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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.
Three Democrats are already in the race to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley in 2010, but rumors of a fourth, with deep pockets and high name recognition, are beginning to bubble to the surface.
The speculation started when Des Moines Register columnist Marc Hansen wrote last week about a “well-known mystery candidate who’s about 75 percent ready to join the race.”
Washington, D.C.,-based news site Politico immediately latched on to U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, based in part on several sharply worded rebukes released by the Waterloo Democrat in response to Grassley’s statements regarding health care legislation.
The conservative blogosphere has focused on former Principal Financial Group Inc. CEO Barry Griswell, who currently serves as president of the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines. Griswell would certainly have the money to finance a run. In 2008, he was paid $11.83 million in total compensation, down 29.7 percent from his 2006 earnings of $16.84 million.
Cityview gossip columnist Civic Skinny says Griswell is a non-starter, though, since he has been a registered Democrat for less than two years and was a big financial supporter of Grassley in the past.
Skinny points to another potential candidate: Des Moines attorney Roxanne Conlin.
Conlin is a political pro — she ran (and lost) for governor in 1982, she was United States Attorney for this district in the 1970s and 1980s, she founded the Iowa Women’s Political Caucus, she was the first female president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and on and on. She’s also rich and articulate and passionate, and she regularly bemoans the fact that Iowa has never elected a woman governor, Senator or Congressperson.
Another name floating around political circles is Fred Hubbell, former chairman, president and CEO of Equitable of Iowa Cos. He also served as chairman of insurance and asset management for ING Group, a Netherlands-based banking, insurance and asset management company.
He is currently chairman of the Iowa Power Fund Board.
Name recognition would not be an issue for Hubbell, since his family has played a leadership role in in the state since the Civil War. Three commercial buildings, a school and a major street bear the family name in Des Moines. The Hubbell’s even owned Terrace Hill from 1884 until 1973, eventually giving it to the state of Iowa to serve as the home for Iowa’s governors.
Each of these individuals brings much more money and name recognition than the current field of candidates — Bob Krause of Fairfield, Tom Fiegen of Clarence and Sal Muhammad of Sioux City. But with approval ratings that still hover around 60 percent, Grassley’s seat is still considered to be difficult, bordering on unlikely pickup for Democrats in 2010.
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