And while Hillary Clinton’s dour view of Iowa and John McCain’s penchant for exploding into obscenities has been covered by numerous news outlets, the relationship between John and Elizabeth Edwards was particularly fascinating.

The book is jam-packed with good stuff about the campaign. And Skinny, ever trying to be helpful, underlined the good parts. Here are some: …

… “John and Elizabeth [Edwards] were fighting all the time, sometimes all night long. More than once, she announced to the staff that she could no longer speak in public on her husband’s behalf or stay in the same hotel with him. Once, in the middle of the night, she woke up a trip director and commanded, Get me out of here! I’m not campaigning for this asshole another day!”

And:

“What the world saw in Elizabeth: a valiant, determined, heroic everywoman. What the Edwards insiders saw: an abusive, intrusive, paranoid, condescending crazywoman.”

And:

“At the [airport] terminal, the couple fought in the passenger waiting area. They fought outside in the private parking lot. Elizabeth was sobbing, out of control, incoherent. As their aides tried to look away, she tore off her blouse, exposing herself. ‘Look at me!’ she wailed at John and then staggered, nearly falling to the ground.”

Edwards, of course, was at one time favored to win in Iowa before finishing second in the caucuses and eventually dropping out of the campaign all together. Then, revelations of an extramarital affair ended his political career.

The time spent in fellowship and commemoration was perhaps one of far too few respites shared by cash-strapped dairy farmers. Extremely low milk prices paid by distributors have pushed many dairies to the brink of financial ruin.

Once the cows at L & L Ayrshires are milked, they are given the run of the barns and pasture. Toban, who decided to relax on a pile of straw in the barn, had little interest in being interviewed. (Iowa Independent photo)

After spending the day at L & L, however, it became clear that the stress and sadness impacting dairy farmers is about far more than commodities trading and balance sheets.

The attachments farmers feel for their land, livestock and lifestyle can cause anxiety that experts say is too often underestimated or misunderstood.

Still, there was little time to reflect on the visitors as the Lunsfords, owners and operators of the Jefferson County farm, didn’t wait for the sound of crunching gravel under the bus tires to fade before they were ready to go back to the business of running their farm and caring for their herd.

White and red Ayrshire cows, several of them lounging in pools of cool mud left behind by morning rains, had to be roused and taken to the dairy parlor holding pen. Despite a mostly failed attempt earlier in the day to encourage the cows into the shade of a barn for shelter from the heat, this time the herd moved easily.

“Come on, Peanut!” yelled Jennifer Lunsford, an adult daughter who helps run the L & L dairy farm. “You know what time it is.”

Other cows, known on sight by the Lunsford family by both name and generational history, were also greeted according to their personalities.

People of all ages toured the Lunsfords' southeastern Iowa dairy farm. Younger members of the tour group, however, enjoyed the calf barn most of all. (Iowa Independent photo)

“I don’t care how nice that mud is, you’ve got to get moving,” Jennifer said. And then, as the cow rose and exposed an extremely mud-laden udder, Jennifer laughed. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that she is milked on my mom’s side.”

Elaine Lunsford, Jennifer’s mother, remained by the parlor, bringing in the first batch of 10 cows, five on each side of the parlor, and arranging others in the holding pen. Certain members of the herd have particular needs at milking time, such as only using a specific side of the milking parlor or exiting through certain doors.

“They are creatures of habit,” Elaine explained.

The hands-on assembly line process, which continued long after the sun had set, was filled with anecdotes about members of the herd. Care was taken to provide the optimal milking environment for each one, with emphasis placed on the intimate lessons that twice-a-day milking produces.

“Come on girl,” coaxed Jennifer, as she took the lead cow from her mother’s line and encouraged it to take the lead spot on her side of the parlor. The move is an important one because Virgin, a cow described as having a “queen-bee complex,” was not pleased with being in the second milking slot. Virgin will make the milking process more difficult if she is not the lead cow on the line.

These two young Ayrshire bulls spent most of the day trying to nurse on each other's ears. (Iowa Independent photo)

As the cows took their place on the waist-high line, each was checked. Warm soapy water was first applied to the udders, which were then washed by hand before being rinsed clean. Because of the mud, the process was slow, deliberate and often included additional body parts. Tails flicked and large brown eyes roamed the parlor, obviously nervous about a stranger observing and helping with the milking.

While the Lunsfords and other dairy farmers on the tour were quick throughout the day to offer their assessments of the low milk prices plaguing dairy industry and driving so many out of business, not a word of the problem was spoken in the parlor. It was as if the cows shouldn’t know the milk they were producing wouldn’t garner enough money to provide for the farm.

Sweat glinted and then flowed down the milkers’ bodies as the already hot parlor gained the added bonus of the cows’ body heat. Still, large glass collection bottles filled with fresh milk from the cows were warm to the touch.

“This is a family farm,” Jennifer said as a matter-of-fact. “It isn’t just because we run and operate the farm, but because all aspects of what we do and how we treat the herd is as family. We give them the same considerations that other people give to pets or extended family.”

Elaine added, “If you take good care of the cows, they’ll take good care of you.”

Those beliefs, according to Iowa family farmer and clinical psychologist Mike Rosmann, are often misunderstood or taken too lightly by those who do not have an agricultural or rural background.

“Consumers have become disconnected from the food supply,” Rosmann, executive director of AgriWellness, said. “They look at rural as a recreation area, as a place to tour for beauty. We have some fairly good indications that once we are more than three generations removed from the farm, we lose the emotional connections to the land. Our understanding of where food comes from deteriorates because we kind of take it for granted.”

Rosmann believes that just as animals will seek out necessary land resources to provide for themselves and their families, humans also have such instincts within their genetic make-up.

“When the territory is threatened through the possible foreclosure on the farm, that’s when farm people are most vulnerable,” he said. “These farm families become very afraid that where they get meaning in their lives will be removed from them.

“Dairy farmers, in certain ways, have a greater attachment because of the closeness to their animals. This is especially true of family-sized dairy farmers. … In the family-sized operations, there is a great deal of respect that the farmer or the owner has for the cows, and the cows come to trust that owner. It is a mutually beneficial relationship.”

Because farmers typically don’t view their occupation as a job that can be easily switched and also because of their psychological attachments to their land and livestock, many feel great despair when faced with economic hard times. Not only are they letting down themselves and their families, but they are letting down the animals and land they’ve come to respect and love.

“I still dream about my cows,” Rosmann, who raised Simmental cattle for breeding purposes, admitted. “We produced bulls and heifers … and I can still see my cows. I know their names. I know their ear tags. Everything.”

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

Democrats and Republicans praised the selection of a woman to run on the ticket with the Arizona senator, but that’s where the similarities end.

“There has been a definite enthusiasm gap between Republicans and Obama supporters,” said Republican state Sen. Jeff Angelo. “From talking to people today, suddenly there is passion for the McCain campaign that was definitely lacking before. I think [choosing Palin] will shake up the race.”

Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley called Palin a candidate who doesn’t just talk change, “she is change.”

“She’s stood for principle over party and has record-breaking support in her state for it. She’s demonstrated strength of character when faced with adversity,” he said. “It’s the kind of situation where the more you learn, the more you like and respect her.”

Democrats were not nearly as enthusiastic about the choice.

“While Gov. Palin supports big oil, Joe Biden shares Barack Obama’s dreams of energy independence,” Gov. Chet Culver said in a statement. “And while Sarah Palin opposes a woman’s right to make her own health care choices, Joe Biden has a long history of supporting women’s rights. It is clear that Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be the best people to lead our nation forward.”

Former Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack said McCain’s pick was “puzzling” and showed he is willing to put ideology before country.

“He chose the governor of Alaska, who placates the base of the Republican party and the archconservative agenda of the Republican party,” he said. “Sen. McCain’s selection of the governor of Alaska also shows he is clearly committed to continuing the failed Bush energy agenda. This agenda of more of the same when it comes to energy is offensive to those of us who have worked so hard to expand America’s opportunities related to home-grown renewable energy.”

Andy McGuire, a former Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor and a Hillary Clinton supporter, told Des Moines CBS affiliate KCCI that she applauds the Republicans for putting a woman on the ticket but she can’t see her having appeal to Clinton voters.

“On the issues of choice, on the issues of the economy, she’s just now where we are. So, even though I applaud having a woman at this level and I think other Hillary Clinton supporter would, I don’t think she’s right on the issues,” McGuire said.

While Republicans hope Palin can persuade Clinton supporters who don’t want to vote for Obama to come to their side, the consensus among observers is that Palin’s major effect will be to help McCain appeal to social conservatives around the nation, a group that has been suspicious of him in the past.

Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance, told The Des Moines Register that Palin would prompt social conservatives in Iowa who have been inactive this year to get involved in McCain’s campaign.

“I think it’s a phenomenal choice to mobilize the base,” said Scheffler told the paper. “It’s going to be the ingredient to help McCain pull this out.”

The response to the choice among Iowa media was also mixed. Sioux City Journal columnist Bret Hayworth said he believes McCain has changed the game by picking Palin.

Seriously, I think the election is his to lose now. Reaction to her pick has been overwhelmingly (universally?) positive from Republicans, and Palin definitely has the ability to pull in independents — and some disgruntled Hillary Democratic supporters.

But Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen felt the choice undercuts the “lack of experience” attack McCain has been using on Barack Obama while accentuating McCain’s age.

Yepsen goes on to call Palin’s selection an “obvious pander,” with McCain using the VP pick to go after Hillary Clinton supporters and social conservatives in one fell swoop.

But the second pander could cancel the first. Many of the women who are disappointed Hillary Clinton isn’t the Democratic nominee are pro-choice. It’s doubtful they will set aside their views on reproductive rights just because Palin is a woman.

“I know not all of my delegates will do so and I fully respect that decision,” Clinton said in the statement. “But I hope to be President of all 50 states and U.S. territories, and that we have all 50 states represented and counted at the Democratic convention.” 

The DNC stripped Florida and Michigan of all of their delegates after the two states violated the national party’s calendar that placed Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina first.

“I hope my fellow potential nominees will join me in this,” Clinton challenged her rivals.

But Obama campaign manager David Plouffe responded:

When Senator Clinton was campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire, she made it clear that states like Michigan and Florida that wouldn’t produce any delegates, `don’t count for anything.’  Now that Senator Clinton’s worried about losing the first Southern primary (in South Carolina Saturday), she’s using Florida for her own political gain by trying to assign meaning to a contest that awards zero delegates and where no campaigning has occurred.

“No one is more disappointed that Florida Democrats will have no role in selecting delegates for the nomination of the party’s standard bearer than Senator Obama,” Plouffe added.

Clinton won Michigan handily on Jan. 15, after most other candidates took their names off the ballot.  She would stand to gain 73 of Michigan’s 128 delegates, while “Uncommitted” would win 55.  Florida votes next Tuesday, and Clinton leads polling there.

She says she’ll still abide by the early state pledge not to campaign in Florida, but at MyDD, Trickster has a suggestion for Clinton:

In case you still don’t think the Florida Democratic primary is going to get play, there’s something Hillary Clinton can do to ensure that it gets publicity, and it’s something that is explicitly permitted by the (early state) agreement and the DNC rules…

She can hold a big ole victory party in the ballroom of the fanciest hotel in downtown Miami.  If the polls close at 8:00, her jet can touch down on the tarmac at 8:05 and she can arrive at the party at the appropriate time for a victory speech.

Nothing Obama can do about it except whine…

Even an Iowan would have to admire that kind of nerve.

In a quite possible related development, Huffington Post reported that Friday that Florida Sen. Bill Nelson will endorse Clinton:

A well-connected Democratic strategist who asked not to be named did not think that Nelson’s endorsement was part of a quid-pro-quo for Clinton’s statement. But Nelson was quoted as recently as two weeks ago saying that his endorsement would depend on “how [the candidates] treat Florida.”

An official with Nelson’s office declined to confirm or deny the endorsement. They did, however, send a press release issued by the office in which the Senator criticized the stripping of his state’s delegates. Nelson, the release read, is “happy to see that Clinton agrees with the principle at issue in his lawsuit – that every person has a right to vote, and have the vote count as intended.”

Hamburg Inn patrons could vote as many times as they visited the diner by dropping a coffee bean into their candidate’s jar.  The Coffee Bean Caucus was featured on TV’s “The West Wing” in 2005.  Results were announced this morning on a live CNN broadcast from the Hamburg Inn.

Several candidates, including Obama, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Green candidate Cynthia McKinney, visited the Hamburg Inn in 2007.  Former president Bill Clinton also stopped by.

The votes leaned strongly Democratic in liberal Iowa City.  Obama had nearly a two to one lead over second place Democrat Hillary Clinton, who in turn held nearly a two to one lead over Edwards.  On the GOP side, Paul’s lead was strong but less overwhelming over Mitt Romney.

Complete results below the fold.

Democratic		Republican
Barack Obama *	1733	Ron Paul	132
Hillary Clinton	830	Mitt Romney *	87
John Edwards *	445	Rudy Guiliani	71
Dennis Kucinich	291	Mike Huckabee	70
Bill Richardson	276	John McCain *	46
Joe Biden *	176	Fred Thompson	46
Chris Dodd *	79	Duncan Hunter	5
Mike Gravel	0
Cynthia McKinney (Green) *	36	Undecided	215

* Visited Hamburg Inn, 2007