Amid the excitement of a new decade, the unresolved issues of 2009 and other years past are becoming more irksome and in need of solutions.

The Road to Recovery … or Not

The entire country watched in June 2008 as flood waters savaged downtown Cedar Rapids. The videos and pictures of the Cedar River overtaking downtown structures, destroying businesses and displacing residents were simultaneously heartbreaking and striking. Yet for every headline garnered by Cedar Rapids, another smaller Iowa town was left to cope with its own slow and tedious recovery without the benefit of national news crews.

Veterans Memorial Coliseum is shown drenched by flood waters on June 11, 2008. (file photo: Lynda Waddington/The Iowa Independent)

State officials have argued that all that could be done was done. They tout Iowa’s swift recovery, comparing the progress here to natural disaster recovery in other parts of the country. Yet even now families remain displaced, businesses are shuttered and Iowans, long known as America’s most politically intense residents, are becoming more and more disenchanted with government as a whole.

The few times that national cameras panned away from downtown Cedar Rapids, national viewers glimpsed thousands of working family homes drenched to their rooftops. Urban viewers were enchanted by footage of cows, herded onto a Vinton resident’s deck for protection from flood waters. Large portions of the residential area in the small town of Creston were damaged as a result of basement and ground-level flooding. No one can forget the images of a leveled Parkersburg following a May 2008 tornado. Many of the aftermath stories remain on public display at the state’s I-JOBS page, and much remains unfunded.

But once it is understood that the working class — farmers, nurses, shift workers, teachers and others — bore the brunt of Iowa’s disasters, it is much more easy to understand the state’s following economic downturn. Working class Iowans pay a disproportionate share of their income in state and local taxes, according to research by the Iowa Fiscal Partnership. This means that the very economic foundation of the state has been rattled by tornadoes, pounded by flood waters and then mostly left with empty platitudes of progress to bolster its continued support.

Those set aside in favor of corporate bailouts and unable to surf the tides of promised change remain disillusioned, confused and, at times, angry. Their way of life has not only been threatened, but, in many instances, decimated. Their long-held beliefs in the value of hard work, helping neighbors and self-reliance have been shaken and, for some, shattered. They no longer relate to a government that appears uncaring, and they no longer believe in political parties that provide soundbites that would be offensive if they weren’t so tired and humorous.

Iowa politics in 2010, despite being the vehicle by which reform and recovery could happen, have been regulated by those outside of Des Moines’ affluent circles to an oddity or, worse yet, a distasteful fairgrounds freak show. For when economic reality becomes too horrible, it is sometimes easier to grasp the nearest unfathomable boogyman than to confront the true monster on your doorstep.

It is in front of this backdrop of dismay and disconnect that Iowa politics will play in 2010, and it will factor into every facet of the state.

The Right to Love and Marry

Several participants in April's Tea Party protest at the state capitol advocated for legislators to allow a vote on same-sex marriage (file photo).

In April, same-sex marriage was legalized in Iowa. As some state politicians rallied against the Iowa Supreme Court decision and others praised it, most Iowans quietly pointed to increased farm supply costs and skyrocketing health care payments.

But groups have galvanized on both sides of the issue and are preparing to continue the battles begun last year at the statehouse.

Same-sex marriage, depending on which group’s advisories you read, is either proof of society’s inevitable enlightenment or the complete downfall of all held dear. And while there are distinct minorities of Iowans on both sides of the issue who are ready to do whatever it takes to ensure that such marriages are the keystone of all action within the 2010 state legislature, many more residents are afraid that the battle over certain couples’ right to marry will overshadow the business that must take place if the state as a whole is to stand on firmer economic ground come summer.

But once your home has been washed away by flood waters, or blown apart by tornadoes, it is difficult to surmount a fight against another struggling family, traditional or non-traditional. By that same token, difficulties paying for needed prescriptions and sleepless nights worried about mortgage payments aren’t often precursors to a rising up against any perceived discrimination. It is hard to fight for anyone else, hard to stand on even preached moral principals, when the very ground beneath one’s feet remains the consistency of sand.

As a result, those who stand to lose the most by having the legislature dominated by political grandstanding on same-sex marriage could be the people who stay home, shaking their heads at a spectacle created and honed in 2010 election madness. Those who stand to gain the most — specifically, those who are paying more attention to November ballots than first quarter earnings statements — will be those who rejoice and revel in the folly.

Renewed Faith in Antitrust

Producing the nation’s food supply has always been a precarious occupation. Natural disasters, weather fluctuations and simple bad luck have historically plagued Iowa’s crop and livestock producers. It is part of the territory, and farmers have come to understand the roller coaster ride that often determines if their seasons will be profitable.

The past few years, however, a new unknown has emerged that many producers view as more threatening than those they’ve previously faced: Market concentration. Within each of the nation’s agricultural industries a few, large corporations have emerged that dominate the sector and, some producers have argued, use collusive and exclusionary tactics to drive independent and smaller operations out of business. The large corporations, on the other hand, argue that their market dominance and sheer size allow them to develop innovative techniques for smaller producers as well as lobby all farm interests before Congress.

While U.S. Supreme Court rulings and national policy have played a significant role in the changing landscape of America’s and Iowa’s agricultural sector, most producers believe the largest culprit to the woes they’re facing is lax government oversight of existing antitrust laws. And, in a move unprecedented in American history, federal agencies appear to be, if not actually siding with producers, at least willing to listen.

Throughout 2010, the U.S. departments of Justice and Agriculture will hold a series of workshops for discussions on possible anti-competitiveness in several key sectors — seed, poultry, dairy and other livestock. The first, which will focus on the seed industry, will take place in Ankeny this March. The workshops mark a significant change from “hands off” life under the George W. Bush administration, when the the U.S. Department of Justice oversaw and approved mergers between Smithfield Foods and Premium Standard Farms (2007) to create the country’s largest hog processor, between Dean Foods Co. and Suiza Foods Corp. (2002) to create the largest milk processor and between JBS and Smithfield Beef (2008) to make one of the nation’s largest cattle feeders.

The U.S. Justice Department, which appears to be making good on then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s pledge for more scrutiny of American agriculture, has brought in Christine Varney, a woman who built a trust-busting reputation within the Clinton administration, to lead its antitrust division. This Justice Department, unlike all of its predecessors, isn’t sitting back and waiting on an anti-trust complaint. It is willfully and meticulously investigating possibilities before formal complaints arrive.

Exactly what this means to Iowa, which maintains critical economic interest in agriculture, remains unclear. Although Iowa has fared better than other states in supporting and maintaining family farms, and has recently found the benefit of promoting smaller organic operations, the state also has strong ties to the large corporations that have now fallen under scrutiny.

Immigrating to Jobs, Congress

Census figures estimate that roughly 450,000 people over the age of 65 live in Iowa, comprising about 15 percent of the state’s total population. By the year 2030, the percentage is expected to blossom to 22.5 percent of the state’s population, or more than 650,000 Iowans over the age of 65.

It is widely known that due to Iowa’s out-migration of younger (and often brighter) residents, as well as its traditionally slow birth and immigration rate, the state is poised to lose a U.S. congressional district following the 2010 census.

What is less discussed, however, is the fact that Iowa’s rural counties are aging more rapidly than urban areas. As of the 2000 census, individuals age 65 and over comprised 20 percent or more of the population in 30 of the state’s 99 counties. Not only are all the impacted counties from 2000 rural, but the U.S. Census Bureau believes that trend will encompass 88 of the state’s counties by 2030, affecting the most rural first. At that time Iowa is expected to be the 12th oldest state in the union.

The direct and indirect impacts to the state, the tax base, local workforces and wider rural geographic health are far too complex for adequate recount in this short discussion of interest areas for 2010 and the next decade. Just in the realm of ongoing federal health reform, for instance, the implications of Iowa communities with 40 percent or more of their populations over the age of 65 — Littleport, Elk Horn, Berkley, Athelstan and Beaconsfield during the 2000 census — makes it clear that providing insurance alone won’t be nearly enough. As The Iowa Independent has documented throughout 2009 in a series of articles on rural health, those residing in rural areas are more likely to be living at or below poverty levels, with more chronic conditions, without sufficient nursing and physician access and lacking critical infrastructure needed for advances in tele- or distance-medicine that might alleviate existing inadequacies.

The 11 Iowa counties projected to maintain a percentage of older residents below 20 percent in 2030 also tell a story. The population centers in Polk, Linn, Johnson, Black Hawk, Pottawattamie, Story, Woodbury and Dallas counties are included among them. The other three — Marshall, Muscatine and Wapello — are all considered rural counties with one big difference from the rest of the state’s other rural areas. Each is home to significant immigrant populations.

At the time of the 2000 census, 12.5 percent of the populations in Marshall, Muscatine and Wapello self-identified as being either Hispanic or Latino. The latest estimates for each of the counties now lists that population demographic at above 15 percent. While this percentage compared to other states would not be considered significant, it stands out in Iowa, a state with an overall estimated percentage of persons of Hispanic and Latino origin at roughly 4 percent.

Iowans, who continue to express both outrage and compassion in the aftermath of a massive immigration raid at a Postville meatpacking plant, are only now starting to come to terms with their desire for maintaining the status quo in rural areas and the true need for a larger and younger workforce. Stephen Bloom, a journalism professor at the University of Iowa and author of a book on Postville, spoke candidly with The Iowa Independent seven months after the raid, noting that the move of slaughterhouses out of cities and into rural areas as well as mechanical advancements in the process has changed the face of rural America.

“The industry now requires a revolving door of employees because the wages are, if not minimum, then very low,” Bloom said. “The locals in these rural pockets don’t want to work for that kind of salary. The plants have this voracious appetite for hiring more and more people because a slaughterhouse worker who works for a year at the same plant is working for an extraordinary amount of time. The turnover in a year is nearly 100 percent.”

Workforce challenges in rural areas, however, are not only limited to meatpacking plants and other large factories. Iowa’s stalwart economic industry, the one most closely associated with rural life, is also beginning to feel the crunch.

At a congressional listening post in October, Clinton County dairy farmer Ben Blanchard discussed both his operation’s need for long-term younger workers and the nation’s need for comprehensive immigration reform.

“The way I feel, and I know that others may not feel the same way, but there needs to be legislation to allow [immigrants} to come over and not just on a work permit or whatever for six months,” Blanchard said, noting that short-term immigration solutions do not allow for farm knowledge and animal consistency.

Things have changed quite a bit since then, as the spotlight has shifted to lenders and their behavior during the boom. States and cities continue to aggressively pursue subprime lending discrimination suits, and judges across the country are signaling a willingness to move forward with some cases. As the lawsuits wind their way through the court system, more details and allegations about the inner workings of the subprime world are emerging. And as startling as some of the charges already have been — a former loan officer for Wells Fargo testified in one affidavit that employees regularly referred to minority borrowers as “mud people” and called subprime mortgages “ghetto loans,” — there’s even more ahead, said David Berenbaum, executive vice president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

“The ’smoking guns’ are coming out,” Berenbaum said, referring to possible evidence that lenders targeted minority communities and borrowers for higher priced loans. “And I expect more and more of these smoking guns to become apparent.”

In the latest development, a Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles recently certified a 2005 lending discrimination lawsuit against Wells Fargo as a class action case. The suit contends that area managers at the bank refused access in some minority neighborhoods to a software program that allowed for discounted prices on mortgage loans. Barry Cappello, a partner with Cappello & Noel in Santa Barbara, which represents some 10,000 to 20,000 borrowers in the suit, said he believes it is the first subprime lending discrimination suit in California to be classified as a class action.

According to Cappello, Wells Fargo introduced a program in 2002 called “Loan Economics,” which gave loan officers the authority to offer discounts to loan applicants. The savings on lower fees and interest rates could be significant, ranging from $500 to as much as $10,000 per loan. The suit claims that the Los Angeles area Wells Fargo manager refused to allow loan officers operating in certain minority neighborhoods to offer the program. Borrowers in predominantly white neighborhoods were given access to the software.

Cappello said the suit stemmed from complaints by black and Hispanic loan officers for Wells Fargo, who said they asked to use the software in their branches but upper management refused.

Wells Fargo is fighting the suit and has denied all the charges. In a statement, the bank said, “We are disappointed in this ruling and intend to vigorously defend this matter as the case proceeds. The decision does not indicate the court believes the underlying allegations have any merit. We feel the allegations represent a complete mischaracterization of our long-standing commitment to responsible lending and the pricing practices and tools we use. The policies, systems and controls we have in place ensure race is not a factor in the pricing or products we offer.”

The case could go to trial in about a year, Cappello said.

More lawsuits are expected in the near future over the treatment of Hispanic borrowers in Arizona and Texas, who were offered high-cost loans they didn’t understand at misleadingly low teaser rates, then refinanced into even more expensive loans than their initial mortgages, Cappello said.

Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest home lender, also has been a target of lawsuits elsewhere. Last month, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan sued the lender, alleging that blacks and Hispanics were sold high-cost subprime loans more frequently than white borrowers with similar incomes. The suit contended loan officers were offered incentives by the bank to steer borrowers into the more expensive loans, and that white borrowers generally received the lower-cost prime mortgages.

Some borrowers thought they were getting prime loans from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the suit also charged. But their loans actually came from Wells Fargo Financial, the bank’s subprime unit.

In Iowa, two watchdog groups charged this week that minority homeowners in Des Moines were three times more likely to receive high cost subprime loans from Wells Fargo than white homeowners.

In June, the New York Times reported on affidavits from a 2008 lawsuit by the city of Baltimore against Wells Fargo over subprime lending, which charged that the bank targeted blacks in Baltimore and suburban Maryland for high-interest subprime loans. Former loan officers testified in affidavits about using terms like “mud people” and “ghetto loans.” The bank also had an emerging markets unit that pinpointed black churches as fertile ground for selling subprime loans, according to the former officers. And in March, the NAACP filed suits in federal court in California against Wells Fargo and HSBC, alleging minority borrowers were more likely to be issued higher rate subprime loans than white borrowers with similar credit scores and qualifications. Both banks have strongly denied the charges. The NAACP also has pending litigation against nearly a dozen other banks and lenders over subprime lending discrimination.

Should the charges in the lawsuits be proven, it would amount to massive violations of the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and other fair housing and lending laws, Berenbaum noted. Enforcing fair lending laws has been “an issue the government has failed to address over the past decade,” he said. Lenders could face criminal penalties from the government for violating fair housing laws, and they could be subject to punitive damages and fines from government lawsuits.

Big lenders like Wells Fargo and HSBC are obvious targets for suits because of their size and the amount of lending they did. In addition, many other lenders and originators of subprime loans have gone out of business, complicating efforts to address allegations of lending discrimination through lawsuits.

That leaves a major question regarding all the lending still unanswered, Berenbaum said: Where has the U.S. government been? The Federal Reserve reported in 2005 that an analysis of federal mortgage data found that blacks and Hispanics were more likely to receive higher interest rates on mortgage loans – and that it intended to examine the practices of 200 lenders as a result.

But nothing’s happened since that announcement, Berenbaum noted. Instead, as the years go on, and the government takes no action, allegations about price differences in mortgage loans based on the race of borrowers and their neighborhoods continue to grow.

Mary Kane covers the economy for the Washington Independent, a Center for Independent Media site.

Saturday, the Clinton campaign announced their first Johnson County visit in two months: a 7:30 p.m. Monday stop in Coralville.  That’s the Monday night of finals week.  Last weekend, she held events in two neighboring small counties, Iowa and Washington… without an Iowa City event.

Clinton’s last Johnson County appearance was as the closing act at the Johnson County Democrats’ fall barbecue on Oct. 6.  None of the five candidates at the event took questions from the stage.  Clinton, who appeared with 1972 Democratic nominee George McGovern, was the last speaker and spent close to 45 minutes greeting the crowd afterward. 

Iowa City caucus goers expect to ask the candidate a question, and usually not a soft one.  Clinton has sent top-level surrogates to campus to take questions, including her husband Monday and former Secretary of State Madeline Albright.  But those are very different experiences than asking the candidate herself a question.

Senator Clinton’s only University of Iowa stop was in July, with the former president.  The event was attended by thousands, but she did not take questions.  This is only one campus, and we Iowans may set high expectations.  But compare this to the other leading candidates.  Virtually every John Edwards event, including several on campus, includes questions and answers.  He most recently spoke in Iowa City on Wednesday, at the close to campus public library.  And, while there was some grumbling from backers of other candidates that he hadn’t done it earlier, Barack Obama did a Q & A on the U of I campus on Oct. 3.  Obama also visited campus at a student-oriented Dec. 4 rally, bud did not take questions.  Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, and Bill Richardson have also, with varying frequency, done events with questions on campus or in downtown Iowa City at student-friendly times.

The last Iowa City event at which Hillary Clinton took a public question was on April 3, at a mid-day event at a hotel on the edge of town, attended largely by people who already supported her.

Perhaps students don’t fit the working mom and senior women target groups the Clinton campaign seems to be aiming for. Or perhaps there’s another concern.

“If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from.” — Hillary Clinton, February 17, 2007

That’s a general election statement, meant to make Clinton look tough like a Commander in Chief.  The vision of a woman taking the salute as she gets off the Marine One chopper is not yet battle-tested at the ballot box.  But the statement is classic Clinton 42 triangulation, and positions her between the Peace Freaks and Bush.

The University of Iowa is well-known as a peace-movement stronghold, and among the Democratic candidates, Clinton has drawn particular vitriol from the peace movement.  The Des Moines-based “Seasons of our Discontent: a Presidential Occupation Project” (SODaPOP) group, with only enough willing to get arrested bodies to occupy two presidential campaign offices, chose Clinton and Rudy Giuliani.  Clinton might argue, as she has in debates, that she’s attacked because she’s ahead, at least nationally.  But a look at the schedule begs the question: is Hillary avoiding the bleeding heart of the People’s Republic of Johnson County?  Does she want to steer clear of a confrontational question or a raucous student protest?

Probably.  And from her campaign’s perspective, that’s not dumb.  Witness the robot who’s still mad about Sister Souljah who bothered Bill last week.  But the difference from other campaigns, and from John Edwards’ apology for his war vote, certainly needs to be pointed out.  The anti-war left, already mad that Congress hasn’t shut off war funding and started impeachment hearings, is not a sure thing for the “any Democrat is better than any Republican” argument.  Observers will note Green Candidate Cynthia McKinney making the rounds, and stopping where else but Iowa City.  Democrats needs a two to one win out of Johnson County to win statewide, and a few thousand peace protest votes could swing the state, and the nation.

Sen. Chris Dodd signed books and stumped after announcing that he was moving a large portion of his staff here.  Gov. Bill Richardson campaigned around Iowa, emphasizing his pro-gun record in rural areas (and wearing an American flag lapel pin).  Sen. Hillary Clinton rode her new bus, “The Middle Class Express,” across the state.  Sen. Barack Obama continued his criticism of Clinton’s Iran vote in a series of speeches here, which received mixed reviews in terms of style.  Former Sen. John Edwards highlighted his opposition to the Iraq War on his “Take a Stand” tour.  And Sen. Joe Biden held an event with Republican candidate and Sen. Sam Brownback to highlight their Iraq plan at the end of the week.

On Tuesday, most in the Democratic field announced that they would take steps to remove themselves from the Michigan primary ballot because Michigan’s primary date violates the Democratic National Committee’s rules.  Most notably, Clinton did not, opting to stay on the ballot.  Rep. Dennis Kucinich attempted to remove himself but was unsuccessful.  Sources told Iowa Independent that the move was an attempt by other campaigns to damage Clinton’s standing in early states like Iowa.

Obama’s and Edwards’ criticism of Clinton intensified.  At the end of the week, Biden and Richardson squared off in an aggressive series of dueling press releases attacking each other’s plans for Iraq.  There were also many state legislative endorsement announcements from several campaigns.  And it was revealed that Edwards would receive an endorsement from the SEIU’s Iowa Local on Monday.  As the weather cooled down, the Democratic campaign heated up.

On the Republican side, Sen. Sam Brownback, who made a joint appearance with Biden to tout their plans for Iraq, said that he must win fourth place in Iowa if he is to stay in the race.  Gov. Mitt Romney launched a new TV ad attacking jihad, although he has only spent three of the past 60 days in the state.  Sen. John McCain rode the Straight Talk Express across the state.  And Rudy Giuliani received the support of former candidate and Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson.

Republican Party State Co-Chair Leon Mosley confirmed speculation that the GOP supports a Jan. 3 caucus date.  Influential columnist David Yepsen seemed to support splitting caucus dates for the two parties, although others disagreed.  At this point, conventional wisdom is that the caucuses will be either Jan. 3 or Jan. 5, but the issue is far from settled.

Since breaking Democratic National Committee rules with its Jan. 29 primary, the Florida state party has been unable to entice candidates to attend their Oct. 26-28 Orlando event.  Writing at Huffington Post, Ron Levitt says spouses have now joined the ban.  In contrast to earlier Floridian bragging that they might entice top tier surrogates like former president Bill Clinton or Obama supporter Oprah Winfrey, Levitt writes:

Instead of having the top-tier candidates on the state confab rostrum, convention organizers have been scouting for speakers. So far, the state Democratic party has announced that U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland will deliver the keynote address at the State Convention dinner. Congressman Hoyer, billed as “the second highest-ranking Democrat in the House,” will be be joined on the convention program by Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, a luncheon speaker.

Stark contrast to Iowa, where five candidates, a spouse, an Oscar winning surrogate and a former presidential nominee showed up for a Johnson County — county! — fundraiser last weekend.

But Floridians may get a last laugh of sorts.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi openly acknowledges the assumption that pretty much everyone is making, telling the Palm Beach Post that the DNC’s threat to unseat the Florida delegation for the calendar violation is empty:

“The Democratic National Committee is the ruling authority now … but the tradition is that the presidential candidate will decide,” Pelosi said.

She noted that she had the job in 1984 of reviewing whether states had complied with rules governing the party’s presidential primaries and caucuses.

She recalled that when she threatened the states with not seating their delegates if they broke the rules, “they said ha, ha, ha, because no presidential candidate is going to say we’re not seating New Hampshire and we’re not seating Iowa.”

In other Republican news, the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican organization, announced a new TV ad intended to reduce Gov. Mitt Romney’s standing among social conservatives in Iowa, highlighting statements Romney made when he was running for office in Massachusetts.  The Log Cabin Republicans are thought to be supporting Rudy Giuliani for their party’s nomination, although they have said they will not issue a formal endorsement.

The Des Moines Register’s definitive Iowa Poll released Sunday showed Romney maintaining his lead here, beating Thompson for first place by 11 points.  Notably, third-place Gov. Mike Huckabee is ahead of Giuliani by a point.  Sen. John McCain placed fifth with 7%, while Rep. Ron Paul’s has 4% support, beating Sen. Sam Brownback’s surprisingly low 2%.

On the Democratic side, almost every presidential candidate in the field spent time here last week.  Sen. Barack Obama celebrated the anniversary of his 2002 speech against the Iraq war with speeches highlighting his foreign policy judgment.  To the surprise of many, his speeches focused on the issue of nuclear nonproliferation rather than Iraq, which he had already spoken about on a tour last month.  Obama also made national news during an Iowa interview on why he does not wear an American Flag pin.

Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Biden spent the week in Iowa highlighting his education plan, which calls for a 16-year public education system.  Sen. Chris Dodd made campaign stops across the state under the headline “Results Matter,” touting his legislative record and signing copies of his new book.  And Sen. John Edwards launched a 4-day “Take a Stand” tour, which will land him in 17 counties across the state by Monday evening.  During the trip, Edwards highlighted the need to reduce or eliminate the role of private contractors like Blackwater in Iraq.

Saturday, after Obama had left the state, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Gov. Bill Richardson, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich joined the rest of the Democratic field for the Johnson County Democrats’ annual barbecue.  Richardson had held “Presidential Job Interview” events earlier Saturday.  Clinton’s appearance at the barbecue marked the beginning of a four-day stump speech swing through the state.

Clinton’s tour comes on the heels of news that she leads her Democratic opponents here by 6 points.  The Des Moines Register measured her support at 29%, followed by Edwards at 23% and Obama at 22%.  Richardson, whose support had risen into double digits over the summer, is at 8%, Biden is at 5%, and Dodd and Kucinich are at 1%.  (The margin of error is about five points.)

Five of the Democratic candidates took the stage in the fairground barn, including (in order of appearance) Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Sens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Hillary Clinton of New York. Academy Award winning actor Forest Whitaker spoke on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, and Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden spoke on behalf of his father, Sen. Joe Biden of Deleware, who was in New Hampshire delivering the keynote address at the Coos County Democrats Harry S. Truman Dinner.