Tag: politics

Figuring out for whom to vote in today’s school board election has been a puzzle. I’ve voted against two of the individuals running—Dan Coons and Amber Marty—in previous elections.

At 4:39 a.m. it looks like I’ll vote for Coons and Adam Haluska.

After reading the limited information available about this race, I changed my mind about Coons. He lists among his reasons for running the idea of providing continuity while the district completes current construction projects and the newly hired superintendent becomes acclimatized to his job. There is something to be said for that.

The other pick is where the puzzle comes in.

It’s between Adam Haluska, who’s lived in the district the last five years, and Jim Hauer who has lived here eight years. Both have children in district schools.

Haluska is a financial adviser for Edward Jones, originally from Carroll. In college he played basketball for the University of Iowa and continued professionally for a couple of years. He believes the district is hiring the right people to educate its children and said he doesn’t want to make waves with drastic changes. His father worked as a high school principal.

Hauer is from West Union where he started a commercial roofing business. He has 37 years experience owning and operating the business and has attended school board meetings and workshops over the last six months. He said he believes Solon schools are on the right track.

I would like to have read Haluska had been attending school board meetings. He hasn’t, although I’m not sure there is as much benefit in that as others suggest. There is plenty of continuity on the board even if Coons doesn’t win the election. What I’m looking for is level headedness and the energy and optimism of youth. Haluska appears to have that.

I reached out to some friends about the election and barring any shockers I’ll head to town and do my civic duty after the polls open.

School board elections are important and few people are talking about it this cycle. Turnout in our community trends higher as a percentage of registered voters than the gigantic Iowa City Community School District, so I’ll look forward to reading the returns on the county auditor web site after the polls close.

Hillary Clinton continues to lead the Democratic field in recent Iowa polling. Simply put, the remaining contenders seem unlikely to close the gap between summer’s end and the Feb. 1 caucus.

It’s possible, but unlikely, even if something new about Hillary comes up.

She has a proven ability to shed Republican faux scandals. The form they take once debunked is of distorted sound in the mostly right wing echo chamber. Rank and file Democrats aren’t listening, even if Democratic elites are. To the extent Clinton’s Democratic rivals bring them up, their campaigns are the less. Read Greg Sargent’s take on the elites here.

Media reports this week revealed “there was no policy prohibiting the use of a private email account at the State Department.” Like it or not, her State Department emails are expected to persist in the Republican lexicon, and real people will spend substantial resources working to gin up some trouble for Clinton, even though the State Department said she did nothing wrong.

Hillary’s polling in other states is not as favorable as it is in Iowa. Bernie Sanders edges her out in his backyard state of New Hampshire. If Sanders is viable in any respect, he should win New Hampshire. If he does not, it’s game over and Hillary Clinton will become the Democratic nominee

Gabriel Debenedette pointed out on Politico Hillary has the resources and more importantly boots on the ground in the Super Tuesday, March 1 states. One expects she will have the nomination wrapped up by then. According to Debenedette, she’s building a firewall there.

I hang out with an informal group of low-wage workers from time to time. One could call it a focus group, but that would be giving it more structure than probably exists.

There is pent up demand to talk about Donald Trump.

The other day someone mentioned his name and the mere mention unleashed comments from almost everyone. It was evidence of Trump’s mastery of popular culture — something that should be no surprise to anyone familiar with his long-running television program.

“Donald Trump is building his Republican presidential campaign staff in Iowa similar to his defunct NBC-TV series ‘The Apprentice’ — and his celebrity is making it easier on some fronts,” Todd Beamon pointed out on Newsmax.

What do members of the group say about Hillary?

“I don’t know if we can trust Hillary,” said one, confirming what the polls say. If Hillary is the nominee, the ones whose politics I know best will still vote for her.

Most only wanted to talk about Trump.

Labor Day will signal the end of summer and the beginning of the next political canvass for candidates working the process. The textbook method is to finish the second canvass in October when the end of year holidays are imminent.

Based on what I’m seeing in rural Iowa, the only Democrats working the process are Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley. Will Iowa Democrats caucus for a party outsider like Sanders? Will Joe Biden make it three?

I don’t know, but as summer turns to fall, Iowa has been all about Hillary Clinton.

~ Written for Blog for Iowa

Clear Lake, where the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding was held Friday, was an impossible venue for most Iowa working people.

Over 160 miles away in my case, driving there after work was not an option. To make up for the distance, I viewed the Des Moines Register webcast on my desktop. It wasn’t the same as being there, but it felt close in the twitterverse.

A key question for the Feb. 1 caucuses is who will show up, and this year one expects a significant number—not as many as in 2008—will not be activists. The campaigns will be judged by how well they organize and turn out their supporters that night. A failure to bring new people to the caucus process could be fatal for a candidate’s hopes. One of two tickets out of Iowa will go to Hillary Clinton.

Here are five take-aways from the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding.

What not to like about Martin O’Malley? Whether O’Malley can challenge Sanders for the second ticket out of Iowa is uncertain, but he is campaigning in a personal, energetic and personable way. He has had multiple bites at the policy-setting apple, and long time political activists, as well as quadrennial Democrats, can find a lot to like about O’Malley’s ideas and campaign tactics.

The Democratic political establishment is overly reliant on resources the eventual nominee will bring to the table. While Trump and Carson stage circus-like extravaganzas that bring new people into the political process, Democrats place stock in large, formal events like the Wing Ding which target existing political activists. Such events have a role. The better question is what are Democrats doing to bring new people into the process? Prove me wrong, but they aren’t doing much except dusting off the same old sawhorses for the post-caucus campaign. Is anyone else tired of hearing the name Jerry Crawford?

Bernie Sanders’ stump speech is getting old. Progressives are supportive of Sanders’ ideas, but the message is little changed since he appeared in Johnson County to support Bruce Braley before the midterm election. Maybe the idea of political revolution doesn’t need to change. His speech at the Wing Ding wasn’t helped by the fact he was losing his voice. The ideas remained strong, but delivery suffered. The novelty of Sanders is wearing off.

Chafee is actually a Democrat. If there is any question about Chafee’s allegiance to mainstream Democratic ideas, he inoculated the political bloodstream with his better than expected Wing Ding speech.

Hillary Clinton gets a ticket out of Iowa but her challenges lie ahead. In case you missed it, Hillary Clinton is a woman. Set aside all the policy ideas you agree or disagree with—your niggling objections—and it is much less than a sure thing the electorate will support a woman for president in the general election.

We live in a culture where women are considered to be second class citizens and worse. No one knows this better or has done more about it in public life than Hillary Clinton. She has done a lot globally to support women and girls, but the battle is not won. Far from it. Despite her impressive credentials, for reasons that include her gender, Hillary gets short shrift. Like many women, she will have to work smarter and twice as hard as the others to achieve her goals. The glass ceiling isn’t broken yet.

By Labor Day, most Democratic activists—people who invest time and resources into political campaigns—will have decided for whom they will caucus. Many already know or have signed up for a campaign. Some wear their preference on a T-shirt or car bumper. Others keep close counsel. The veil—already wearing thin—will be shed in a few weeks.

There is a desultory feel to this year’s caucus season, which began April 10 in Des Moines with speeches by Jim Webb and Martin O’Malley. Some show enthusiasm for their chosen candidate, yet most people I encounter are tuned out of politics. With each election the life cycle of interest in voting seems shorter.

As Iowans seek relief from summer’s heat and humidity we have had a chance to get to know the five Democratic contenders. Deciding which one to support will be easier because of Iowa’s first in the nation status. What everyday Iowans do about it is an open question.

~ Written for Blog for Iowa

After re-reading my post “5 Reasons Jim Webb’s Stock is Up” I stand by what I wrote.

For a blog post it holds up reasonably well.

At the same time, tick-tock for #WebbNation in Iowa.

Two weeks later and three weeks until Labor Day, I don’t see the Webb ground game in action, except occasional emails, list-serve messages, and social media posts. Joe Stanley is working, and posts about activities occasionally in social media. Webb has a small number of Iowa events planned. If there is more, it’s invisible.

“There is a lot of work for him to do before Labor Day to catch up with Clinton and Sanders,” I wrote, believing the campaign would make progress. “It’s going to take more than Joe Stanley’s happy face to develop and execute a Webb ground game.”

I’m not the only one who noticed Stanley. On Tuesday Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post tracked me down for a discussion and quoted me in a blog post she wrote.

Stanley was quick to respond on Twitter and proceeded to protect his tweets, as Weiner reported. What gives?

Hillary and her staff know the game, having been through it before. Bernie Sanders’ campaign experienced rapid growth pains, but now also knows the drill. Martin O’Malley seems disciplined and personable, and the first time I attended one of his events, he had caucus commitment cards available and ready to sign. This is what Iowa Democrats expect of presidential candidates. Identification of and turning out your people caucus night is what provides a ticket out of Iowa.

If Webb is playing strategy close to the vest, what could it be if it doesn’t include the block and tackling typical of winning Iowa’s Democratic caucuses? One expects a canvasser from #WebbNation would have called or reached out by now, something the Clinton, Sanders and O’Malley campaigns have already done, multiple times.

There aren’t many other paths for #WebbNation.

There are a lot of veterans in Iowa—enough to win the caucus outright if a candidate can unite enough of them behind him or her. Veterans represent a natural Webb constituency, and a list of Iowa Democratic veterans exists. Webb should be working it. But is he?

Jim Webb ≠Joe Stanley, as Stanley tweeted yesterday. They have known each other and campaigned together for a long time. Stanley is one of the faces of #WebbNation and his antics on social media serve as a distraction from what else Webb may be doing to ID caucus supporters.

Whatever that may or may not be, there is very little evidence of a Webb ground game in Iowa. High profile events like the Des Moines Register Soap Box at the state fair, and the stock and trade of county fair and central committee meetings, yes. But not the political grunt work needed to organize for a candidate in Iowa.

“How different has this time been with the Internet?” emailed a friend from a past campaign yesterday. “I feel like everyone is mini-stalking people in Iowa through Twitter.”

The Internet serves a weird function this cycle, making for laziness among reporters anxious to generate clicks. Yes, some stalking is going on, but to win the caucuses actual people need to show up at a specific time and place. Making that happen takes work that lies outside the Internet.

The clock is ticking until Labor Day when the next phase of the canvass begins: a mad rush to end of year holidays, the new year and closing the deal with Democratic caucus goers.

I like Jim Webb and would like to see him win delegates to the state convention. The question is whether the campaign will emerge from the special ops mode it is in and organize. Today it is an open question and there is time, but not much time, to make it happen.

~ Written for Blog for Iowa