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Editing this site has been both rewarding and humbling. The Hawkeye State has seen its share of excitement since this site was founded in April 2007, and it has been a privilege to cover it. From the ascent of Barack Obama to statehouse squabbles to the legalization of same-sex marriage and beyond, no two days of work here have been the same.

I don’t yet know what’s next for me, but I leave with confidence that this publication will thrive in the capable hands of Jason Hancock, who officially takes on the title of editor today.

To all who helped make this site what it is — the writers, readers, commenters, sources and mentors whom I’ve come to know and respect — thank you for everything. I hope we’ll see each other again soon.

After admitting on live television that he has “lived off the public tit” for decades as a member of congress, he attracted the attention of several satirical Web sites.

The Onion ‘reports’ that comments from Iowa’s senior senator are hurting Republican congressmen’s chances of attracting women at bars:

“Historically, Republicans have faced little opposition from willing and easily impressed single females, but Sen. Grassley’s untoward behavior poses a significant threat to the status quo,” Republican strategist Stanley Schilling said. “Whether because of his inappropriate remarks on the [dance] floor, or his stubborn unwillingness to take no for an answer, Sen. Grassley, frankly, has few real allies in either party at this point.”

Meanwhile, the blog Wonkette said, “This man was born to use the expression ‘living off the public tit’ on television at least once in his desperate, confusing life. Now he should rest in his corn fields for a bit, while we wait for the day.”

Roxanne Conlin, one of the Democrats hoping to unseat him next year, also jumped into the fray, writing on the Huffington Post that it’s “time to wean Grassley.”

The video of Grassley’s comment is below.

The moves come after the ELCA voted this summer to allow gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships to serve in the clergy.

The nine congregations will join a new group of churches called LutheranCORE, which requires members to subscribe to a “Common Confession” that asserts, among other things, that “sexual activity belongs exclusively within the biblical boundaries of a faithful marriage between one man and one woman.”

The affected churches are scattered across Iowa, generally outside metropolitan areas. View the full list here.

An earlier version of this post incorrectly asserted that joining LutheranCORE was an indication that a congregation had already broken ties with ELCA. A commenter points out that membership in LutheranCORE does not necessarily mean that a church has left ELCA, even if LutheranCORE itself was formed in part as a disapproving response to the ELCA vote this summer. Congregations must still vote to sever ties with ELCA before anything is official.

“We have a long way to go, but I’m certain we’re on the right path,” said Biden at the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner.

The event took place against a backdrop of sagging poll numbers for Democrats nationwide. Gov. Chet Culver’s approval rating is at an all-time low, and Iowa Democrats have reportedly grown more dissatisfied with President Barack Obama since he took office in January.

Biden seemed to address those growing concerns directly. “This is no time to be frustrated,” he said. “We never thought change would be easy. All of you knew it would be hard.”

Even though political commentators have dwelled on the slow pace of health care reform over the past several months, he said, Democrats have already made achievements that would be considered landmark in any other year — confirming Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, passing the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and withdrawing U.S. troops from major cities in Iraq, among other things.

Shortly after the event began, before Biden took the stage, Democrats in the U.S. Senate overcame a key hurdle for passing their sweeping health care reform package, winning 60 votes to begin a floor debate on the measure.

“Tonight, we have more momentum than we’ve ever had in the history of the discussion of health care in America,” Biden said.

He also told the crowd that though there is still much more work to do to turn the economy around, he expects job growth to begin early next year. (That’s good news for incumbents up for reelection in 2010, though he didn’t put it in those terms.)

Before Biden spoke, Gov. Chet Culver addressed the crowd. “I will always, always stand up to fear and injustice, and I will always make the tough decisions,” he said. “I will never, ever back down.”

Democrats also heard speeches from U.S. Reps. Bruce Braley and Leonard Boswell, who said Democrats were “combat-ready” ahead of the 2010 campaign.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin taped a video message for the event so that he could be in Washington, D.C., for the health care vote.

The Iowa Republican reports that Sioux City businessman and social conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats could raise $200,000 for his gubernatorial campaign at an event hosted by Chuck Norris at his ranch outside Navasota, Texas. A fleet of private jets carrying the roughly 40 Iowa attendees is reportedly en route. The price is $5,000 per couple — probably not including the cost of getting there.

Norris endorsed Vander Plaats in a syndicated column last June.

Perhaps more notably, Vice President Joe Biden will still headline the dinner (as far as we know). That will put him pretty far outside the Washington beltway as the Senate’s health bill is finalized.

The New York Times reported Sunday that Rose’s confirmation has been the subject of growing controversy:

Eleventh-hour criticism is arising over President Obama’s nomination for United States attorney in northern Iowa of a prosecutor who had a leading role in the criminal cases against hundreds of illegal immigrants arrested in a May 2008 raid at a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa.

[...]

Ms. Rose, a senior assistant United States attorney in the office she has been chosen to run, has also garnered support from criminal defense lawyers in Iowa, including at least 11 lawyers who defended immigrants from Postville. In those proceedings, “she exhibited a level of competence and ability that would be hard to overstate,” the lawyers wrote in a letter in April.

But some defense and immigration lawyers have said that felony identity-theft charges against the immigrants were excessively harsh, that immigration lawyers were not given adequate access to their clients, and that improper contact took place between prosecutors and one judge. They contend that possible civil rights and ethical violations by prosecutors should have been investigated.

The Wall Street Journal’s legal blog is also watching the story.

Will these concerns be enough to prevent Rose’s confirmation? Probably not. Though the national attention the story is receiving may be new, the complaints from her critics are not. If they were going to prevent Rose from getting the job for which she’s been nominated, it likely would have happened by now.

Though each Iowan seems to have his or her own ideas for how money should be cut from the budget, few blame the Democrats for overspending on their key priorities over the past few years.

In all, majorities support Democrats’ expansion of health insurance coverage for children, spending on public schools, repairing roads and bridges, raising teacher pay, and developing renewable energy. A plurality supports expanded free preschool.

On most budget items, pluralities of Iowans agree with the idea of cutting everything by an equal amount, except when it comes to health insurance for low-income residents and the Iowa State Patrol, which majorities say should be spared from cuts. This seems to conform to Gov. Chet Culver’s decision to make an across-the-board budget cut now and use the beginning of the legislative session next year to restore some funding for key priorities.

That said, Iowans have mixed feelings about the decisions that have been made to cut the state budget. Though only 19 percent of respondents said they were “Very Confident” or “Mostly Confident” about the budget-cutting decisions, 44 percent were “Just Somewhat Confident.” 35 percent were not confident.

(Incidentally, it seems strange that this question had three positive responses and just one negative response. These responses may fit people’s opinions best, but they also can also be confusing to interpret. The Register story itself seems to add up “Somewhat Confident” and “Not Confident” to demonstrate a disapproving majority, but “Somewhat Confident” doesn’t sound very disapproving to me. It was the closest thing to a middle ground that pollsters offered, and it implies slight approval, not disapproval.)

You can read the Register’s write-up of the poll here.

The project would create a central location for people to store the college credits they have received from multiple institutions. Colleges and universities then essentially would bid for the opportunity to enroll students for the completion of their degrees.

The study is being funded by a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.