Fong told Cedar Rapids ABC affiliate KCRG that while Iowans deserve the right to vote on a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as one man and one woman, he does not condemn those who disagree with him.

“I’m not embarrassed about where I stand on that issue,” Fong said. “But at the same time I don’t look across at anybody that has a different view. I don’t condemn them for what they hold so deeply.  And I invite everyone to the table.”

Brian Dumas, a political consultant with the firm Victory Enterprises and an adviser to Fong’s campaign, anticipated the answer would upset Deace and e-mailed him a transcript of the interview with the hopes of heading off any angry reaction.

Deace was not impressed, and responded quickly on his blog.

First of all, the idea “that I don’t condemn people that have a different view” is a ridiculous statement for a person that serves as essentially an elder at a Christian church to make.  The Bible constantly condemns people who advance evil, and isn’t shy about doing it.  It also condemns those who claim they know right from wrong but won’t take a stand, you know, kind of like Fong does in the [KCRG] transcript.

God says homosexuality is evil, Deace wrote, so Fong should have no problem condemning evil.

Why would Christians respect the views of those who want to advance evil?  Would Fong say the same thing about Islamic radicalism?  He’d have to, unless he doesn’t really believe homosexuality is evil and that’s why he’s saying such soft-headed psychobabble — trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

Deace then attacks Fong for not agreeing with another GOP gubernatorial hopeful, Bob Vander Plaats, that the governor can issue an executive order stopping same-sex marriage. Fong told KCRG that he “wouldn’t waste time signing an order that my legal staff said was unenforceable anyway.”

Constitutional scholars, as well as Vander Plaats’ other rivals for the Republican nomination in 2010, agree with Fong that the governor does not have the authority under Iowa’s Constitution to issue such an order.

The event, held June 6 at the home of Jim and Roxanne Conlin, will cost anywhere from $2,500 to $30,000 to attend and is being hosted by Democratic U.S. Reps. Leonard Boswell, Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack.

Boswell is a member of the DCCC’s Frontline program, which which seeks to protect incumbents in potentially vulnerable districts by assisting with organizing and fundraising. The organization has held two fundraisers for Boswell already this year and plans to host another one in June.

That’s why the 22nd annual Des Moines Human Rights Symposium “Forty Years of Fair Housing: Moving Forward with Civil and Human Rights” will celebrate and emphasize the importance of the housing legislation. The conference, which covers a wide variety of human and civil rights issues, will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 16 at the Hotel Ft. Des Moines.

“The symposium is a way to take the blood pressure of those laws and see whether or not they’re still functioning and making a difference in people’s lives,” said Mikel Johnson, an AmeriCorps Vista volunteer at the Des Moines Human Rights Commission who is organizing the conference.

About 300 people are expected to attend the conference, which has 16 workshops and an awards ceremony. The workshops will cover immigration, school alliances for gay and straight students, anti-bullying surveys, housing markets and foreclosure, workers with disabilities, school suspension and dropout trends, what constitutes a family, proposed changes to marriage laws and homelessness, among other topics.

Keynote speakers include Gov. Chet Culver and Gretchen Eure, director of the Omaha office of the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission.

The conference offers continuing education credits, but isn’t just for professionals, Johnson said. Community members, educators, employers and many others will want to learn and share their knowledge at the growing conference, she said.

“It’s an exciting day,” she said. “There’s lots of good stuff. It’s all in a user-friendly format. I don’t care who you are — you can take it home and use it.”

The conference is being sponsored by the Des Moines Human Rights Commission, Greater Des Moines Friends of Human Rights, Inc., and the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.

Former Gov. Tom Vilsack charged Monday, during a Hillary Clinton campaign conference call, that Barack Obama broke the early-states pledge by running campaign ads on national cable networks.

Losses in New Hampshire and, by Clinton’s count, Nevada, “compelled (Obama’s) campaign to sacrifice part of his integrity,” Vilsack said during Monday’s call. “Your word ought to be your bond, whether it’s politically convenient or not.”

“Words matter, promises matter and pledges matter,” said Vilsack, who ended his own presidential campaign in February 2007 and endorsed Clinton. “It calls into question the promises and pledges he’s made on the campaign trail.”

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the cable networks could not eliminate Florida from the national buy. He added that the campaign sought and received permission from Carol Fowler, the Democratic chair, in the last remaining early state, South Carolina.

On Aug. 31, the top six Democrats all agreed to skip campaigning in states that violated the Democratic National Committee’s calendar, which placed Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina first. The DNC later punished Florida and Michigan by taking away all their delegates. But the close race and the advantage going into Feb. 5’s 20-plus state primary makes Florida irresistible.Iowans, of course, saw many candidate ads on cable, but those were local buys. The Obama ads in question are national buys on CNN and MSNBC. A Clinton press release charges:

These ads are a clear and blatant violation of the early-state pledge that Senator Obama and the other leading Democratic candidates signed last year.

The early state pledge was crystal clear in its prohibition against any kind of campaign activity (outside of fund-raising) in states that do not adhere to the DNC calendar. There is no ambiguity. Among the list of prohibited activities are ‘electronic advertising that reaches a significant percentage of the voters in the aforementioned state.’” (According to Nielsen, there are 6.6 million TV households in Florida that receive CNN through either local cable systems or satellite dishes. This represents 92 percent of all Florida TV households.)

“We certainly weren’t happy about the pledge, but we have scrupulously abided by it,” Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a national co-chairwoman for Clinton, said on the conference call. “Now, it’s time to review all the options on the table.” Those options could include any kind of campaign activity.

“If Clinton wants to campaign in Florida and ignore the pledge she signed, she’ll be running the wrong way around the track because there are no delegates at stake,” said Plouffe.

In a statement on Jan. 15, the date of the Michigan primary, the Obama campaign said:

Senator Obama is firm in his commitment to neither participate nor campaign in the Florida primary and its outcome has no bearing on the nomination contest. We raise Florida today because Senator Clinton has scheduled a fund-raiser in Florida on Jan. 27th, and there are signs — despite Senator Clinton’s public pledge to the contrary — that she may be planning to campaign in the state — inquiring about large venues and increased organizing activity — ahead of the Florida primary.

Our position and the position of the DNC is clear — neither the Florida nor Michigan primaries are playing any role in deciding the Democratic nominee and we are not campaigning in either state.

Despite the official loss of delegates, the Florida Democratic Party said in a statement: “We are confident that the Democratic Presidential nominee will seat Florida’s delegation at the Convention.”

Blogger Jerome Armstrong of MyDD wonders if the national ad buy was a consultant’s mistake: “Anyone think this was an oversight by the Obama campaign? Can Obama just blame (media consultant) David Axelrod? How much of a commission will Axelrod gain from running ads in a state that doesn’t matter?”

In another event on the early-state front, a low-key Republican National Committee meeting last week looked at the nomination calendar for 2012. A Thursday rules committee meeting held preliminary discussions about proposals for overhauling the system.

“It’s pretty obvious now that no person can win the nomination of our party unless he or she is both financially and organizationally prepared to conduct a campaign in half of the country simultaneously,” said committee member Morton Blackwell of Virginia. “That is not good.”

Republican rules require any changes in the 2012 nomination process to be made at this year’s national convention.