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.
Bob Vander Plaats‘ actions since finishing second in the GOP gubernatorial primary are the result of an oversized ego, veteran Iowa GOP strategist Robert Haus said in piece published by Des Moines CBS affiliate KCCI-TV.
Prior to this week, I really thought I had seen almost everything in politics. But I was wrong, because I had never witnessed an ego the size and proportion o Bob Vander Plaats.
During his first public interview last week since losing the gubernatorial nomination to Terry Branstad, Vander Plaats said he could not endorse the party’s nominee and is still considering an independent run for governor this fall. Then Saturday, during the Republican Party of Iowa statewide convention, Vander Plaats’ supporters nominated him for lieutenant governor, despite Branstad choosing Kim Reynolds as his running mate.
Vander Plaats garnered almost half of the delegates, but Reynolds was victorious.
Haus said in the “universe of reality,” the loser of a political campaign, “licks his or her wounds, takes some time with family, and then jumps on the bandwagon of the winner for the good of the party.” But Vander Plaats, “doesn’t live in this universe. He lives in ‘The Alternative Universe of Exceptional Hubris’ in which, as a loser, he demands and is due really important things,” Haus said.
And thus we got to the sideshow of Saturday, where Vander Plaats supporters in fact nominated him to be Lieutenant Governor, setting up a clash with Gov. Branstad’s choice, state Sen. Kim Reynolds. In the end, adults carried the day, and Sen. Reynolds handily defeated Vander Plaats for the Lt. Govenor position. Vander Plaats, bloodied by yet another loss, later announced that he would still withhold his endorsement of the Branstad/Reynolds ticket.
Ultimately, Haus doesn’t believe a Vander Plaats independent candidacy would impact Branstad’s chances of defeating Democratic Gov. Chet Culver. Vander Plaats’ base of support will shrink, Haus said, and “he will need to become even more bellicose in his rhetoric in order to gain attention.”
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