Gov. Branstad Knows Best

If you happen to be a poor woman living in Iowa and on Iowa's form of Medicaid, you'll have to get permission from Governor Terry Branstad if you choose to lawfully end your pregnancy, as reported in The Des Moines Register today.

A provision of the newly signed state-sponsored Iowa Health and Wellness Plan gives Brandstad the "final say on whether to pay for abortion services provided under the program."

He admitted it was a political compromise.... read far-right demand.... but that "he was comfortable with the new responsibility."

Here is how he explains this indignity.... Branstad, who is a member of the Catholic faith, said "he would seek advice from medical experts when required to make a determination on whether state dollars would be spent on an abortion."

So poor women of Iowa, it's obvious Branstad thinks you're not only poor, but morally inferior and stupid, and thus incapable making a decision on this personal, very personal, health care right.

Where is the ACLU when we need them?  Isn't this an abridgment of not only the First and Fourth Amendments of the U. S. Constitution, but it also nullifies the intent of Roe vs Wade to protect a woman's reproductive rights.

It's nice that Branstad is comfortable with his ultimate veto power over this most personal of decisions, but the women of Iowa should be up-in-arms at the idea of another old white far-right male imposing his anti-choice religious views on them, by Iowa law no less.

This also places Iowa in the unique position of being the only one of the 50 states to suffer this daddy-knows-best embarrassment.   

It's Obama Time!

Obama's Friday rally: " The Illinois senator will headline a public rally at 11:30 a.m. in Des Moines' Western Gateway Park between 12th and 13th streets and Grand Avenue and Locust Street." (DMRegister)

Iowans invested their hope in Obama, and Obama invested in Iowa.... "Obama's campaign has expressed confidence in its Iowa organization, largely the product of an intense battle for the leadoff nominating caucuses in January. Obama has 50 offices in the state and roughly 120 paid campaign staff, compared with 16 offices for McCain and about a quarter of the paid staff."

And, Obama's campaign has recruited 6,000 volunteers in Iowa, part of the network of first-time caucusgoers that helped him earn his first-in-the-nation caucus victory early in the year.

Rallly, Iowa.... "Yes We Can!"

Obama Returns to Iowa

Iowa's favorite caucus-son will touch base.... "Obama will campaign in Des Moines on Friday." (DMRegister) Stay tuned for where and what time......

McSame Needs More Than Iowa!

"McCain Calls Iowa Crucial to Victory" (DMRegister) exhorting Iowans.... "to defy polls showing the Republican presidential nominee trailing in the state, and warned that Democrat Barack Obama had become overconfident. 'Now, he’s measuring the drapes. He’s planned his first address to the nation, before the election,' McCain said at a rally in Cedar Falls. 'I guess I’m kind of old-fashioned about these things. I prefer to let the voters weigh in before presuming the outcome.' ”

Where does he get this stuff?

It's hard to believe that this type of shallow campaign rhetoric ever worked in Iowa. But of course it did. In 2000 and 2004.

But not this time.

Anyone paying even half-attention knows that this time around it's different. Obama is constantly warning about not getting overconfident. Obama's rallying cry is.... "Remember New Hampshire".... where Hillary, who was down in the polls whooped Obama in the primaries.

He's taking nothing for granted in Iowa.... Obama has out-organized McCain and actively getting-out-the-vote.

Maybe McSame forgot that it was Iowa's "Yes we can" voters looking for change who launched Obama's winning nomination bid. They're proud of their cruical role in his success and looking ahead.

Yes Iowa can, did and will again.

Levin's Out To Bump IA and NH's Elbows

The Democratic party's flawed primary in Michigan stems directly from the campaign of Michigan's "spectacles challenged" senator, Carl Levin, to overturn the "privileged position" of Iowa and New Hampshire as the first caucus and primary in the nation.... leading an effort to have Michigan as one of the four states allowed to hold its primary in January. (CNN)

Told that they couldn't do this, Michigan nevertheless pushed their date forward.... so, the Rules and Bylaws Committee took away Michigan's delegates to the national convention and declared their primary illegal.

Harold Ickes, Hillary Clinton's point man on the committee, voted for this sanction.

Accordingly, Barack Obama and John Edwards, two of the three leading Democratic candidates, removed their names from the ballot.... Hillary Clinton did not.

Hillary's position before the committee last Saturday when this issue was revisited, was that since she got all of the votes.... except uncommitted.... she should get all of the delegates. Ickes argued for this position on her behalf.

The name for this proposal is "chutzpah," made by a candidate not interested in party unity.... heck, not interested in the party at all.

Although Obama had majority support on the committee to split the delegates 50-50, he compromised with a 59-69 split in Hillary's favor, reflecting the Michigan Democratic party's "fair reflection" of what the vote would have been if not flawed.

Hillary wasn't happy, and Ickes reserved her right to take it to the Credentials Committee even though he voted with the committee for the sanction in the first place.

Levin, and others, will undoubtedly keep pushing to knock Iowa and New Hampshire from first-in-the-nation status. One thing is certain, this unnecessarily messy Democratic primary will assure that their primary process will change by 2012.

Iowa's Yepsen Floats Biden for VP

Iowa's most famous political tea-leaf reader, Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen, has peered into the Democratic presidential brew and intoned.... "Consider Biden for No. 2 Spot."

What he wisely sees is that neither Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton are likely to pick the other for Vice President. Too many reckless charges have been flung about, especially from trash-talking Hillary even though it's almost a certainty that she can't.... and won't.... win the nomination.

Trash that is costing both Obama and Clinton support, support being diverted to GOP candidate John McCain who has shifted his "More Bush" road show into high gear.... unopposed.

What are Dems to do?

Turn to Senator Joe Biden, as the "perfect running mate for either Clinton or Obama".... acceptable and respected by both sides.... and McSame's nightmare road bump.

The seasoned Biden, while charming and charismatic, has the "grit and gravitas" that would cast him as the perfect campaign "pit bull." He could get in McSame's face over the war.... as the "chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he knows the difference between the Shia and the Sunni."

Biden, an acknowledged Iraq war expert on both sides of the aisle, has a strategy for how to disengage responsibly from the deadly quagmire. He's long warned that the Middle East hot spot isn't Iraq, but the mountainous western border of Pakistan, where al-Qaeda holes up and feeds its revitalized terrorist tentacles.

'Bama and Biden '08.... the perfect blending of vision and veracity.

Iowa: Gateway to the White House

Where did Hillary's inevitable coronation become a donnybrook? Her stately campaign-march to Denver an anything-goes Mad Max fender-bender? Her unquestioned entitlement an increasingly impossible slog through Obama lands?.....

It's Iowa.... Iowa.... as in "Where did the tables turn?" where Roger Simon of Politico autopsies Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

As Simon dissects the remains of Hillary's once unassailable nomination, he names the main cause of the demise of her White House hopes, "Iowa is where Clinton needed to strangle the Barack Obama campaign in its crib."

Instead, she crossed the finish line in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucus a panting third after Obama and John Edwards, handicapped by her yesteryear campaign strategy of ignoring young voters "who simply don't vote".... but did vote in droves for Obama. And, with no idea going forward of what to do against the then-credible and well-funded Obama phenomena.

And, because the Obama campaign focus on Iowa wasn't a dismissive "gateway to New Hampshire," organizational-effort like Clinton's, who tried to ride to victory on her Billary-powered showboat.

As Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod said this week.... "Iowa was our gateway to the nomination."

Harkin: Play By the Rules

Iowa's Senator Tom Harkin (D) has it right.... "Seating delegates would be 'disastrous' " (DesMoinesRegister)

"Rules are rules," said Harkin, who is an uncommitted superdelegate. "We had a national schedule that everyone agreed to.... Michigan, even knowing they would not be seated, and Florida, decided to step out of the line. They are the ones that created the situation, not the DNC, and now they have to live with the consequences."

Harkin said he has talked to the DNC Chairman Howard Dean, and that Dean and other Democrats are "adamant" that the Michigan and Florida delegates not be seated.

At last, a superdelegate who speaks up.... you can't change the rules after the game has started.

It's the only fair and decent stand to take, regardless of Hillary.... and the meddling GOP's.... full court press to the contrary.

Biden Takes Aim

Truth telling. That is Sen. Joe Biden's (D-DE) way to campaign for the presidency.

For instance, Biden defends the role of the CIA in the administration's decisions on Iran, especially their recent reports about Iran's nuclear weapons capability.... "It's not been so much that we've gotten bad intelligence, but that what we've gotten is manipulation of that intelligence by the president."

Ba-ba boom!

Further, Biden explains, the CIA is "tired of being manipulated by a president who in fact uses the information they produce to do things that do not justify what the report says."

He continues to remind us that while Iran may be a problem in the future, it is Pakistan that is "bristling with nuclear weapons."

How refreshing.... a hard-hitting opinion. About a real problem. Not religious pandering or interest group targeting.

Because of his grasp of the issues, his breadth of experience and his straight-forward commitment to resolve our thorniest issues .... Biden would be a sound choice for thoughtful Iowa caucus goers on January 3.

Huckster Huckabee

Ordained Baptist minister Mike Huckabee has hit upon an effective strategy in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.... keep the focus on religion.... this pleases the religious right base and keeps the talk away from his record.

Like his ethics problems when he was governor of Arkansas..... 16 complaints before the Arkansas Ethics Commission resulting in five violations including using campaign funds to pay for a Gospel Fest event, or cash that was received and unreported.

Or, paroling a rapist whose guilt Huckabee questioned, pressuring the parole board for his release. Huckabee, shaving the truth, says the parole board members were appointed by his predecessors. He fails to mention that he reappointed two board members, one just days before he voted with three other members to set the rapist free. The rapist subsequently murdered a woman in Missouri.

As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee issued more commutations and pardons.... over 1033 during his nearly eleven years in office..... than all of the six neighboring states combined including the usually never reduced sentences of murderers serving life without parole.

And, Huckabee's recent strong stand on illegal immigration is counter to his record. He battled conservatives in his own party who were pushing for stricter state-level measures. He opposed proof of legal status when applying for state services and proof of citizenship when registering to vote.... calling these requirements un-Christian and accusing the sponsors of drinking a different "Jesus juice."

He also tried but failed to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded scholarships and in-state tuition to Arkansas colleges.

Huckabee also touts that he cut taxes, but fails to point out that he raised fuel and sales taxes and other state charges leading him to be nicknamed "Hucka-fee."

But.... how is he presenting his record? He crusades under the label "CHRISTIAN LEADER" with the mantra "Faith doesn't just influence me, it really defines me."

Huckabee's stump speech is more sermon mixed with homilies and crowd pleasing political promises. At campaign stops, his introductions include, "Here's a guy who fears God."

It's pure praise God and pass the plate.... and vote for me, Huckabee.

Opponent Mitt Romney has been indulging in own God talk, assuring Iowans that God loves them. Perhaps most jawdroppingly, in a speech on his Mormonism in early December, Romney preached that "freedom requires religion," proclaiming his allegiance with "any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty."

This brought the boogieman response from Huckabee that Mormons believe Jesus and the devil are brothers. Very Christian.

All of this political preaching has led WaPo's Dana Milbank to ask and answer, "Is This Heaven? No, it's Iowa."

We say unbelievably, "Are these revival crusades? No, they are presidential campaigns."

But, as long as the GOP hucksters aren't called out for placing belief front and center.... obscuring their records and agendas... it'll be all God, all of the time.

Iowa's Purple Passion

Today Iowa shows New Hampshire how it's done.

No, it's not time yet for the caucuses.... that contest is still five+ weeks away.

It's time for the #1 seeded University of Northern Iowa (11-0) to host the #17 University of New Hampshire (7-4) at the UNI-Dome for the NCAA Football Championship Division playoff opener.

Kickoff is at 6:30pm.... in the Des Moines area you can watch it on Mediacom Channel 22. So, tune in and watch Northern Iowa's first round in their quest for the national prize.... go Panthers!

"Everyman" To The Rescue....

Here's a "feel good" story to take you into a crisp fall-football weekend and remind you that the disgraceful government in Washington isn't the American people.

Here are the American people.... "Civilians aid injured officer, subdue suspect." (Des Moines Register)

A Des Moines police officer whose hand was hurt in a scuffle with a Dahl''s grocery store shoplifting suspect, was pinned down on his back by the suspect who was on top of him trying to get to the officer's gun.

Without hesitation, the suspect was set upon and subdued by six bystanders including several shoppers, the store manager and someone who was driving by the store and saw the officer's plight.

As The Decider's nominee for attorney general sits in his confirmation hearing parsing the meaning of torture; and the former attorney general of New York, now governor, is trying to give illegal aliens a drivers license, setting the stage for massive voter fraud.... the everyman knows a crime when he sees one and acts to uphold the law and protect their fellow man.

Cheers for America's "everyman!"

Puerile Primary Poker

New Hampshire thinks they are in the catbird seat.... keeping mum while fiddling with the date of their primary, thus making other early primary states sweat it out. Especially Iowa who, as New Hampshire well knows, by state law is required to hold their caucuses at least eight days earlier than any other contest.

The Secretary of State in New Hampshire, Bill Gardner, has the sole power to schedule his state's primary.... and he's not telling anyone what his decision will be, although some are hinting at December 18. December 18! In the midst of the Holiday Season.

Such an early date might work against New Hampshire.

In 1988 Michigan held a delegate selection process before Iowa, and got little attention. Later, Alaska held an earlier contest as well. Never heard of that.... no wonder. It was no big deal.

While Iowa Governor Chet Culver (D) has said "In this state, we're going to have Christmas," others in his party aren't so accommodating.

As David Nagle, the former Iowa Democratic Party chairman who largely established the current calendar in 1984, warned in a memo to party leaders... "If New Hampshire chooses to move in front of us, then we will move again."

This delegate selection musical-chairs is just another annoyance for voters faced with unreliable electronic voting machines, and inundated with dinner-time campaign phone calls and focus-group-tested slick candidate television ads.

Let's not further degrade the primaries with juvenile "gotcha" games. Serious voters.... who must choose that candidate who can lead us out of the current abysmal state of our country.... deserve a serious primary process .

GOP Caucusgoers Paper Doll

.... love to buy a Paper Doll that we can call our own.....

This should really be the Republican Party theme song this campaign season.

The Des Moines Register talked with 10 likely GOP caucusgoers about their dream candidate. And what they found is unease with the current GOP presidential field, and varying degrees of serious dissatisfaction with The Decider and Congress.

Of the ten interviewed, seven say they aren't committed to a presidential candidate as yet.

Their ideal candidate.... the intellectual capacity of Newt Gingrich (smart enough not to get caught in his sexcapades like Clinton).... the leadership of Rudy Giuliani (the leader of the 9/11 24-7 parade).... the communication skills of Fred Thompson (he's bombing on the campaign trail like a librarian at a Hooter's convention).... and the toughness of John McCain (his 2000 Straight Talk Express is in the ditch).

This isn't a "dream" candidate, it's a "wishful thinking" candidate. OK, the opinions of ten caucusgoers isn't up to Gallup standards. But, it is indicative of the turmoil in the GOP ranks.

The Paper Doll song laments.... rather have a Paper Doll to call my own, than a fickle-minded real live girl. But, the weak GOP field may give them just that, a not-so-fickle-minded real live Hillary.

Starting Gate Shuffle

It's a strange election season. The horses are trying to line up, but the race promoters keep changing the position of the starting gates.

This coming week, "NH awaits Michigan primary decision," to see if Michigan will elbow out South Carolina and hold its primary on January 15, which would push New Hampshire's to no later than January 8 and Iowa's first starting gate position to early January or the Christmas season.... not a jolly prospect.

While this hokey-pokey is going on, some of the candidate horses have worked themselves into a lather, pawing the ground and running from one gate to another.... sometimes even frantically galloping around the track in false starts.... while others are still in the stables munching on hay while their trainers curry and fuss over them.

Fabled Fred Thompson is just now being saddled up, and race fans are asking, "Is It Too Late for the Late Show?"

So far, bets placed on the horses give Fabled Fred the second-best odds, but many are nervous because he hasn't run in a while.... even left the tracks to play a police horse on TV. Many bettors are worried that he isn't in racing form and will fade long before the wire.

A few of the intrepid race fans are calling encouragement from the stands, but most are still in the parking lot, and, wanting to back the right horse in the most important race of their lifetime.

Giuliani, McCain Bail on Bales

Ho hum.... that may be the interest in the Ames, IA straw poll, an early test of GOP presidential campaigns.

Two major GOP candidates have opted out of the straw poll scheduled for August 11.... former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Senator John McCain.

Interestingly, though not a candidate, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich plans to attend. Hmmmmm.

The bada bing of the poll may now hang by a straw.... the champion of "going to announce soon," former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson. His participation would make the event a match between at least two GOP superstars.... former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and Fred.

Perhaps the reason Giuliani and McCain have basically abandoned Iowa is the rush by many big states to hold their primaries right after Iowa's January 14 caucuses.... 20 plus state primaries are within 3 weeks of Iowa's caucuses.

It takes money, money, money.... and campaign organization in Iowa to successfully compete in the Ames bus-in.... I mean straw poll. In a crowded primary calendar the effort may not seem worth it.

McCain thought he didn't need Iowa in 2000, and how did that work out for him (and the nation)? We got The Decider. McCain's Straight Talk bus seems to need a map.

First impressions do count, and for many voters their first impression of a winner in the primary contests will be from Iowa's first-in-the nation results . Any GOP candidate not participating in the Iowa straw poll can expect to suffer in the caucuses.

Democrats wisely don't hold a straw beauty pageant before the caucuses, but they have to contend with a crowded primary calendar too. That is why New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is nesting in Nevada.... their caucuses on January 19 will make them the second after Iowa on the nominating calendar.

The really disappointing new Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, elbowed his home state forward, upsetting New Hampshire, the traditional second-in-the nation state. Besides the obvious higher-profile and income payoffs for Nevada and Reid... it jump-starts the Democrats chase for the Latino vote, whose population is 23 percent in Nevada.

Richardson, unlike other Democratic candidates, can easily travel from New Mexico to Nevada, and understands the Latino population. He hopes for a slam dunk there in the presidential sweepstakes.

But, even Richardson acknowledges, "South Carolina and Nevada are players.... Iowa and New Hampshire are in a class by themselves.

Iowa Rocks

Iowa.... the place to know.... especially if you are a business or are career-minded.

In the newly issued Forbes special report "Best Places for Business and Careers," Des Moines ranked 4th for large metros, and Iowa City ranked 5th for smaller metros based on such factors as strong economic growth while keeping costs down, quality-of-life issues such as crime rates and cultural opportunities and the education of the workforce.

So, whether you're looking for one of the best arts festivals in the country, or a good corn dog at the Iowa State Fair, a high-tech job or a small business opportunity, a superior education or a place to apply it.... think Iowa.

Iowa: Mama 0 - Obama 1

Hillary has some tall explaining to do in the tall corn state.

"In corn-growing Iowa, the first stop in the presidential nominating process, Clinton will have to explain the ethanol vote she cast on June 15, 2005." (WaPo)

"Clinton-Obama Differences Clear in Senate Votes" and the ethanol difference is a silo-sized stumbling block for Hillary since Iowa has more ethanol plants than any other state.

Hillary supported an effort to block a proposed amendment to the 2005 energy bill that would have established an ethanol mandate for refineries, Obama voted for the ethanol mandate.

On the Iowa caucus scoreboard, chalk one up for Obama.... who is already wildly popular in the state that put John Kerry (D-Mass) on the road to his successful nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004.

As Iowa's Democratic governor-elect Chet Culver opines, "Many of us dream of a day where Iowa is the national leader in renewable energy...." (Des Moines Register, 1/1/07)

Hillary tramples Iowa's fields of dreams at her peril.