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.
Terry Branstad’s lead in the race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination — and whether it was large enough — garnered all the attention in Tuesday’s Public Policy Polling poll. But one nugget from the poll that isn’t getting anywhere near the same attention is Roxanne Conlin’s massive lead in the Democratic Senate primary. Conlin has long been the presumed front-runner in the race to face U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley. She has higher name recognition due to her 1982 gubernatorial bid, has outpaced her opponents in fundraising and is backed by the state’s Democratic establishment.
But the numbers from PPP — the first public poll of the Democratic primary – show that Conlin is not just the presumed front-runner, but is in fact the clear favorite for Tuesday’s primary. Conlin’s support stands at 48 percent, followed distantly by former state Rep. Bob Krause at 13 percent and former state Sen. Tom Fiegen with 8 percent.
Conlin’s first official lead comes at an increasingly divisive time for the Democratic campaigns. Both of her opponents have gone on the attack, with Fiegen’s campaign turning increasingly negative. Conlin took a hit with The Des Moines Register’s endorsement of Fiegen over the weekend. But if Conlin coasts to victory as easily as the poll suggests, she should be able to quickly move beyond any of her recent troubles and focus solely on her bid to unseat Grassley.
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