Category: Living in Society

I attended the Iowa Democratic Party state convention — unenthusiastically.

I went once before and remember leaving around 9 p.m. while delegates argued the platform. More the reason to stay home and work in the garden as platforms are virtually meaningless in a Democratically diverse state like Iowa.

I left home early enough to arrive in time for the veterans caucus and grab a cup of coffee at the Starbucks kiosk in HyVee Hall. I returned my credentials and vote clicker around 12:30 p.m. before “party business.”

What did I see? I’m not sure, but what you see is what you get. WYSIWYG.

The big, positive news — released before gavelling in — was gubernatorial candidate Fred Hubbell picked State Senator Rita Hart from Big Rock, Iowa as his running mate. I don’t know any Democrat who knows and doesn’t like Senator Hart. Conclusion? The nominating process was successful in picking a governor and lieutenant governor who are electable.

Party Chair Troy Price was energetic, enthusiastic and positive all rolled into one. Our delegates to the Democratic National Committee reported Iowa would likely remain the first caucus in the nation. In a new twist, Fourth Congressional District candidate J.D. “Standing Tall for All” Scholten read from a Bleeding Heartland post about how to win his district. Definitely some positives during the convention.

The convention ratified the slate of candidates and enabled them to tell delegates to knock on doors, make political phone calls, contribute money and a couple of other volunteer asks. To be honest, it got old hearing each speaker ask for the same thing. It made me wish I was out door knocking, at home writing a check, or in Johnson County walking in the pride parade with Congressman Dave Loebsack. Any of these would have been a better use of my time, and maybe was their subliminal message.

A couple things bothered me about the convention.

If memory serves, the official number of delegates seated was 781 (or was that 871?). Divide either by 594,198 active, registered Democrats as of June 1 and one can see this sliver of the party is not representative of the electorate that will choose a governor in November. We learned little about the electorate in this elite, inner-circle gathering. Maybe that’s not the point of a state convention. More likely I’m just not used to or don’t like breathing this kind of rarified air.

What matters more is transforming the party from primary to general election mode. The transmission gears ground a bit as the shift was made. The notable holdout is Cathy Glasson who has not endorsed the party’s nominee for governor. As a former candidate she owes the winner this much. Her campaign manager, Misty Rebik tweeted, “we are just getting started,” although that must be an inside joke as I’m not sure what it means. It is time to endorse and move on.

It is too early to be talking about a “blue wave.” See me after the general election. The convention served as a mile marker on the way to Nov. 6. Democrats dislike the Trump administration and the Republican Party of Iowa, but we’ll need many voters who are not Democrats to win in November. Scholten was one of a couple who mentioned this and he was reading from a blogger’s post. It served little purpose telling this group about waves of blue. They are already pumped up and well know there is plenty of work to do before a celebration.

Overall, the four and a half hours of the convention I saw was a good day for the state party. IDP needed that after the drubbing they took in 2016 under chair Andy McGuire.

There were mostly positives this morning. Now on to November!

A lot of pixel dust has been spilled about the meaning of the June 5 Iowa Democratic primary.

Read three people I follow Laura Belin, Pat Rynard and John Deeth for a perspective different from conventional news outlets. My take is simple. We are beginning to see aspects of the electorate that will shape the general election.

WYSIWYG — What you see is what you get.

What are we seeing? Here is a brief list from my perch in Senate District 37.

The minority of Democrats who participate in primaries played nice with each other most of the time. Keep that up and we’ll win in November. Many general election voters like it when people in the party play nice.

Democratic turnout was way more than expected, 176,700 votes. This is evidence what we heard at the caucus was not wrong, “we have to do something in November.” Not only did people say it, four months later they put their vote where their mouth is, beating the Democratic primary turnout in 2006 by about 20 percent.

Once the demographic information is available we’ll be able to do more numbers crunching. There really isn’t that much of a need. Results already tell the story. More voters participated in the process than in any previous Democratic primary election. What drove that? Three things: reactions the 87th Iowa General Assembly and a new president, combined with a highly qualified roster of Democratic gubernatorial candidates. To participate voters need something positive to attract them. Having good candidates shows what Democrats stand for. We had that in the primary, and I believe have that for the general election now that we know the results.

Fred Hubbell is our nominee for governor. He won a remarkable 55.5 percent (98,125 votes) of votes cast in a five-way race. It’s up to him to lead, and I believe he will. It’s up to the rest of Iowa Democratic activists to support, defend and vote for him if we want change in Iowa. There is no time for the bitter tears of losing a campaign. By this weekend’s state convention the mourning period is over. General election voters are likely to see Hubbell as qualified to be governor and that will encourage participation.

Events like the Democratic primary are an interface with the general election electorate as it is being created, long before most voters engage in general election campaigns. What you see is what you get and what I’m seeing is an electorate well on its way to being fully activated. I don’t understand the dynamics that produced the results of the June 5 primary, just like I don’t write on the internet using html code. I don’t need to. WYSIWYG.

When people participate in elections the results favor Democrats and that appears to be where we are heading.

I support Democrat Jodi Clemens over Republican Bobby Kaufmann in the Nov. 6 general election.

When our precinct was redistricted after the 2010 U.S. Census we landed in House District 73 which includes Cedar County, the City of Wilton and six adjacent Johnson County precincts.

I went to an event at the Solon Public Library with then House Speaker Pro Tempore Jeff Kaufmann who would represent the district if re-elected. He seemed reasonable enough. I remember saying to myself, “I can work with this.”

Kaufmann left the legislature and was elected Cedar County supervisor. His eldest son Bobby ran for his seat and won the 2012 election.

In following years I worked with Kaufmann to advance my interests in climate change, local food, and township services. I wanted to work with him, in a common sense way, to get things done in society. I believe we accomplished positive things.

Along came the 87th Iowa General Assembly and Katy bar the door. In retrospect, considering the damage done by Iowa Republicans during those two years — to the budget, to our mental health system, to Medicaid, to our tax system, to public employee unions — what I thought were accomplishments amounted to tinkering around the edges.

I thought if Kaufmann would give me some time, we’d work together, and find some kind of happiness. I was wrong.

I’m reminded of the 1968 song by the British group the Foundations. “Build me up, buttercup baby, just to let me down, and mess me around.”

I’m confident Jodi Clemens, a Democrat, won’t mess around the way Republicans have.

~ Published in the June 7, 2018 edition of the Solon Economist

There was little doubt Fred Hubbell would win the Democratic gubernatorial primary election yesterday and he did with 98,013 votes or 55.5 percent of the total, according to preliminary results from the Iowa Secretary of State.

It wasn’t predetermined. There were no establishment Democrats behind cubicles in Des Moines calling the shots. He is a progressive Democratic candidate who ran a successful campaign voters could relate to. It was a straight up win for Hubbell and Democrats should and likely will rally around his candidacy.

On April 17, I posted what my neighbors were saying, that we were down to two candidates, Hubbell and Nate Boulton. When Boulton dropped out of the race, it cleared the path for Hubbell’s victory last night, at least according to their analysis. If one listens to the community there are grains of truth if we are only perceptive enough to recognize them.

I hope Hubbell finds room in the general election campaign for his rivals and that they help him in substantial ways if he defeats Republican Kim Reynolds. I also hope Democrats recapture control of the Iowa House of Representatives, and eventually the Iowa Senate, because the governor can’t make needed changes alone.

So it’s Hubbell. Good. That means the June 16 State Convention will be shorter than if we had to pick a nominee.

I stayed up late enough last night to get a flavor of the returns.

My new friend Zach Wahls won his primary for Senate District 37 against three others. I knew when I met him on Jan. 13 Wahls is the kind of leader Iowa needs. We need the perspective and energy of the next generation of politicians. I am exquisitely glad voters picked a young person who is also an advocate for LGBTQ rights. It was my pleasure to contribute in a small way to Wahls’ campaign. I’m also glad I can leave his bumper sticker on my car until November.

Janice Weiner, Wahls’ only effective competition, ran an excellent campaign but fell short of votes needed. Weiner won Cedar County by 65 votes but it was not enough to overcome Wahls’ margin in Muscatine (5 votes) and Johnson (1,682 votes). As I told a former candidate for the house district that includes Cedar County, Johnson County drives the bus of who gets elected in current Senate District 37. Redistricting may change everything in a couple of years, but this cycle, Wahls had the strategy and tactics to win this race.

Janelle Rettig and Pat Heiden won berths to the county supervisor general election. Both of them ran exceptional campaigns, particularly Heiden who came from a fourth place finish in the 2016 Democratic primary into her own. I have more to say about that race and want to take a closer look at the precinct results. I supported Mike Carberry, however, one could see it was a lost cause as early as April when I wrote my candidate profiles of the three contenders. I framed up the problems in this twitter thread. I’m encouraged there will now be three women on the county board of supervisors.

Soon I need to get ready for work at the home, farm and auto supply store. I’ll be thinking about the election on my breaks and while I’m hauling animal feed around the warehouse. Physical labor is a great way to process complex events.

Congratulations to Iowa Democrats on this positive primary election.

Today marks what I like best about politics — a brief pause followed by regrouping before the general election.

Primary election day has been cathartic and today will be no different. Where Democrats have failed is in mending fences after the primary to unite around our slate. There is never enough buy-in to what “our” means. A lot of us will do our best to support the party even if our candidates don’t win tonight.

For a moment there is brief caesura and a glimmer of hope the party can come together.

Democrats have been jockeying for position for over a year, seeking elected office for themselves and their preferred candidates from governor to county supervisor. Shortly after the polls close we’ll know most, if not all of our slate for November. There is suspense in waiting to see who will win the horse race, and half a dozen election returns watch parties have been organized by campaigns. I’d rather the county party held one watch party calling for unity but the bonds people make during a primary campaign are tough to break and manifest hegemony in the social arena. The county seat is a long distance from home in the dark of night.

If no gubernatorial candidate wins 35 percent of votes cast, we’ll decide our nominee at the state convention June 16. I’ll be there. Based on social media it appears John Norris is gaining momentum in the governor’s race. However, he has a steep hill to climb to secure the ~ 52,000 votes needed to get 35 percent, let alone win. If voter turnout is more like 2014 than 2006, Norris doesn’t need as many votes but that’s a problem of another sort. Iowa Democrats attempt to use common sense when picking a candidate. Many of my friends and neighbors will settle on Fred Hubbell because there is a perception he alone has sufficient financial resources and can win the general election. Truth matters less than our commitment to hard work done as we close in on the final votes.

The following idea has been on my mind since Boulton dropped his gubernatorial campaign. Art Cullen of the Storm Lake Times put it into words last week: “Democrats should not be fooled into voting for what is predetermined.”

There is a lot of voting before Democrats settle on who we are. At 5 a.m. on election day I’m seeing a lot of Hubbell green. A record number of county voters cast early ballots this cycle: 54 percent more than in 2014, the last midterm election. The meaning of this statistic may come later.

Our family waited until election day to cast our vote. When I hit publish on this article I’m picking kale to leave for library workers when we go to town. Politics may be endless cycles of campaigns but the efficacy of fresh kale in binding us together is under appreciated. When we’re talking kale, we’re not talking politics… and that’s okay.

The idea of banking early votes among infrequent voters rose to prominence after the turn of the century.

I recall the tactic while working on the first Obama general election campaign. It served a useful purpose that combined data analysis, field organizing and canvassing to focus on maximizing voter turnout among potential Obama voters. The targets were not predictable voters — the ones who showed up reliably for every election — but registered voters whose voting record indicated a propensity to skip elections. The idea was to leave nothing to chance, get their votes cast for preferred candidates, and once banked move on to other campaign work. Both Democrats and Republicans employ this tactic today.

Individuals use early voting in a number of ways. For me it was a way to participate when my work schedule had me out of town on election day. I also voted early for convenience. For example, when I went to the county seat to pay my property tax bill, I stopped at the auditor’s office to cast my vote. Recent discussions about the shortened early voting period (from 40 to 29 days) have little to do with people like me. It is related to a curtailment of opportunities for campaigns to bank early votes — less time equals a more compressed campaign schedule.

In a primary election like the current one, there are so many moving parts early voting seems less important. Something game-changing could and did happen after the beginning of early voting and before the election. This week’s events are a case in point.

On Wednesday, May 23, the Des Moines Register broke a story that three women accused gubernatorial candidate Nate Boulton of sexual misconduct. By Thursday, Boulton suspended his campaign and Iowa Senate Minority Leader Janet Peterson called for his resignation from the state senate. According to Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate some 13,000 Democrats have already cast early ballots and there is no process to re-do those votes according to Iowa Code. Boulton voters who haven’t cast their ballots are likely to pick one of the remaining five candidates in reaction to the news.

While rumors about sexual misconduct were circulating around Boulton prior to this week, those whispers did not make their way into mainstream political discussion in Big Grove. It caught me by surprise:

Voters rarely base decisions on having “all the information” about a candidate. I recall the first time our daughter attended the Iowa caucus in 2004. She had not decided for whom to caucus when we arrived at the Middle School. She carried a copy of the Solon Economist with a candidate comparison to read at the event. After years of political canvassing, I believe more voters are like our daughter than not. Decisions are made late in the election cycle and I submit, even later in a primary. Why vote early if one doesn’t have enough information?

Well organized campaigns can be expected to use every aspect of voting law to maximize turnout for their candidates. There is a need for early voting to make elections accessible to more people but I’m not sure of what tactic it serves in the June 5 primary.

Here in Big Grove, as elsewhere in Iowa, we play according to rules established by others and use the tools of the trade to work on campaigns. If that means waiting until election day to vote, we will.

I’m happy to participate in Iowa politics. At the same time, it is not the sine qua non of living in society.

Despite a long patriarchal lineage of political engagement, beginning in Virginia 100 years prior to the American Revolution, I don’t care for the gossipy, back-biting, outrage-invoking folderol modern politics has become in the age of FOX News.

I’d rather be working in our garden.

Two weeks before the June 5 primary election a couple of political things are worth noting.

With so many races that matter on the ballot, it is hard to focus energy. There’s the gubernatorial race with six Democratic candidates, secretary of state with two, state Senate District 37 with four, and county supervisor with three for two positions. It’s hard to pick a uniform, actionable slate because the support matrix differs so much among voters. Mine is Norris-DeJear-Wahls-Carberry-Rettig.

There is a lot of energy around female candidates, Heiden and Weiner particularly. That energy is positive for their campaigns. With it, each of them created a viable path to the nomination.

Let’s talk about that. Two people I respect, Jean Lloyd-Jones and Maggie Tinsman, created a non-partisan, issue-neutral organization dedicated to achieving political equity for women — 50-50 in 2020. In Johnson County there is a slate to help get there, including Janice Weiner for Senate District 37 and Pat Heiden for county supervisor. Both candidates are well organized and made themselves to be contenders. They are also well-qualified. Within the people who support them is a politically correct idea about electing women. The narrative goes something like what I heard when Weiner’s campaign door knocked our house. “Janice is a well-qualified candidate in a field of good candidates, who happens to be a woman.” We’ll find out after the primary whether that kind of campaign has legs. It might.

After the disastrous for Democrats 2016 Iowa caucuses and general election, a group called Our Revolution organized the shrapnel from the Bernie Sanders campaign in an attempt to avoid assimilation with the party. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but the history of such groups includes eventual assimilation into Iowa politics whether organizers like it or not. Iowa political history is laden with the ghosts of past third party movements like the Liberal Republicans, the Greenback Movement, the Populist Movement and the familiar-sounding Progressive Movement.

The June 5 primary will test the mettle of Our Revolution which has endorsed Cathy Glasson for governor and Deidre DeJear for secretary of state. Recent polling by the Des Moines Register suggests Glasson hasn’t got the votes to win June 5. The impact the primary has on Our Revolution will be most notable in the Johnson County Supervisor race where Mike Carberry was a prominent spokesman for Bernie Sanders during the run up to the Iowa caucuses and is part of Our Revolution. I’m supporting Carberry, but if Heiden picks him off, the local efficacy of Our Revolution is sketchy at best.  I would argue such groups serve a limited long-term purpose.

Lastly, voters I know have been relatively quiet about the primary. I’m the only person in our subdivision with any political yard signs displayed. That may be because so many candidates are running and topics like gardening are more appealing than politics in neighborhood discussions. It may also be because of a lack of interest in the primary and disgust with politics more generally. The expectation among politically engaged folks I know is turnout will be good because of the disastrous Trump administration and 87th Iowa General Assembly. After the votes are counted, we’ll see how engaged Jane or Joe Democrat was. This close to the primary I don’t see any need to handicap the races.

First things first. I need to get the garden in, after which I can devote more time to politics.