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.
The Iowa Democratic Party today joined Democrats in the other three official early contest states — New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — in asking Democratic presidential candidates not to campaign in states that have violated the Democratic National Committee’s calendar and scheduled unauthorized early primaries.
Bill Richardson was first to sign the pledge, closely followed by Chris Dodd. The AP reports that Joe Biden has also signed. On Saturday morning the John Edwards campaign announced their candidate was signing as well.
The joint letter comes a day after two more developments on the caucus date leapfrog front:
I (name), Democratic Candidate for President, pledge I shall not campaign or participate in any state which schedules a presidential election primary or caucus before Feb. 5, 2008, except for the states of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina, as “campaigning” is defined by rules and regulations of the DNC.
The letter is signed by the four states’ Democratic Party chairs and also by Sen. Tom Harkin, Gov. Chet Culver, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, and Rep. James Clyburn, the top-ranking elected Democrat in South Carolina. None of the elected officials who signed has yet endorsed a candidate.
Thursday Granholm, expecting the move by the official early states, wrote to candidates of both parties asking them not to make such a commitment.
“I strongly urge you not to sign any pledge that would prevent you from campaigning in Michigan,” the governor wrote, adding that addressing the manufacturing crisis and unfair trade policies is more important than the politics behind which states get to vote early.
After lengthy negotiations, the DNC chose the four official early states in July 2006 as the only ones allowed to hold nominating contests before Feb. 5, 2008. In addition to Michigan, Florida has jumped ahead of this schedule, as have Republicans in South Carolina and Wyoming.
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