Jonathan Narcisse (photo courtesy of NarcisseForIowa.com)

The “Narcisse for Iowa” committee declares its purpose as “to explore an opportunity to run for governor and run the subsequent campaign for governor in 2010.” Marketing consultant Darren Douglas of Madrid is named as the committee’s treasurer.

Narcisse has hinted at his desire to run for governor for months but has refused to say definitively if he would challenge incumbent Gov. Chet Culver in the Democratic primary or run as an independent in November.

A registered Democrat who campaigned for Culver in 2006, Narcisse served one contentious term on the board of the Des Moines School District. He owns and publishes several publications, including the Iowa Bystander.

Pate, a Republican from Cedar Rapids who gave up his office to run for governor in 1998, officially notified the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board of his intentions Monday.

Last week he told conservative blogger Craig Robinson that he was reaching out to past supporters but had not yet decided whether he should run. Council Bluffs City Councilman Matt Schultz and former State Representative George Eichhorn have already announced their intentions to join the GOP primary hoping to unseat first-term incumbent Democrat Michael Mauro.

Pate told The Cedar Rapids Gazette last month that the idea of running alongside former Gov. Terry Branstad, Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and Auditor David Vaudt could also play a part in his interest in entering the race.

U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and his family (file photo)

Dodd held a press conference at his home Wednesday making his retirement from the Senate official. He will not seek a sixth term in office, and recent polling indicates even if he didn’t retire he’d likely be out of a job by November.

But back in 2007, with his home-state popularity still high, Dodd entered the Democratic presidential primary. And while Connecticut voters initially had no problem with Dodd seeking the country’s highest office, his campaign, and the subsequent move his family made to Iowa in October 2007, marked the beginning of his constituency souring on him.

From the Courant:

Dodd’s problem was that he became the guest who wouldn’t leave after the party was over. Things were turning sour in Connecticut, and the folks wanted him back home, not taking up residence half a country away.

Iowa was the first white cap in a brewing perfect storm.

As The Washington Independent’s Mike Lillis points out, the presidential campaign was quickly overshadowed in Connecticut by a number of other issues.

Then the money started pouring in from Wall Street — and it didn’t help that, as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd was on the campaign trail through much of 2008 as the economy was toppling under the weight of Wall Street’s collapse.

Then came more revelations of Dodd’s connections to the banking industry. In summer of 2008, Portfolio magazine reported that Dodd had been given preferential rates when he refinanced two mortgages through Countrywide Financial. In February of last year, the Hartford Courant uncovered that another industry connection had yielded Dodd a sweetheart deal on a vacation cottage in Ireland. One month later, he was embroiled in the AIG bonus scandal — and it didn’t matter that it was the White House, not Dodd, that was culpable for allowing those bonuses to be paid. The populist champion was morphing into a baron of industry.

Former U.S. Rep. Fred Grandy, R-Iowa.

The race, which saw Branstad challenged from his left by moderate Republican Congressman Fred Grandy after 12 years in office, was contentious and, at times, ugly.

Hayworth came across a Journal story about Grandy packing up his Congressional office after narrowly losing the primary 52 percent to 48 percent. Flying in the face of party unity, Grandy declared he would “hold his nose and vote” for Branstad, despite what he considered an underhanded and unnecessarily nasty campaign. He was particularly upset with Branstad’s accusations that Grandy was a carpetbagger, having moved back to Sioux City to run for Congress in the 1980s.

Grandy lived in Sioux City through the age of 14.

From Hayworth’s blog:

Grandy said Branstad had a strategy of “win at all costs… even after eight years in politics, I naively assumed in the governor’s race you would have a real discussion of ideas, not an attempt to see who was the truer Iowan, or by association, the most dangerous of the candidates.”

“I’ve always believed in a spirited dialogue and my attacks, although critical and sometimes pointed and frequently sardonic, have never been designed to be personal petty assaults on people,” Grandy told [the Journal at the time].

A lot has changed since 1994. Instead of being the darling of the social conservative movement, now Branstad is being attacked by it for his association with gambling, choosing a lieutenant governor who favors abortions rights and for appointing the state Supreme Court Justice who penned the decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

In an interview with Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news organization associated with the Kaiser Family Foundation, Grassley said the intensity of criticism at town hall forums across Iowa, coupled with a recent report from the Office of Management and Budget that raised the 10-year tally of federal deficits expected through 2019 to $9.05 trillion, has caused him to doubt a compromise can be quickly found.

Asked whether he thought the six Democratic and Republican negotiators on the [Senate Finance Committee] would be able to cut a deal when Congress returns from its summer recess next month, Grassley replied: “If you asked me that on Aug. 6, I would have said yes, I think so, September. But you’re asking me on Aug. 27 and you’ve got the impact of democracy in America. Everybody’s showing up at town meetings.”

Many health care reform advocates have called for Democrats to abandon work towards a compromise, saying Republicans are not interested in actual bipartisanship and only want to kill the legislation. The calls were amplified last week when Grassley told MSNBC that he would even vote against a bipartisan health care bill he helped craft if he couldn’t get enough Republicans on board.

Rep. Kerry Burt

Burt pleaded guilty to OWI this morning and received a deferred judgment, placing him on probation for one year. He will also have to pay a $650 fine and complete an alcohol-related program, reports WHO-TV.

WHO-TV had previously uncovered video of Burt taken the night of his arrest, in which he asks the arresting officer for some “professional courtesy” and claims that he cannot be arrested because he is a state representative.

Burt quickly released a statement through the Iowa House communications office, saying that he does not consider himself “above the law,” but implying that he does not plan to resign:

I wish to apologize to my family, colleagues, constituents, and all who share Iowa’s roads for my poor judgment in drinking and driving.  There is no one but me to blame for my foolish decision.  Everyone who knows me recognizes that this action was completely out of character, and I will not allow it to happen again.

In the hope of setting the record straight so that all of us may move forward, I will relay what happened that morning: While driving on I-35 my tire blew out, which caused my vehicle to swerve and hit a barrier. After determining that no one was hurt, I cautiously drove with flashers on to the nearest exit, where I knew I would find a convenience store at which to park and wait for a ride.

In the parking lot was Officer Phinney, who I approached to report the incident.  He suspected that I had been drinking, and – following proper police procedure – tested and subsequently arrested me.  The officer treated me with courtesy and respect and I applaud him for doing his job.

Contrary to a particular media depiction, I do not consider myself above the law or deserving of any preferential treatment.  I made a terrible mistake and rightfully am paying a price.  I hope this statement clears up any confusion that has surrounded this incident since I have no further comment on it.  Instead, I wish to focus my energies on putting together solid legislation that benefits the state and community to which I am devoted.

Unfortunately for Burt, even if he can put the OWI behind him, he faces more legal questions after a report from the State Auditor alleged that the state legislator had lied about his home address in order to qualify for lower tuition for his child at the Malcolm Price Laboratory Middle School at the University of Northern Iowa, costing the state thousands of dollars. So far, no charges have been filed, but officials say that their investigation continues.

If Burt decides to run again, he will be on the ballot next year.

Calling Souter “the only [Justice] that I voted for who really turned out different than what I anticipated,” Grassley said Sotomayor appears to share the former justice’s judicial philosophy.

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor takes questions from Senators on the second day of confirmation hearings on Tuesday, July 14, 2009 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Lauren Victoria Burke/WDCPIX.COM)

“He talked about the Supreme Court filling vacuums in the law if Congress hasn’t acted,” he said. “Well you know how our system works. The legislature makes laws, the Supreme Court interprets laws. Filling a vacuum because Congress hasn’t acted is legislating. I asked her about that, and I got a lot of gobbledygook along the same lines of what the Supreme Court is supposed to do or not do. And I see myself voting for another Souter if I vote for her.”

The Judicial Committee voted 13-6 to confirm Sotomayor on Tuesday, with Sen. Lindsey Graham the lone Republican joining all 12 Democrats on the panel. Grassley, who has served on the committee since 1981,  made his opposition to Sotomayor public Monday.

Sotomayor “changed her tune” during her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee when discussing previous statements, Grassley said, engaging in “a confirmation conversion.”

Addressing the Judicial Committee Tuesday morning, Grassley once again layed out his reasoning for opposing Sotomayor’s appointment to the nation’s highest court.

“I’m not convinced that Judge Sotomayor will protect important Constitutional rights, nor am I convinced that she will refrain from creating new rights under the Constitution,” he said. “I’m not convinced that Judge Sotomayor understands the proper role of a judge in our system of checks and balances, and I’m not convinced that she will not allow her own personal beliefs and preferences to dictate the outcome of cases before her.”

Reitsma wrote two notes before shooting himself. One was to his family. The other was a four-word note to the bank’s local branch manager: “Welcome to the kill.”

When asked to picture farm life, many people envision idyllic settings similar to this fall plow scene painted by renowned Iowa artist Grant Wood. While such images are often accurate, they also obscure the real stresses that make up the daily lives of rural residents. (Photo courtesy Deere Art Collection)

Stories like Reitsma’s are becoming more frequent in states like California, Maine and Colorado. Experts say Midwestern states like Iowa are better prepared to deal with rural mental health problems, but the risks are still high.

“To farmers there is a real kinship with the land and livestock,” explained Dr. Mike Rosmann, executive director of AgriWellness. “Ownership of a family farm — sometimes a farm that has been in the family for generations — is the triumphant result of a multitude of struggles. Losing the farm or the livestock is viewed as an ultimate loss, one that brings shame to the generation that has let down its forebearers and has dashed the hopes of successors.”

The psychological attachment farm families feel for their land and livestock is one of the lessons of the 1980s farm crisis — a time when farmer suicides and rural violence made front page news across the nation. Back then, Iowa and Nebraska, two states severely impacted by the farm crisis, developed crisis hotlines designed specifically to serve the needs of agricultural workers. Today, in the wake of natural disasters and in the midst of economic uncertainty, the hotlines are experiencing a spike in activity, likely helping to prevent more tragedies.

The Sowing the Seeds of Hope program provides behavioral health services to uninsured, underinsured and other at-risk farm and ranch families and ag workers in seven states. Despite droughts, floods and ongoing economic challenges to family-sized farm operations, the suicide rate has not increased in states that have these services.

AgriWellness and Iowa State University Extension jointly sponsor the Iowa-based Sowing the Seeds of Hope hotline, which serves rural people in seven Midwestern states. It is the nation’s largest crisis help line for agricultural workers, and the calls are coming more often than they did even a year ago.

Though many of the calls the hotline has received from Iowa have been related to the impact of last year’s floods, Rosmann noted that, “More recently, we have seen an uptick in calls that are related to market prices for swine and dairy.”

“In addition to the 20-percent increase in calls [when comparing the first four months of 2008 with the first four months of 2009], the content of the calls is changing,” Rosmann said. “The callers are reporting much more severe economic turmoil, more mental health symptoms and significant increases in mental stress.”

In times of inclement weather — for instance, severe storms, floods or droughts — the hotlines experience increased activity. The callers in these situations, according to Rosmann, are distraught but do not have the “intensity” of the callers during tough economic times.

“You probably aren’t seeing as many [suicides] in the states, like Iowa, where we have hotlines,” he said. “The hotlines have the effect of reducing the isolation and they create a vehicle people can use to contact someone. We don’t have quite as many suicides in any of the states where we have the hotlines and have other additional support services. [We have heard] that there were two suicides reported out of North Carolina, where there is no hotline. The same is true of California — there is no hotline there — or in Colorado.”

The statistical evidence of suicide reduction creates a good argument, he said, for why Congress should approve funding for the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network that was authorized as part of the 2008 farm bill. The network creates a national crisis hotline for rural workers and also mandates additional behavioral health services in geographically rural regions.

There is insufficient data that examines suicide by occupational group, but several studies have demonostrated that suicide by farmers differs somewhat from suicide patterns by urban residents. The table above illustrates how farmers, if they decide to take their own lives, often align themselves with the cycles of farming. (Source: AgriWellness)

Federal officials, including U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, have signaled their awareness of the ongoing problem, but additional solutions may be hard to come by. “I’ve talked to farmers whose loved ones have committed suicide over this. I do understand,” Vilsack said during a rural community forum this week in Wisconsin.

Despite Vilsack’s recognition of what’s happening in rural communities, he said that he does not see many opportunities for additional federal intervention to turn things around. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which recently approved $760 million in new farm loans, is considering restructuring loans and providing temporarily higher support payments, but ongoing discussions in the halls of Washington, D.C., will provide little comfort for agricultural families who field daily calls from creditors. Even if the idea is implemented, it is unlikely to be enough on its own.

Iowa has not yet seen the brunt of the burgeoning mental health crisis, largely because it remains ahead of the curve on rural mental health issues. The Hawkeye State not only provides an outlet for stress with its hotline, but it also offers follow-up care to agricultural workers who need it. The Iowa hotline has about 37 or 38 providers who have been contracted to give follow-up support to callers, Rosmann said. That means that Iowa residents need only travel 30 to 40 miles to access additional services.

“For many people that sort of distance is actually preferable because some don’t want to see a provider in their own town,” he said. “This usually has nothing to do with quality of care at local mental health centers, but has to do with the perceptions of what others might say if a family is seen going to the local facility or provider. So there is a perception of stigma attached to accessing behavioral health services, but that varies from person-to-person.”

In other states, rural residents tend to have more difficulty accessing mental health care.

“It’s a very complex picture,” Rosmann warned before beginning to explain the problems surrounding behavioral health services in rural America. “We have seen in Iowa the loss of psychiatrists and psychologists in rural areas. There just aren’t enough. But, we are better off than some other states. South Dakota is just terrible, and in Montana there just aren’t any psychologists and psychiatrists in rural areas. Residents there might have to travel 150 or more miles to get a court-ordered neuro-psychological evaluation because of lack of access.

“The numbers of appropriately-trained providers of psychology, psychiatry and substance abuse counseling in rural areas is half that of the same professionals in urban areas — and it is worsening.”

Further complicating the access issue for rural Americans is that there are very few medical educational tracks currently available that train health care professionals about the specific concerns that are often seen in more rural settings. And, outside of the rudimentary knowledge provided within those few agricultural medicine courses, there is no national curriculum in place for behavioral health professionals who intend to service rural areas.

“You simply can’t provide the information these professionals will need during a two-hour lecture,” Rosmann said. “We need a whole textbook and curriculum on agricultural behavioral health, and that is one of the things that we are now undertaking at AgriWellness.”

The organization plans to offer a six-hour course to professionals as a part of its upcoming biennial convention next month in South Dakota. Rosmann said that while recent discussions regarding mental health parity in conjunction with national discussions of health care reform are “a noble goal,” they don’t necessarily translate to actual access in rural areas.

“Having it on the books doesn’t mean that it is going to be adequately implemented,” he said. “I don’t know if it is a goal we are going to be able to achieve easily because parity requires the distribution of professional providers in ways that are quite different then where we are at currently. So, we are going to have to somehow get providers into the rural areas, and we’re going to have to change the reimbursement structure. Both of those are hard to change, but they are proper goals in my opinion.”

As Roll Call reports this morning:

Grassley’s meeting with Reid comes the wake of the Majority Leader’s decision to more directly insert himself into the health care reform negotiations. Reid on Tuesday strongly urged Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to stop chasing Grassley’s vote on a health care bill, saying that the price for the Iowa Republican’s support was too high because it would cost critical Democratic support.

CBS News picked up the story and, under the headline “Health Care Bipartisanship Falling Apart?”, added some context:

The change in strategy also corresponds with stepped-up efforts from progressives in Congress to put their foot down on what they consider to be critical components of reform, like the public option. Liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has gone so far as to say he will start a “Coalition of the Unwilling” — a group of progressives unwilling to compromise on the public option – formed in response to Baucus’ bipartisan-minded “Coalition of the Willing.”

Yesterday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus sent a letter to Mr. Obama restating that “its members cannot support final passage of any health care reform bill that does not include a robust public plan option, akin to Medicare, operating alongside the private plans.” The CPC is the largest non-party caucus in Congress and has nearly 80 members.

The letter was sent in response to questions that arose yesterday as to whether the Obama administration would be willing to negotiate on the public option, after White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel indicated as much in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Obama, however, quickly put out a statement — all the way from Moscow — reaffirming his support for the public option.

The Roll Call story also reports that Reid opposes any plan to tax employer-provided health benefits in order to pay for a public health insurance option. That’s one idea Grassley and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) had mentioned as a possibility to help pay for reforms, but other Democrats in the senate are reportedly wary of anything that could be perceived as a tax increase, especially since President Barack Obama used the idea against Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on the campaign trail last year.

It was announced last summer that because the federal government could not legally recongnize same-sex marriages, same-sex couples would go uncounted. But last week, the new administration of President Barack Obama announced that DOMA did not prohibit information gathering, and thus, the couples would be included in the survey.

From the Associated Press:

One issue is that some same-sex couples in civil unions or domestic partnerships already identified themselves as husbands or wives, both in the 2000 census and in the annual American Community Survey that the bureau produces each year. So the bureau needs to figure out a way either to separate those couples from legally married couples in the next census, or to create a new designation to capture both groups. …

… Currently, if two people of the same gender in one household check “husband,” the data is rejected by the tabulation software for the American Community Survey and not included in the published information.

Since the last Census in 2000, Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire have legalized same-sex marriage.