from Abu Ghraib” will be excerpted in the October edition of Harper’s Magazine.

Iowa Independent interview with Joshua Casteel:

Iowa Independent: Having grown up in an evangelic Christian household, what compelled you to join the military?

Casteel: I also grew up in a military family. My grandfather fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. My father was a captain in the military, and my aunt also served n the Army. I had ambitions of going to West Point, so I enlisted in the military when I was 17 to bolster my chances of getting in to the West Point Academy.

Iowa Independent: How did that pan out for you?

Casteel: After graduating valedictorian from Cedar Rapids Washington High School, I was accepted into West Point. Unfortunately, I hated West Point and had no idea what I was getting into. I thought I would be surrounded by a bunch of people like me, who were intellectually curious, but that was not the case. I did not like the military culture in the classroom, and this environment squelched my intellectual curiosities. I ended dropping out the first month and did ROTC for a year, before transferring to Colorado Christian University.

Iowa Independent: So how did you end up back in the military?

Casteel: 9-11 happened. Plus, I’ve always had some political aspirations, and I didn’t want people to think of me as somebody like President Bush, whose military experience is suspect. I was interested in learning a foreign language, and the only job that guaranteed foreign language training was an interrogator, so I re-enlisted and was deployed immediately after I had completed my year and a half of training at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, where I studied Arabic.

Iowa Independent: Given your religious upbringing, did you have any reservations about going over to Iraq, especially knowing what had happened at the Abu Ghraib prison?

Casteel: Yes. While I was attending the language institute, where most of the instructors were Iraqi Catholics, I watched the morning news with one of my instructors, whose family lives there, and watched Baghdad get pulverized. That personal connection really shook me up. I would go back and forth between ‘I’m in this. Let’s go the whole nine yards’ to ‘What the hell is going on? I don’t believe in violence, and I should file for CO status.’

So before deployment I decided I wanted to be a noncombatant and help soldiers, so I applied and was accepted to seminary. Unfortunately I got accepted two weeks before deployment, so I would have to wait until I returned. I left all of my pacifist literature at home and went to Iraq, thinking to myself that I should know what it is like to be a soldier before I administer to them.

Iowa Independent: Having been deployed in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prisoner scandal, did you find yourself plopped in a hostile environment?

Casteel: The locals knew about the scandal, and they were pissed. The prisoners were also terrified of us. When I was there, the world’s cameras were upon us so, but unfortunately this did not stop the dark activity that had been going on; it just moved away from the prison. Special forces teams and mobile interrogation units were still using questionable techniques.

Iowa Independent: What do you mean by dark activity and questionable techniques?

Casteel: Special forces units, private contractors and the CIA were using induced hypothermia, sensory deprivation, stress positions, sleep deprivation, and smashed prisoners fingers with hammers as a means of extracting information. A really common technique used was shackling a prisoner’s ankles and hands to a loop at the bottom of a shipping container while blaring music and flashing lights for extended periods of time, thus inducing sensory and sleep deprivation. Sometimes dogs would be used as well.

Iowa Independent: What was your role as an Arabic translator and interrogator?

Casteel: I served specifically on a team that interrogated terrorists and foreign fighters. My job was to find information that would help battlefield commanders with missions.

The textbook definition of interrogation is to exploit the greatest amount of information in the least amount of time. We would use the phrase “tactical exploitation” causally all of the time. I was reading Pope John Paul II at the time, and he described the current age as “the culture of death,” which he defines as any time one reduces a human being to an object as a means to an end of exploitation, you participate in the culture of death.

I conducted over 130 interrogations, and I can count on one hand the number of people who were guilty of anything more than being Arab.

Iowa Independent: So who were you interrogating?

Casteel: I interrogated taxi drivers, laborers and young fathers. Units would go out looking for four people and would come back with 80. The problem was that all of the linguists, those who had cultural training, were back with me, so soldiers with little knowledge of the culture were rounding up anyone who looked suspicious in their mind, which meant carrying an AK-47.

What they didn’t know is that the terrorists involved in the violence were a maximum of 2 percent. Political insurgency, people tied to political movements, was 30 to 35 percent. Most of the violence came from the Tribal Defense System, which is like neighborhood watch with guns. They are mainly trying to keep their people safe, and they might be fighting other Iraqis, coalitions or anyone they deem as a threat to their neighborhood. So our soldiers would see these guys and would suspect they may be working for Osama bin Laden, whereas they may just be guarding an alley for safety reasons.

Iowa Independent: When did you begin sensing that your religious faith and your sense of duty as a soldier were clashing?

Casteel: There was this painting at the chapel we used in Abu Ghraib which had this huge, beefy-looking Jesus, who looked like Brian Uhrlacher, a barrel-chested linebacker. He was surrounded by soldiers in combat poses with M-60s and M-16s, and there were a bunch of blue-skinned angels with gold, glowing swords flying about. After meeting the Saudi, I felt like this painting was a good metaphor for America and how things worked out in American Christianity. The painting conveyed the message that Combat Jesus helps me kick my enemies’ ass.

I didn’t like that idea.

Iowa Independent: What do you see as your new calling in the post-Abu Ghraib, post-military world?

Casteel: I’m interested in spreading the notion of political nonviolence and teaching Christians about their faith. There is no such thing as Combat Jesus. The single most important issue when it comes to Christianity and violence is nationalism. It is the single most divisive thing that can push a Christian from a discussion of ethics to a discussion about law. I never heard a Christian say that violence is a good thing and hating people is OK. But there has always been a way to frame it so that violence is no longer personal. It is policy.

What I experienced in Iraq is that I had a unique view from the battlefield. I actually had to talk to the enemy. I knew the names and ages of their kids. How long it had been since they had seen their wives. They had real questions about our democracy and how it worked.

The language our leadership use is always purely policy. Nations have interests, and it is no longer about people. As long as we stay within the language of policy, rather than talking about pain which is never talked about, when it comes to the politics of war. … We have given countries and institutions emotions instead of people.

Iowa Independent: What do you think should happen in Iraq?

Casteel: Nothing can happen without deep, serious conversation with Iran, Syria and Jordan. It is their part of the world. Every time I hear somebody say we need to withdraw with honor, I want to throw my shoe at the television or radio. When did Iraq’s stability have anything to do with our honor? We need to fess up to the fact that we did a very dishonorable thing; that would be the honorable thing to do.

We are always concerned about our interests in the long run. The building of the 14 permanent bases in Iraq needs to stop immediately. On the one hand I am more concerned about individuals than policy and using the political power of “no.” I don’t simply think the war in Iraq is the fault of a bunch of neocons; it is the fault of individuals who said “yes” and bought into the myth of nationalism. People, especially the working class, need to be educated that they have no duty of passing on an aristocracy.

Here is what I would say to soldiers: ‘No soldier is obliged to follow an order that is contrary to God.’ Sadly enough our laws don’t allow the conscience the full scope of freedom. For example, we don’t have selective conscientious objection in our country. You can’t object to unjust wars. Once you are in, you are in; you cannot pick and choose your wars, which basically turns our soldiers into indentured servants.

There are plenty of European countries that have selective CO. There has been no declaration of war since World War II, which means wars go through appropriations. This means that the mechanism of fighting wars that our constitution dictates has been bypassed, so individual soldiers are no longer being represented by their elected leaders in Congress. They are being turned into mercenaries. In a democracy, it is the responsibility of individuals to hold their elected officials responsible when they are unjust.

That means we have to care about things like education in our country.

Other than that departure, the only activity on the Republican endorsement from is from retiring state Rep. Sandy Greiner of Washington County, who endorsed Fred Thompson at his Coralville rally Oct. 3.

The Republican score, now with stacks of little elephants:

To help you keep score at home:

There’s been more activity on the Democratic side, as several legislators have endorsed recently.  Barack Obama is only one legislator behind Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden continues to lead on the House side.

The audience of roughly 400 sat in not-so-comfortable wooden chairs at West High School auditorium and minded their manners so that the most information possible could be provided in a limited event time-frame. Although the entire balcony had been reserved for members of the media, the sound crew and I had the run of the joint. The lone cameraman was a student from the University of Northern Iowa who raced to this point and that point throughout the event, seeking the best shots and lighting.

More than half of those in the audience had arrived by caravan after spending one-on-one time with the candidates at receptions at downtown Waterloo businesses. If being so close to a presidential candidate was an unusual thing for members of the audience, none of them let on. Of course this could have been because more supporter meetings and dinners with the candidates were held after the forum.

Having only two candidates — Delaware Sen. Joe Biden and Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd — participating in the forum was not disappointing for a Communications Workers of America member who traveled over two hours to attend.

“I think that these two candidates are the most qualified,” said Laurie Soroka, a Biden supporter who drove from Des Moines. “These two are the ones who will be be able, on the first day of their administration, to lead. They won’t be in training. So, I wasn’t disappointed that the others weren’t here.”

Waterloo resident Kay Hoffman felt differently.

“I am disappointed,” said Hoffman, an undecided Iowan with a history of making up her mind just before caucus night. “I had heard that [Rep. Dennis] Kucinich was going to be here tonight. And although I may never vote for Kucinich, I’d still like to hear what he has to say.

“I’m going down my list. I heard [former Sen. John] Edwards speak the last time he was here. Now I’ve heard Biden and Dodd. I haven’t been able to get to Hillary Clinton’s or Barack Obama’s events yet — but I intend to.”

The lack of candidate participation in the event wasn’t because the local Democrats didn’t try. Invitations to the forum were sent out Feb. 23, said Black Hawk County Chairwoman Pat Sass, and follow-ups with all the Democratic candidates were made monthly. One campaign sent their final regrets at 8 p.m. the night before the event.

The candidates who did show pointed to the importance of all Iowa caucus-goers and to Black Hawk County.

“I came here because it is important,” Biden said between speaking to undecideds and entering a private meeting. “Look, this is a Democratic county. These people asked us back in February to come and I think the more exchange of ideas, the more debates we have, the more people learn about us. I’m sorry the rest didn’t show up. I’m glad Chris did.”

“Black Hawk County Democrats are great people and this is an important community for us,” Dodd said after his appearance on stage and before meeting with undecided voters. “These types of forums are tremendously important — and you got more than 30 seconds to answer a question. That’s always helpful because audiences get to hear more from you. So, I’m grateful to the Black Hawk County Democrats, the fire fighters and others that made it possible for Joe and I to be here tonight.”

Although it might seem unusual to those outside of Iowa to hear opposing candidates openly praise one another, the appreciation and respect Biden and Dodd have for one another took center stage at the forum. Such accolades were welcomed by the audience.

“I came here tonight hoping to hear intelligent answers and explanations for things, which is something we haven’t heard from some of the other candidates,” said Soroka. “One thing I did not want to hear was them insulting one another or the other candidates.”

Not surprisingly, Soroka said she wanted to hear the candidates discuss broadband internet connectivity.

“High speed internet is very important,” she said. “It relates to all the issues that were discussed — even Iraq as far as security. It relates to education, to health care, to all those things. They both touched on that.”

Primarily because of a recent family health care crisis, Hoffman said she wanted to hear more about coverage for all Americans.

“I think anything we could hear from this party would be better than what we’ve heard the last eight years,” she said. “I’m all for health insurance for everyone. Not because I don’t have health insurance. I do. My husband just went through a three-year and four-month siege of pancreatic cancer. So, I know how important insurance is. I would like to see everybody have health coverage because I know we could not have gotten through without it.”

Biden said he was pleased that he and Dodd were able to go more in-depth on their plans for for health care and education.

“There was a larger discussion on education because Chris and I both agree on it,” he said. “There was also a larger discussion on health care. I think people got more exposure to our views.”

Dodd stayed on message by stating he was happy those in attendance had opportunity to think about his and Biden’s accomplishments.

“I think it is important, as people are evaluating candidacies, that they can see results,” he said. “It’s important to know what people have done in their lives. Who are they? What do they care about? Where have they dedicated their time and efforts? That will give you a better sense of what type of president the candidate is apt to be. I’m proud to say that the things I’ve engaged in over the years have changed America and made it better. I want to continue that work as president.”

Joe’s youngest sister, Valerie, helped run his 1972 campaign bid against a popular Republican incumbent, Sen. J. Caleb Boggs, whom Biden defeated at age 29, becoming the fifth-youngest senator in U.S. history. Valerie Biden-Owens has run every campaign for her brother Joe during his 37-year political career, so it’s not surprising that she’s serving as Joe’s national chairwoman in his current presidential bid. While the rest of Biden’s family members commute back and forth to Iowa to campaign, Valerie has set up shop in Iowa, where she intends to help ramp up the campaign’s efforts.

Meanwhile, Joe’s wife, Jill, and his two sons, Beau and Hunter, have been crisscrossing the state, where they’ve been retail politicking on behalf of Joe. The Bidens have popped up at meet-and-greets, Democratic fund-raisers, rallies and other campaign events, including the Johnson County Democrats’ Barbeque in Iowa City (see picture below).

To read the interview and view the video with the Bidens at the barbeque fund-raiser on Oct. 6, read below the fold.Iowa Independent: The Bidens have shifted gears and are putting more focus on campaigning in Iowa. Why the shift and what have been some of your experiences while campaigning in Iowa?

Beau: This is the way we’ve done it for 34 years. Iowa reminds us of home. Even though it’s a much bigger state than ours, you have to remember that there’s only about 125,000 caucus-goers and 99 counties, so you can actually get around and actually meet a lot of these people.
We’re used to going around and knocking on doors, spending time at peoples’ kitchen tables, and we think this works to my father’s advantage. Once you get to know my father, you get to like, if not love him. On top of that, he’s the most qualified person in the race to be president. We see Iowa as a strategic advantage for us, starting with the great people here in Iowa.

Iowa Independent: Regarding the poll numbers, do you think Senator Biden is going to get some more traction or a bump now that you’ve shifted your strategy to focus more on Iowa?

Hunter: (Watch Adam Burke’s video below)

Jill: Joe is the only one who can bring together the red states and the blue states. He’s known for bringing the Democrats and Republicans together.

Iowa Independent: What role did you play in Senator Biden’s decision to make another run for president?

Jill: Actually, we got together and we went to Joe and we said we think you are the only one who can win the presidency. We want you to run and win.

Beau: The bottom line is that our dad and mom have been great parents to us. I only hope that, as a father, I can be half as good at raising my children.

The reality is that I would rather have my dad down the street from me, where he could give me advice on how to put my 18-month-old to bed, than out on the campaign trail. There’s something just as important here, and that’s the future of our country and our world.

Hunter: There’s another reason I’m here, and when I say this, I want you to know that I’m not pandering. You know what made the decision easier? It’s Iowa. We were here in 1987 and that was not an easy time for us. What made it much easier for us deciding to run again is the loyalty and the love of people here in Iowa. We’ve kept in touch with these same folks for 20 years. They have stood behind my dad, and more importantly, they stood behind us, and that means a lot to me and my family

Hunter and Jill Biden Campaigning in Iowa (Johnson County Democrats’ BBQ)

Earlier in the evening the family took the stage on behalf of Joe, with Beau speaking on behalf of his father, who was in New Hampshire delivering the keynote address at the Coos County Democrats Harry S. Truman Dinner. This is not the first time Beau, the attorney general of Delaware, has stumped for his father in Iowa.

Donning his military hat, figuratively speaking of course, Beau stumped at the Iowa Democratic Party Veterans’ Caucus Presidential Extravaganza in Des Moines in June. Beau is a captain in the Delaware National Guard, which is scheduled to deploy to Iraq early next year. Speaking as a military member, Beau made the case why his father would be the most qualified to be president in 2009, touting the candidate’s foreign policy experience and why Democrats can ill-afford to nominate a candidate who cannot pass the “national security test.” (see video below).

Drawing on these same themes, Beau added a familial dimension to his stump speech in Johnson County as he went to bat for his father. “Let me tell you about him, because I know Iowans want to meet the candidates once, twice, and kick the tires to what mettle and grit you have,” Beau told the audience, which was packed in the swine barn on the Johnson County fairgrounds. “Let me tell you about what grit and mettle my father has. In 1972, my father was elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first Senator he had ever met. He ran to end the war in Vietnam and continue the Civil Rights movement. But like a lot of us who has experienced great triumph comes great tragedy sometimes.”

At this point, Beau’s speech replayed the events surrounding the tragic accident in 1972, which took the life of Beau’s 14-month old sister and his mother, Neilia, when the car they were riding in was struck by a tractor-trailer truck. Beau and Hunter were also in the car and Beau was hospitalized after the accident. On Dec. 18 of that year, just as the newly elected Sen. Joe Biden was about to take office for the first time, he got a phone call from home about the accident back home. “My dad left Washington that day thinking he would never return, telling the Sen. Majority leader Mike Mansfield that Delaware can get another senator, but my boys can’t get another dad.”

“He came back to Wilmington and stayed at my bedside until January 3rd the following year, when he was to be sworn in in Washington. He refused to go to Washington,” Beau continued. “Men like Hubert Humphrey and Ted Kennedy, me who had been tested in their own right, convinced him to give a shot for sixth months. The next day they sent the secretary of the senate and my dad was sworn in at my bedside.”

“My dad has been at my side and my brother’s side for 34 years since then. We met my mom and we got remarried and my mom and dad rebuilt our family. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, this is what he can do for our country. Provide hope when there sometimes isn’t and provide comfort and leadership when there isn’t any,” Beau said. “I don’t tell you this story to gain sympathy, for I know everyone in this room has a similar experience. I tell you that because it’s those personal tests that Iowans want to know about, because they serve as indicators as to how you will perform as president.”

Beau Biden: Who passes the Commander-in-Chief test? (video shot by Adam Burke at Johnson County Democrats’ Barbeque)