~ Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey

~ Iowa Rep.Renee Schulte, R-Cedar Rapids

~ Iowa Journalist Chuck Offenburger

~ Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson

~ U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

~ Former Iowa Sen. Jeff Angelo, R-Creston

The Senate Minority Leader will reportedly begin “aggressively exploring” a bid for governor today, and he will file paperwork to form a campaign committee soon:

“During my travels, I’ve been actively encouraged to run for governor,” said McKinley. “I’m going to take some more time to tell Iowans my story and my vision.”

When asked if he had yet reached the $750 threshold that would trigger the required paperwork to form an exploratory committee, McKinley told The Bean Walker, “We will make the necessary changes wihin the next day or two.”

Updates:

According to Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson:

Today I am announcing that I will begin aggressively exploring a run for governor,” McKinley just told me over the phone. “During my travels as senate leader around the state… I’ve been actively encouraged to run for governor and now I’m going to start devoting more time to telling Iowans my story and my vision and my vision is we must prepare our state for the global economy and give Iowans back their government and I believe my background is best suited to make the necessary changes.”

State Sen. Paul McKinley (R-Chariton)

McKinley gave nearly identical interviews to The Des Moines Register’s Tom Beaumont, The Ottumwa Courier, Lee Newspaper’s Charlotte Ebby, and the Associated Press.

Rumors of McKinley’s interest in a gubernatorial bid have been circulating for months in political circles. Last month, conservative blogger Craig Robinson and controversial radio host Steve Deace included McKinley in their unscientific straw poll of potential 2010 candidates.

McKinley is serving his first term as minority leader. He was first elected to the state senate in 2000. If he jumps into the race, he would join Bob Vander Plaats, Christopher Rants, Christian Fong and Rob Roberts in what is becoming a crowded GOP field.

Jason Hancock contributed to this story.

Since fusion centers around the country have gone largely unexamined by the mainstream media, The Iowa Independent and its sister sites in Minnesota, Colorado, Michigan and New Mexico reported on activity in their states over the course of a week.

The Fox News story features interviews Russell Porter, director of the Iowa Intelligence Fusion Center, and Ben Stone, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, as they discuss the role of the fusion center and its possible shortcomings.

Miller, a native of Harrisburg, Pa., died from wounds he received during enemy small-arms fire during combat operations for Operation Enduring Freedom in Barikowt, Afghanistan. Miller, a Special Forces weapons sergeant was assigned to Company A, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) based out of Fort Bragg, N.C.

Miller is survived by his parents, Philip and Maureen Miller, brothers Thomas, Martin, and Edward, and sisters Joanna, Mary, Therese, and Patricia, all of Oviedo, Fla.

Miller is the 64th person with ties to Iowa to die from injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan since March 2003.

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.

Meanwhile, our troops continue fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan in a war with no clear objective or end in sight. Tragically, Sgt. 1st Class Scott M. Carney, 37, of Ankeny, was killed in Afghanistan Aug. 24, when his Humvee rolled during a convoy operation near Herat. Carney was a member of the Iowa Army National Guard and was the 60th person with Iowa ties to die in the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan since March 2003. Carney is survived by his wife, Jeni, and his 12-year-old twin sons, Jacob and Justin. “Scott died doing what he loved, serving his country and protecting the freedom that we enjoy and providing the people of Afghanistan with the opportunity for freedom,” Carney’s family said in a released statement. (Des Moines Register).

Back home in Iowa, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley has been dogged by voters and anti-war groups all across Iowa during town hall meetings (see videos below). Fortunately for Grassley and other Congressmen who support the war in Iraq, the Bush administration equipped them with the perfect defense weapon to fend off unhappy constituents: Gen. Petraeus. In lieu of having to defend Bush’s policies in Iraq, Grassley et. al. merely have to say: “Wait until September…”Moreover, the anti-war/pro-troop group “No Iraq Escalation” has launched a campaign, “Iraq Summer,” targeting Grassley and Rep. Tom Latham, R-4th District, which focuses on visibility and involves bright red “Support the Troops, End the War,” signs planted all across Iowa.

The “war of words” has also hit the airwaves in Iowa as two groups, “Veterans for Freedom” and “MoveOn.Org,” are both on the attack… against one another. “Veterans for Freedom” commercials feature young American soldiers urging people to support the soldiers serving overseas. Meanwhile, other groups are asking voters to call their congressman to ask for an end to the war. Grassley says the ad blitz falls under our constitutional right to freedom of speech, but he believes the negativity is discouraging for troops. “I know from hearing from the people in the battlefield that it’s very demoralizing to hear, because they know that the Arabs and the Iraqis are seeing on television what goes on over here,” Grassley said. (KTIV, Sioux City)

Like his Gen. Petraeus response, this feels like a familiar crutch for Grassley. I’ve discussed the war in Iraq with several Iraq war veterans, and not one of them said they felt demoralized by groups calling for a return of troops. Most of them initially respond that they are professionally trained soldiers and aren’t distracted by what’s going on at home, let alone feeling demoralized. Furthermore, they all talk about living on “real time” while serving on the ground in Iraq, meaning they’re only concerned with the next five minutes, because that’s the only thing that’s going to keep them alive, not some political argument thousands of miles away.

Sen. Grassley Takes the Heat on Iraq in Small-Town Iowa

Sen. Grassley Attempts to Fend Off Constituents in Southern Iowa