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.
The cash-flush Ron Paul campaign will open a western Iowa office in Council Bluffs Tuesday and will soon add a string of phone banks across eastern Iowa, said Drew Ivers, the chair of the state campaign.
Ivers said his campaign is also well on its way to finding precinct captains for each of the state’s 1,784 caucus sites.
“We’re not quite there yet but we are doing fine,” Ivers said. “I would be surprised if any of the campaigns have a complete list of volunteers for all of the precincts and I feel confident we’ll have most all of them covered by Jan. 3.”
Ivers said the campaign is looking at locations for Get Out The Vote efforts in Davenport, Keokuk, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Waterloo. The campaign is selecting locations that are easily accessible to volunteers eager to help spread the word about the populist Paul and his libertarian views.Although Paul still trails most of the other Republican candidates in public opinion polls, Ivers said he is pleased with the campaign’s momentum in recent weeks. Paul’s share of likely Iowa voters has grown steadily in recent polls. Ivers, a veteran of Iowa campaigns for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and Pat Robertson in 1988, said he hopes a late surge will propel Paul into a top-tier finish at the January caucus.
“We’re expecting, like a lot of campaigns, to have a burst at the end,” Ivers said.
Ivers, a self-described longtime admirer of Ron Paul, joined the campaign in mid-summer, prior to the first big internet fundraising campaign that shocked the political establishment. The Paul campaign raised more than $7 million in November 2007 and was on pace to top $15 million in money raised by the end of the year.
The fundraising success has changed the culture of the campaign, Ivers said. “Money doesn’t buy loyalty – the Romney campaign has learned that – but it buys a lot of other things that are important to a campaign,” Ivers said. “Our media campaign is escalating. The whole campaign in all the aspects is really ratcheting up.”
One challenge, he said, is training the scores of Paul supporters who have never participated in the caucus in the past. The so-called Paulites are some of the most enthusiastic supporters in the political world, but aren’t experienced in traditional campaigns. Instead, they are renowned for flooding internet message boards and dominating unscientific online internet polls by voting for their candidate over and over again.
“We have a lot of enthusiastic supporters but they’re pretty new to the process,” Ivers said. “They’re all pretty quick on the keyboard but we probably don’t as many of them out on the street canvassing for our candidate.
“The bottom line is that this campaign is quite dynamic and the message is quite dynamic,” Ivers said. “It’s a very traditional message for the Republican party, but the interesting thing is that the party has changed so much that it almost seems like a new message.
“As people have taken the time to listen to what Ron Paul says, the perception of most people has changed. Once they pay attention, what might have seemed like an odd message suddenly becomes a sensible message.”
Ivers said Paul’s support in Iowa comes from a broad-based coalition of Republicans and independent voters, blue and white collar workers, Christians and non-believers. One core of support, he says, are young voters who are participating in the caucus for the first time.
“Our forte is the person who feels excluded among the conservative and independent voters who really wants true change,” Ivers said. “But another interesting thing is all the young people the campaign is attracting. With Ron Paul, you have a 72-year-old man who is attracting all these 17 and 18-year-old first time voters. Our challenge is to turn that enthusiasm into action.”
Paul continues his Iowa campaign on Tuesday with a tour of western Iowa, including stops in Sioux Center, Sioux City and Council Bluffs. On Wednesday, he participates in the Des Moines Register debate at the Iowa Public Television studios in Johnston and holds a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds at 6 p.m.
Paul will return to the state later this month to tour eastern Iowa and campaign in Des Moines, Ivers said.
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