There’s been talk of passing a bill through reconciliation and of ending or modifying the filibuster to keep a minority group of senators from killing legislation. But one way that health care reform could be passed is if President Barack Obama were to appoint Grassley to a position that caused him to leave the Senate, freeing up a Republican seat to be appointed by Democratic Gov. Chet Culver. At least, according to one Slate reader whose idea was chosen as the best of the bunch.

From Slate:

And the winner is … Eric Jaffe, Mill Valley, Calif.!
[The president] bestows a plum appointment to [Iowa Republican] Sen. Chuck Grassley (ambassadorship, U.S. Trade Rep, Secretary of Agriculture, etc.). Grassley avoids what’s seeming more and more like a tough re-election fight against Bob Krause. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver appoints the 60^th vote. Done.

(This is a totally brilliant solution. I just hope Grassley doesn’t hold out for John Paul Stevens’ seat on the Supreme Court.)

Saying this path to health care legislation is unlikely would be the understatement to end all understatements. Not to mention the fact that Bob Krause is one of only three Democrats that face tough odds in unseating the veteran lawmaker (and most don’t consider him the favorite to win the party’s nomination). But for Democrats wondering how they move on from here, no idea is too outlandish to say out loud.

Have same-sex marriage opponents derailed their movement with Vander Plaats endorsement?

Partisanship already dominating legislative session.

Mainstream media distracting people from Sen. Chuck Grassley’s political views.

Gov. Culver will testify before U.S. Senate subcommittee about job creation.

Lori Cardella

In September, a video clip of school children singing a song praising President Obama became public, and conservatives became outraged. Apparently, a school teacher had some kids sing a song praising the country’s first black president for Black History Month, something many conservatives decried as “socialist indoctrination.”

The new clip, which was uploaded in November by the conservative blog Coralville Courier, features five women singing a parody of the school children’s song from last year, with lyrics that include “his teleprompter tells us lies,” “he wants one-world unity,” and “some wonder where he was born, long before he knew ACORN.”

Cardella, who also serves as the Johnson County chair for Republican Christopher Reed’s 2nd District Congressional campaign, is front row second from right in the video.

Survey USA polls found the governor’s approval falling from 57 percent in December 2008 to 41 percent in September.

When asked where they fall politically, the Iowa Poll found 43 percent of Iowans consider themselves conservative, 36 percent say they are moderate and 17 percent say they are liberal.

For a party completely shut out of power since the 2006 elections gave control of both legislative chambers and Terrace Hill to the Democrats, Iowa Republicans are looking at the recent polling and see an opportunity for resurgence in 2010.

But the optimism is laced with a healthy degree of realism. Political observers agree that the Republican Party of Iowa has a long way to go before it can be truly confident of its chances, and there is plenty of time for Democrats to regain momentum.

And recent Democratic victories in special legislative elections around the state demonstrate that the party can be successful in spite of bad poll numbers.

Steve Grubbs, a veteran Republican strategist and president of the Davenport-based consulting firm Victory Enterprises Inc., said he hasn’t seen his party this unified and excited since the historic elections of 1994.

“I think the Republican base here in Iowa is very motivated,” Grubbs said. “Just like 1994, you’ll see a strong turnout for Republicans next year. I think there is a question of whether Democrats will be able to turn out their base next year. “

Shane Vander Hart agrees.

“Whether we can win back the Iowa House or Senate, I don’t know,” said Vander Hart, a conservative blogger and member of the Polk County Republican Central Committee. “But we will make some gains, and Gov. Culver is definitely in trouble. If I were a Democrat I don’t think I’d be really comfortable right now.”

But using 1994 as an example cuts both ways, Grubbs said.

Nationally, 1994 was the year of the Republican Revolution. The party gained a majority of seats in the U.S. House for the first time since 1954 and in the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1986. The party also had a net gain of 12 governorships.

In Iowa, Republicans went from 51 seats in the Iowa House to 64 seats, “the most that I think has been picked up in 30 years,” Grubbs said.

“In the [state] Senate, Republicans picked up zero seats,” he said. “We started with 22 and ended with 22.”

The lesson, he said, is that even in a good year you still have to run good, solid campaigns. Even when a wave of political momentum sweeps the nation, state races usually only get a two to four point bump, he said.

“So, if you give every Republican in the state an additional four points, all those close districts flip to the Republicans,” Grubbs said. “But if you’re losing by 10 points, getting four points isn’t going to make a difference. “

So even with trends pointing in their favor, Republican have to focus on getting their message out, recruiting quality candidates, raising money and running good campaigns, he said.

“For the most part, these are people who have never been active in politics before,” Rhodes said. “So while I know they will have an impact it’s hard to say what that could be.”

On most issues, tea party activists tend to agree with the GOP, Rhodes said. But the movement has no formal ties to either party, and in fact emerged due to frustration with both Democrats and Republicans.

“I know of a few people who came from the tea parties and are now running as Republicans,” Rhodes said. “I know quite a few who are running as independents. I think more than anything you’ll see candidates forced to discuss our issues and unable to get a pass on them.”

The GOP’s recent electoral problems have more to do with “discontent with the Republican Party than anything else,” Vander Hart said. Even though Democrats enjoy a sizable voter registration lead in Iowa, recent polling shows most voters are more moderate to conservative, he said.

“A lot of those folks stayed home on Election Day or supported Democrats because they were sick of the direction the Republican Party was taking,” Vander Hart said. “I think the key to 2010 is Republicans staying true to conservative values.”

To be successful in 2010, Grubbs said the GOP must define itself as an alternative to the Democrats.

“Republicans have to change the way the average voter sees our party,” Grubbs said. “That means differentiating ourselves on issues like marriage, taxes, education, job creation. The Republican Party has to define itself as a party that is an alternative to the big-government path we’re on now.”

Grubbs said in a strong year, a party can typically expect to increase their numbers 10 percent. If that prediction holds true, Democrats would still control both the House and Senate.

The delay allows the board to read the 12,000 pages of written comments submitted in regards to the plan, which if approved would recommend that the state legislature legalize marijuana for medical problems. The vote will now take place at a public hearing Feb. 17 in the auditorium of the Iowa State Historical Building, 600 East Locust St., Des Moines. The meeting is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to  5 p.m.

In April, a Polk County judge ordered the Board of Pharmacy to at least consider whether marijuana has any acceptable medical uses. In July, the board decided to hold hearings on the issue and offer a recommendation to the legislature. Four hearings were held.

A state Senate subcommittee held a hearing in March on a bill sponsored by Sen. Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City that would have created the Medical Marijuana Act, allowing the possession and use of marijuana for therapeutic purposes. The bill, Senate File 293, never made it out of subcommittee.

On the same day that the Republican primary field grew to three with state Sen. Brad Zaun formally entering the campaign, Gibbons said the 2010 House calendar shows only 17 days where votes are scheduled in the first two months of the year.

“At a time when Iowans are facing rising unemployment and home foreclosures, Congressman Boswell and Nancy Pelosi are wasting the first few months of next year to enrich their political war chests instead of doing the work they were sent to Washington to do,”  Gibbons said.

But the liberal blog Bleeding Heartland researched Gibbons’ complaint and found the 2010 vote schedule is actually much busier than previous years.

I wondered whether 17 voting days in two months was an unusually light load for the House of Representatives, so I contacted David Waldman, who runs the outstanding Congress Matters blog. He told me that the 109th Congress, the last under GOP control, “had roll call votes on just 7 days in Jan/Feb 2006.” Waldman also noted that there were 11 days of roll call voting during the first two months of 2004, 12 days during the comparable period in 2002, 10 days in 2000, nine days in 1998, and 10 days in 1996. The Republicans controlled the House calendar during all of those years. Gibbons should step up his background research before making unfounded attacks on Boswell’s work ethic.

In addition to Gibbons and Zaun, former pilot Dave Funk is also seeking the GOP nomination.

Des Moines anti-abortion activist Dave Leach. (Video screengrab)

Leach and a group of anti-abortion activists posted a dozen items on the auction site in order to raise money to hire a private attorney for Scott Roeder, who is accused of murdering Tiller because he performed abortions. Around a dozen items were posted, including graphic artwork drawn by fellow inmates and signed by Roeder as well as an “Army of God Edition” of Leach’s newsletter which lists ways to damage abortion buildings from putting super glue in locks to following two simple bomb recipes.

After five hours, eBay removed 10 items, with the final two items removed by late Monday afternoon. The company said in a statement that the anti-abortion memorabilia violated its listing polices which prohibit items being posted that “promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance, or promote organizations with such views.”

Leach said the site allows plenty of postings that fit that description.

“You sell World War II stuff, which ‘glorifies’ our role in it,” Leach said in a letter to eBay executives obtained by The Iowa Independent on Wednesday. “You do not censor things which honor police, who exist for their capacity for judicious violence. So it seems to me that your statement cannot be made sense of, without a common sense appeal to the context of violence.”

In August, Leach drafted a legal brief of Roeder claiming the necessity defense, which argues that a crime may be permissible if it is committed in order to avoid a much greater harm. The money raised would go toward finding an attorney willing to argue that defense.

Leach’s hope is that refusing to contest the facts of the case will leave no other option to the judge but to let the jury hear argument regarding whether Roeder was forced to commit murder in order to stop an “unlawful harm,” meaning abortion. That argument has been tried before and has repeatedly been rejected by judges regarding crimes committed to stop abortion because abortion is legal, and therefore protected by the law.

“[O]ur project has nothing to do with ‘promoting or glorifying violence,’” Leach said in his letter. “It is all about moving judges in abortion prevention trials to stop censoring the only trial issue, and the only defense, from the hearing of the jury. Does that sound to you like a fanatical, extremist, violence-glorifying, radical goal?”

Leach argued with the assertion that his postings “glorified violence.”

“For example, would you accuse the Bible of ‘promoting violence against an individual’ when such individual is slaughtering thousands every year?” Leach said. “How about items which honor police, who exist for the purpose of inflicting violence upon individuals when justified?”

In a note accompanying the letter, Leach said he and his associates may pursue other options in order to go forward with the auction, saying he has looked into purchasing software to make the auction a reality.

“We have had enough publicity, I think, to attract buyers,” he said. “Especially if we do it soon.”

Leach, who has received his fair share of bad press over the years regarding his association with radical anti-abortion movement, said he is comforted that Jesus received bad press as well.

“But I have been pondering the ‘bad press’ Jesus got from the Pharisees, and how he handled it, and a strategy remains alive in my mind how to turn this all around into a public move to end abortion,” he said.

Leach publishes a newsletter called “Prayer & Action News” that describes itself as “a trumpet call for the Armies of God to assemble.”

Roeder was a contributor to the publication, which advocates the doctrine of justifiable homicide in the case of abortion doctors. Along with Leach, the auction was organized by Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City anti-abortion activist who made headlines in 1995 when she was ordered by a federal judge to stop using a bullhorn within 500 feet of any abortion clinic. Since Roeder’s arrest in May he’s been in regular contact with what The Wichita Eagle describes as “a who’s who of anti-abortion militants.”

Susan Frey, vice chair of the board, told Radio Iowa’s O.Kay Henderson that the decision won’t be rushed.

“We have received copious amounts of information and each board member will receive all of that information and they will go through it,” she says. “We take this very, very seriously and it will be something that we spend a lot of time on and analyze thoroughly in order to make a good decision.”

In April, a Polk County judge ordered the Board of Pharmacy to at least consider whether marijuana has any acceptable medical uses. In July, the board decided to hold hearings on the issue and offer a recommendation to the legislature. Four hearings were held.

A state Senate subcommittee held a hearing in March on a bill sponsored by Sen. Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City that would have created the Medical Marijuana Act, allowing the possession and use of marijuana for therapeutic purposes. The bill, Senate File 293, never made it out of subcommittee.

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (Lauren Victoria Burke/WDCPIX.COM)

The medical use of marijuana is legal in 14 states and is being considered in several others, including Iowa. During the Bush Administration, agents raided several centers that dispense marijuana in California, where state law permits its medical use.

In a memo sent earlier this week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder made it clear that federal officials would no longer prosecute medical marijuana use that was allowed by state law, even if it broke federal regulations.

“I think that marijuana is a gateway to harder drug use,” Grassley said. “Medical marijuana brings a certain amount of legitimacy to an illegal drug, even though it attempts to do it in a legal way. We have a federal law that is intended to outlaw its use. That federal law ought to be enforced.  It was enforced in the previous administration and I think having a national program against drug use is very, very important.”

Grassley said that while some of the people who produce and distribute marijuana may be law-abiding citizens in the eyes of their state, people should not forget that “most of the marijuana that flows into the United States comes from the drug lords.”

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy held hearings earlier this month regarding medical marijuana. State Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, introduced a medical marijuana bill during the last legislative session, although it did not make it out of committee.

Scott Roeder (mugshot)

Dave Leach publishes a newsletter called “Prayer & Action News,” which advocates the doctrine of justifiable homicide in the case of abortion doctors. The man accused of murdering Tiller, Scott Roeder, was a contributor to the publication.

In an interview with The Iowa Independent, Leach said he has spoken with Roeder several times since his arrest, including twice on Thursday to discuss legal strategy. Despite the fact that Leach is not an attorney, he has prepared a legal brief he believes will get Roeder acquitted, and “Scott is willing to go along,” he said.

Leach sent a copy of the brief to Roeder’s attorney but has not gotten a response.

Leach has proposed that Roeder stipulate that the facts alleged in the criminal complaint against him are true in order to focus the case on the so-called “necessity defense.” Roeder is accused of shooting Tiller in the foyer of his Wichita church on May 31 in order to stop him from performing abortions.

The hope is that refusing to contest the facts of the case will leave no other option to the judge but to let the jury hear argument regarding whether Roeder was forced to commit murder in order to stop an “unlawful harm,” meaning abortion.

“In probably all previous cases, the dog-and-pony show proceeded, the prosecutor bringing in his witnesses to prove what nobody seriously contests,” Leach said. “That way there is an appearance of a right to trial by jury. The jury gets to weigh the facts, which the defendant does not contest. But I have proposed to Scott that he stipulate to the alleged facts, making the dog-and-pony show irrelevant to any additional information the jury needs to make its determination, and dramatically isolating the necessity defense as the sole contested issue of the case.”

In the past, judges have thrown out “necessity defense” arguments regarding crimes committed to stop abortion because abortion is legal, and therefore protected by the law.

“Legally protecting a harm does not render it harmless,” Leach said. “The necessity defense requires reasonable people to judge whether a harm is in fact harmless, regardless of how courts or lawmakers feel about it.”

If the decision is given over to a jury, Roeder will go free, he said.

Margaret Raymond, a law professor at the University of Iowa who previously practiced as a criminal defense attorney, has not read Leach’s legal brief but said the likelihood that a judge will allow a jury to hear an argument of “necessity defense” in a case like this is quite small.

“Typically, you don’t get to use that defense in murder cases,” she said. “The problem with a necessity defense in this case is that it is hard to say that something that the law permits is an act that must be prohibited at the cost of death.”

Juries are only permitted to hear claims that fit within legal parameters. If the law permits the claim, the facts surrounding the claim would go to the jury to decide.

“The jury doesn’t get to hear a claim that isn’t legally plausible,” Raymond said. “If there is no legal basis for the claim, then it cannot go to the jury. Juries are not supposed to decide things outside of the law. They get to decide fact within the law.”

The necessity defense, in general terms, says that it is OK to commit a crime in order to avoid a much greater harm, she said. For instance, a person with a suspended drivers license could drive a person to the hospital if it meant saving their life.

“The question would be whether the necessity defense would permit somebody to claim that something that is legally protected created a necessity to justify homicide,” Raymond said, adding: “My guess is that this is not going to be a strong defense. The irony is that the first thing he is asking him to do in order to use a necessity defense is admit he committed the crime. That is not necessarily something a criminal defendant wants some third party going around announcing.”

Even if the judge allows this defense to go forward, Roeder may still go to prison, Leach said. But he believes it would set a legal precedent allowing those who block the entrances of abortion clinics and “perhaps even building burners” to use that defense in the future, Leach said.

“I, personally, would prefer a bloodless way to stop bloody abortion. But it isn’t up to me,” he said, adding: “So I suppose the correct answer would be, yes, lovers of abortion have great reason to fear that they will suffer the same violence they have voted to inflict upon 50 million American unborn. But not from me.”

Leach is not the only anti-abortion activist to contact Roeder in prison. The Wichita Eagle reports that he has been visited by “a who’s who of anti-abortion militants,” a fact that has worried abortion-rights advocates.

Fear of a possible conspiracy to commit more acts of violence against abortion providers has led to a federal investigation, and the FBI has questioned several of Roeder’s visitors. Leach said the FBI has not contacted him.

He has been in contact with other anti-abortion activists around the country to share his legal brief, Leach said. So far, only Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City anti-abortion activist who made headlines in 1995 when she was ordered by a federal judge to stop using a bullhorn within 500 feet of any abortion clinic, has given him feedback.

This is not Leach’s first brush with the spotlight. Following Tiller’s assassination, Leach was prominently featured by national news media due to his previous ties with Roeder.

In the mid-1990s, Leach’s association with the accused killer of a Florida abortion doctor helped persuade U.S. marshals to guard the Planned Parenthood clinic in Des Moines.

In the January 1996 issue, Leach published the Army of God manual, which advocates the killing of the providers of abortion and contains bomb-making instructions. Because of this, he was fired from his job as a writer for an Ankeny newspaper.

In 2002, he tried to air videotape of patients entering a local Planned Parenthood clinic on public-access cable TV. Mediacom Communications Corp. decided it would not allow him to air the footage.