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.
[Commentary] While pundits weigh forth on the results of the Iowa Straw Poll, one winner – the Iowa State Republican Party – is skedaddling out of town, with a suitcase of money, relieved that more of the gullible still have not caught on to its game. Or, even if they have caught on – a Des Moines Register headline characterized the straw poll as a “shakedown” – the Iowa GOP at least makes the fleecing enjoyable.
Nevertheless, the Iowa GOP may have profited less than it did in the straw poll of 1999, the last time no incumbent was among the candidates for the party’s nomination. In the straw poll and Iowa caucus mentality of meeting expectations, the state GOP did not fare as well as predicted – that suitcase wasn’t as bulging as some thought it might be.For those who prefer their democracy in the quaint fashion of reasoned campaigns, universal suffrage, having more than one voting place in a state, etc., the straw poll is a midsummer’s nightmare supported more by rationalization than by common sense. Such purists might take heart in the fact that the purchase of votes this year trailed the 1999 “shakedown” by some 15 percent in cold hard cash and by almost 40 percent in voter turnout (In 1999 votes cost $25 apiece; Saturday it was $35.).
But fun ‘n games can still trump rational discourse. Those passionate about Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status for its caucus and straw poll have a litany of emotional and philosophical reasons to support the status quo – ranging from the kitchen table debates between candidates and voters to the notion that, so far, no one has come up with a better idea.
Political junkies delight in the straw poll merriment of a political carnival.
For their part, the news media argue for the straw poll as a harmless and interesting diversion during the summer when nothing else is going on – except, of course, for the war in Iraq, questions of impeachment, what appears to be a scary stock market, a worsening national infrastructure, a decades old crisis in health care, increasing government surveillance of the citizenry and other minor issues like that.
So in the months leading to the straw poll in Ames, Iowa, presidential wannabes who routinely espouse fiscal accountability and tight-fisted spending while on the stump have thrown money around Iowa like – well, like candidates for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.
The straw poll results that matter in this regard are not that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney finished at the head of the pack with 4,516 votes (31.6 percent of the total), but that the coffers of the state GOP were refilled a bit. Here’s what candidates kicked in as part of straw poll vote buying.
Candidate Kick In
Mitt Romney $158,060
Mike Huckabee $90,545
Sam Brownback $76,720
Tom Tancredo $68,635
Seven others $106,610
Total vote buying $500,570
Keeping John McCain and Rudy Giuliani on the ballot – even though they said they would not compete in the straw poll – and adding Fred Thompson netted 487 votes or $17,045 for the Iowa GOP as part of the $500,570.
The $500,570 is just for openers. In addition to the entry fee of $35 per vote, campaigns have thrown money into chartering buses, hiring bands, renting tents at the Ames political carnival, providing food for supporters and hangers-on. Nevertheless, considering straw poll voting alone, the Saturday festivities trailed the $592,125 in vote-buying in 1999. Iowa GOP executive director Chuck Laudner estimated the state party pocketed $1 million in 1999 with the money in vote-buying and the remaining $400,000 or so coming from other entrepreneurial schemes, like this year’s renting out of space for tents at $15,000 to $25,000 a crack. (George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign estimated he spent $850,000 on all his straw poll efforts for total costs of $115 a vote for his 7,418 supporters, while second-place finisher Steve Forbes forked over $2 million for $405 a vote for his 4,921.) The voter turnout in 1999 – when there were 12 candidates on the ballot – was 23,685, compared to this year’s 14,302.
Using 1999 as a base, the 2007 festivities likely netted the Republican Party of Iowa at least $850,000. That pales beside the $150 million that a state official says Iowa pulls in as a literal cash crop from straw poll and caucus political spending.
And the cycle continues: Straw poll campaigns buy votes and headlines to raise money so the state GOP in Iowa can do what? Buy votes and headlines for upcoming campaigns.
Whether this year’s down-tick should be a source of concern for the Iowa GOP is an open question. Maybe that question will be answered in 2011 if there is no incumbent GOP candidate on the straw poll ballot.
Herb Strentz is a retired Drake University journalism professor who serves as an adviser for the Iowa Independent.
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