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.
Last night the punditocracy was calling tonight’s speech a make or break for Sarah Palin. She’ll pass the test, but it’s the wrong test.
They’ve set the bar low on exactly the item where the bar should be high: a speech. There’s absolutely no question that Palin will come off, at first impression, as articulate, intelligent, and impressive. (And, as Joe Biden might note, ‘clean,’ unless she’s been field dressing a moose beforehand.)
She’ll get rave reviews, I can hear them now: “A home run, Palin hit it out of the park.”
Of course she will. That’s the one thing we know she can do.
But that first impression is exactly the wrong test. The Palin problem isn’t in the meeting, it’s in the getting to know.
And she’ll certainly be able to memorize the talking points in time for the Oct. 2 debate with Biden, where the bar is set so low that they’ll try to call it a tie if she manages to avoid the Dan Quayle “you’re no Jack Kennedy” moment. (That’s my quick answer to the question “do running mates matter?” Remember, Lloyd Bentsen was on the losing side of that election.)
No, the real test won’t be a set speech or a structured debate — it’ll be the first press conference, when she gets to extemporaneously, at length, with followups, explain her views on Alaska neo-nationalism and why she tried to get the Wasilla librarian fired, along with many other issues relevant and irrelevant. (Leeeave… Bristolll… Aloooooone!)
My guess is she’ll do exactly ONE of those, then get shipped off to small media markets in GOP base states. Which is what she’s there for.
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