Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
In an interview with Iowa Indy alum Douglas Burns, State Rep. Christopher Rants (R-Sioux City) discouraged State Rep. Rod Roberts (R-Carroll) from running for governor. (Both men are rumored to be mulling a bid, but Rants is probably a lot more serious about it at this point.) Rants’s argument, as retold by Burns, is that a gubernatorial bid would imperil Roberts’s seat in the Iowa House.
Burns thinks that argument is flat-out wrong, and he points to past election cycles in which Democrats haven’t even fielded a candidate against Roberts. That may be true, but Rants’s claim isn’t completely baseless: On paper, Roberts’s district looks like it should be a top battleground, since it actually has 2,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. Roberts has coasted to reelection, but a political newcomer might not have the same luck.
That said, concern for one’s state legislative seat probably shouldn’t be the only factor a candidate weighs when he or she decides to seek higher office. If it were, Rants might not be running either.
Though the former speaker has been reelected many times, it hasn’t always been a cakewalk. The GOP does hold a slight registration advantage in his Sioux City district, but not enough of one to prevent Democrats from nominating candidates and spending a few bucks there each campaign cycle. Without an incumbent, depending on political winds and the resources available to both sides, the GOP could certainly lose Rants’s seat, too.
Even if both seats are likely remain in the Republican column after November 2010, without incumbents running, the House GOP will have to divert resources away from potential pickup opportunities just to play defense. The impact may not be huge, but statehouse races have turned on less.
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