Tag: politics

A small group of local, long-time political activists met last week with one of the 80 or so paid organizers for the Coordinated Campaign of the Iowa Democratic Party. Electing Bruce Braley as Iowa’s next U.S. Senator was at the top of our to-do list.

We don’t see each other often, but share the experience of working on election campaigns over many cycles. We know what it would mean if power in the U.S. Senate switched from Democratic to Republican leadership. If it’s up to us, that won’t happen, and each person at the meeting was willing to invest resources of time, money and thoughtful participation toward electing Braley to the U.S. Senate.

What does that mean in 2014?

It means participating in canvasses organized by paid staff, attending candidate and party-sponsored events when our schedule permits, and writing checks to campaigns when we have resources. That’s only part of the picture. Increasingly, it’s a small part.

More than anything, modern political campaigns require each of us be engaged in a community, without regard for political affiliation, and do things that make sense to advance our views. In rural communities especially, the human landscape of society doesn’t change enough from one election cycle to the next to pretend neighbors and friends don’t remember what was said in a letter to the editor, or at an event the last cycle. This persistence of memory can be a blessing and a curse in political campaigns.

Campaigns send a lot of requests for political donations, almost none of which get acted upon. The rationale is a variation on a theme that the numbers justify them. That is, if a request is sent to 10,000 people, there will be a financial return. This cycle, I am hearing more about Charles and David Koch, The Heritage Foundation and political action committees than ever. Campaigns keep sending the messages reinforcing a negativity that is hard to ignore.

At the grassroots, people understand the difference between a political action committee and a candidate, and at the end of the day, when there is an extra $25 in the checking account, a donation will go to a candidate, not a third party. Plenty of folks feel that way.

The summer’s string of parades, picnics, car races, music concerts, annual gatherings and county fairs is only just beginning, and political candidates are attending. We don’t put a lot of stock in what a particular candidate may say at an event, but there is an unspoken expectation they will show up in person from time to time, and that through these and other presences in person and in media, we will get to know them.

The weather has been exceptionally good for outdoors gatherings, and 2014 will be a summer to remember if for no other reason than that. Politics affects our lives, but we go on living.

Summer is the time to get involved with a political campaign, so start by checking out the Iowa Democratic Party. In case you missed it, Bruce Braley could use your help as well.

~ Written for Blog for Iowa

The Associated Press released a summary of the Iowa primary races over the Memorial Day weekend and tomorrow the voting will end, framing the summer and fall campaign. Going into election day, here is what to watch for:

The front window race is for U.S. Senate, between Rep. Bruce Braley and whoever emerges from the field of five Republicans. State Senator Joni Ernst of Red Oak is leading former business executive Mark Jacobs in the polls. Both of them are ahead of the remainder of a field that includes Sam Clovis of Sioux City, Mark Whitaker of Ankeny and Scott Schaben of Ames.

“My opponents will be tripping over themselves to see who can come up with the most extreme ideas to get their base riled up,” said Braley in a recent statement. “Iowa could very well determine control of the Senate this year. We are the force that could stop extreme Republicans from taking over.”

Considering the Iowa electorate and our relatively close margins in recent presidential years, an Ernst nominee from the Republicans would be better for Braley’s campaign because of the need to appeal to voters in the middle of the political spectrum. Ernst would polarize, Braley would draw from the middle. As Braley’s recent television commercial indicates, his appeal is to the middle.

It is not clear any Republican Senate candidate could garner the required 35 percent to win the nomination during the primary. For those with the stomach for it, the Iowa Republican’s Kevin Hall discusses this Republican issue here. Blog for Iowa will cover Braley’s race closely.

Here is a breakdown of the other primary races for federal office:

First Congressional District:

Democrats: Swati Dandekar of Cedar Rapids, Anesa Kajtazovic of Waterloo, Pat Murphy of Dubuque, Dave O’Brien of Cedar Rapids and Monica Vernon, also of Cedar Rapids. Blog for Iowa believes Swati Dandekar belongs in the Republican primary due to her close ties with conservative business interests. This is not a new opinion.

“Dubuque businessman Ron Blum leads a Republican field that includes Cedar Rapids businessman Steve Rathje, who has run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate and House, and Marshalltown lawyer Gail Boliver,” according to the Associated Press.

Second Congressional District:

Democrat Dave Loebsack will face the winner of a Republican field that includes Mark Lofgren, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and Matthew Waldren. Miller-Meeks seems convinced she will win. A MMM primary win would be welcomed by Team Loebsack because there is nothing new to see there, except ferreting out the extend of her involvement in the settlement scandal.

Third Congressional District:

Former Democratic State Senator Stacey Appel of Ackworth will face the winner of a Republican field that includes six candidates: Bob Cramer, Joe Grandanette, Monte Shaw, Matt Schultz, David Young, and Brad Zaun. The Republican nomination seems unlikely to be decided tomorrow, and may go to convention.

Fourth Congressional District:

Democrat Jim Mowrer will face incumbent Steve King in the general election, as both are unopposed in the primary.

Please click on the follow button to stay updated on Blog for Iowa’s for continued coverage of the 2014 midterm elections in Iowa.

~ Written for Blog for Iowa

LAKE MACBRIDE—A friend wrote a letter to the editor politely asking us to boycott the May 26 and 27 appearance of elephants in the Shrine Circus at the county fairgrounds. It was a brief letter, reflective of her ongoing concern with the treatment of animals. Here it is in its entirety:

Wild animals do not belong in the circus.
I was disappointed to learn that a circus that uses elephants and other wild animals is coming to Johnson County. Please do not support this circus. The only way wild animals can be trained and controlled is through abuse and intimidation. They lead miserable lives so some people can be “entertained” and others can benefit economically.
To learn more about elephants, please watch the documentary “An Apology to Elephants.” It is available at local libraries.

Last night a colleague from Washington, D.C. called to discuss a program on which we are working. Basically, I am running behind schedule on my part and he was giving me a nudge. As circuses were already on my mind, the conversation turned to the Iowa caucuses.

All kinds of people will come out of the woodwork to Iowa to advocate for their issues in hope of influencing the 2016 presidential election. Some parts of what they say are worth hearing, and outsiders like my friend are fascinated with caucus chat. I told him about billionaire Tom Steyer’s hiring a friend of mine to work on the caucuses, about U.S. Chamber President Tom Donohue’s Iowa connections, and recent activity of the Heritage Foundation in Cedar Rapids. The spell was cast and I escaped close scrutiny on my tardiness.

A broken clock shows the correct time twice a day, and likewise I find myself agreeing with Republicans from time to time. It was regarding skepticism about the merits of capitalism spoken on the campaign trail in New Hampshire.

Yesterday, Arnie Alpert, a program coordinator for American Friends Service Committee in New Hampshire, posted about the visits of Senator Mike Lee of Utah and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, where the wingers spoke about the problems with cronyism. The gist of it is that small businesses can’t compete against large corporations and their crony capitalism.

“As the Presidential campaign heats up, alongside a growing movement of citizens concerned about the floods of corporate cash washing through the election system, it will be interesting to see whether populist attacks on Big Business find a secure home in the GOP,” wrote Alpert. Who knows? Might happen, but I doubt it.

In Iowa our caucuses are much like a circus replete with rings of advocacy and a clown car of candidates. It seems unlikely Republicans will bring the caliber of performance they did in 2012, since with Obama subject to term limits, it is an open race, and much of the electorate is wising up to the need for common sense. Plus, faves Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin may stop by, but are unlikely to be major players this cycle.

As far as the Democratic side goes, there will be dalliances with Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb and others, but the fundamental question is whether Joe Biden will run a third time, or Hillary Clinton a second.

Thing is, there are expected to be plenty of candidates, especially on the Republican side, and they are not elephants, so my friend’s admonition need not apply.

LAKE MACBRIDE— Honey locust trees are in bloom around the lake country. It is another step in the steady march through the calendar of our awareness. We expect the blooms now, and so they have come.

The newspaper in the county seat announced their endorsements for the statehouse primary elections and picked Dennis Boedeker in Iowa House District 73. I stopped by our local newspaper yesterday, and they are running my candidate comparison articles side-by-side this week. We don’t endorse, but there are clear differences between the two Democratic candidates. Boedeker was recruited by political insiders to run for office, whereas his primary opponent David Johnson is self-activated, making his fourth attempt to win a seat in the Iowa legislature. I have no clue who will win the primary, and don’t care to speculate. From talking to locals, there have been no indications that Johnson’s time has come, and that’s no endorsement.

The Republican incumbent Bobby Kaufmann read Sullivan Ballou’s letter at the legion’s Memorial Day observance. We had a brief chat after the ceremony, before the crowd headed to the legion hall for coffee and kolaches. Kaufmann has been a constant presence in the district if the two Democratic contenders have not.

Rain fell around 3 a.m., beating against the house. Would that the garden were planted. Instead, rain is a hindrance to garden progress. I’ll work a shift at the CSA in the greenhouse instead and hope the ground dries out later today or tomorrow.

LAKE MACBRIDE— Iowa’s first in the nation caucuses have resulted in a type of local media bias that favors Republicans. This became increasingly evident during the 2012 presidential election campaign, when President Obama was without serious opposition among Democrats, and a field of Republican hopefuls found ten candidates garnering votes at the caucuses with the three top vote-getters, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, each receiving less than 25 percent. Corporate media reporting is about selling advertising and newspapers, so I don’t blame the reporters. Except that Republicans have increasingly begun to frame the media discussion in Iowa because media questions turn noticeably to Republican issues.

The framing around Republican issues was evident in the Des Moines Register endorsement of State Senator Joni Ernst for U.S. Senate in a primary field of five candidates.

“Ernst’s conservative credentials are impeccable,” wrote the editorial board. This is a Republican primary, but by choosing Obama 52 percent to Mitt Romney’s 46 percent in 2012, Iowans demonstrated that conservative credentials matter less than the Register’s framing suggests. The rejection of Romney in a state that picked George W. Bush in 2004 is meaningful. Romney received 20,000 less votes that Bush did, indicating the value of conservative credentials is in decline among voters in Iowa. For the 822,544 Obama voters in 2012, conservative credentials were even less relevant. But the Register continues to repeat the phrase.

The Register goes on to cite other issues in a Republican framework, including an absolutist position on Second Amendment rights, conceding that Medicare and Medicaid must be cut to address the federal budget deficit, and application of a Christian litmus test to federal judge nominees. All of these posit a Republican position and compare Ernst to it. Citing Iowa’s open primary process as a reason for weighing in on a Republican primary, what the Register has done is use the endorsement as a platform for confirming the conservative perspective of the editorial board.

The race to fill U.S. Senator Tom Harkin’s open seat looks to be a repeat of the 2012 election, and already we are seeing Republican media framing in the run up to the June 3 primary. Congressman Bruce Braley is running unopposed among Democrats. He has the endorsement of the current senator and is focusing on fund raising and grass roots organizing. If he has been working smart, he should have a substantial advantage over the eventual Republican nominee. He should also be heartened by the framing the Register and others have given the public dialogue about the 2014 midterms.

What Democrats learned in 2008 and 2012 is that media matters less and grassroots organizing will win elections. Let’s hope the Republicans continue to drink the Kool-Aid of a biased Iowa media, while Braley is busy quietly closing the deal.

LAKE MACBRIDE— A few people have asked how I am voting in the June 3 primary, but not many. Having framed the 2014 election process in January, and explained where I stand at the beginning of April, little has changed. It will be a case of playing through.

When the ground dries, I’ll make the first mowing, collect the grass clippings to mulch the garden, and put up my candidate yard signs. I see who is working and who isn’t. Everything leads to Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial beginning of summer. There is a lot of work to be done before then, and politics isn’t on the short list.

What is on the list is adjusting my work activities to generate sustainable economic value. That will be my breviary this morning.