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.
Rep. Steve King, who represents Iowa’s Fifth District, announced his support for Fred Thompson this morning at a press conference in Des Moines. Rep. Steve King, a popular conservative congressman from Iowa’s 5th District, told reporters Monday that he’ll do whatever he can to ensure Fred Thompson wins the Iowa Caucus.
“This is just too important an election for me to stand on the sidelines,” King told the Iowa Independent following the press conference.
Asked about the impact his endorsement would have on the race, King said: “I know that he can count on my vote. Aside from that, it’s hard to say.”
King’s endorsement is another boost for Thompson’s campaign in recent weeks. His performance in the presidential debate last week won solid marks from pundits and his plans to spend considerable time in the state in the next few weeks indicates that he still has a fighting chance to do well in a state where his campaign has seemingly lacked traction.
Thompson, who spoke briefly to King on the phone immediately following the announcement, released this following statement:
“Congressman King’s leadership in support of the sanctity of life and his efforts in the fight against illegal immigration have made him one of Iowa’s great Republican leaders. He’s a tireless fighter for the 5th district of Iowa and I’m honored by his support. I look forward to working with Congressman King over the next three weeks and into 2008 in support of the traditional conservative values he and I share.”
King is a popular politician in Iowa, both in his district and across the state. Jeff King, his son and his closest advisor, said his fa
ther regularly communicates via e-mail with 10,000 conservative Republicans across the state and has a strong base of county chairman across the Fifth District.
“I don’t think we’ll go so far as to tell them who to vote for but we will ask them to give Senator Thompson another look.”Some people had expected King to endorse second-tier candidate Tom Tancredo, who King said was his best friend in congress. The two men share a similar strong position on illegal immigration and on other social issues. King said that although there is a broad spectrum of issues that he considered when making his choice, he ultimately based his final decision on which candidate seemed to have “fire in the belly” and “resources to win.”
King said that Thompson has had some trouble connecting with Iowans thus far, but “hopefully I am the antidote for that.”
The event was attended by a handful of reporters and representatives from at least two campaign staffs: Gentry Collins, state chair of the Romney campaign, and Andrew Dorr, campaign director for Thompson, were in the room when the announcement was made.
Dorr said following the announcement that the campaign was delighted to have King’s support and they considered it to be a big boost in the waning days of the election process. The Thompson campaign will begin to immediately coordinate campaign appearances with King, he said.
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