Iowa Independent » Garance Franke-Ruta

Brownback Decries Iowa Gay Marriage Court Decision

Garance Franke-Ruta — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 19:17:01 +0000

Sen. Sam Brownback, the Kansas social conservative now running for the Republican presidential nomination, decried the Iowa court ruling, likely to be stayed until a final determination by the Iowa Supreme Court can be made, allowing gays and lesbians to marry in Polk County. In a statement released by his campaign, he said:

“We should have the courage and conviction to speak out against this decision. The people of Iowa reject the redefinition of marriage, and I pledge to defend the bond of marriage, as I have consistently done in the past. This decision shows how important it is to elect leaders who will stand for marriage and who will appoint judges that will not legislate from the bench. We need to rebuild the family and renew the culture, not redefine marriage.”

Clinton Announces International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Endorsement

Garance Franke-Ruta — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:50:32 +0000

Not to be outdone by Sen. Chris Dodd’s day-long International Association of Fire Fighters endorsement announcement tour in Iowa, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign today announced an endorsement by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

The statement from the Clinton campaign:

The Clinton Campaign today announced the endorsement of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The IAM is among the nation’s largest industrial trade unions, representing over 700,000 active and retired members in airline, aerospace, manufacturing, railroad, woodworking and shipbuilding industries, and is a member of the AFL-CIO.
“Hillary Clinton earned the IAM’s endorsement by focusing on jobs, health care, education and trade – the bread and butter issues of the American middle class,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “She is the only candidate of either party to come forward with a comprehensive manufacturing policy and the only candidate to connect with millions of Americans who feel invisible to the current administration.”

Scheffler: Craig Scandal No Reflection on Romney

Garance Franke-Ruta — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:13:15 +0000

The arrest and guilty plea of presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Idaho state chairman in a public restroom gay sex sting is unlikely to have an impact on the presidential preferences of Iowa social conservatives, Iowa Christian Alliance president Steve Scheffler said today. Idaho Sen. Larry Craig stepped down from his position with the Romney campaign as soon as news of his arrest broke.

“He could have been working for anybody or supporting anybody,” said Scheffler. “I mean, he’s a Republican. I don’t see that that’s directly a problem for the Romney campaign.”

Craig also served as a Romney liaison to the U.S. Senate. Romney, the Iowa GOP frontrunner who is running as a social conservative, condemned Craig’s actions on a CNBC show, saying:

“The truth of the matter is, the most important thing we expect from an elected official is a level of dignity and character that we can point to for our kids and our grandkids, and say, `Hey, someday I hope you grow up and you’re someone like that person.’ And we’ve seen disappointment in the White House, we’ve seen it in the Senate, we’ve seen it in Congress. And frankly, it’s disgusting.”

“I guess the bottom line is, if the allegations are proven to be accurate, or he was involved in what it looks like it might be, then yes, I think he should resign,” continued Scheffler. “People and individuals who talk about family values ought to be a moral example.”

Still, said Scheffler, “A candidate can’t possibly be expected to monitor everyone’s personal and moral background.”

Iowa Conservatives Condemn Craig

Garance Franke-Ruta — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:37:51 +0000

Two leading conservative Iowa blogs are calling for Idaho Sen. Larry Craig to step down in the wake of revelations that he was arrested in a Minneapolis restroom in June and pled guilty to disorderly conduct charges in August.

As the national scandal builds, the Mainstream Iowan writes:

“Senator Larry Craig Should Resign Because Cruising Johns For Sex Is Unbecoming Of A Married United States Senator.”

Blog Hawkeye GOP focuses on the hypocrisy angle:

More stunning than the stupidity, is the hypocrisy. Craig has been known as a family values guy. He is a married father of three who has been an outspoken opponent of the homosexual agenda. He has a 100% ratings from the American Family Association and the Christian Coalition. (Both organizations are calling for Craig’s resignation.)
Rumor also associated Craig with the 1983 Congressional page scandal. Craig was never charged in the incident but it brought down another Republican, Dan Crane. (But not Democrat Gary Studds who continued to be re-elected by his district.)
Apparently there were other allegations about the senator. The Idaho Statesman reports that a gay man claimed to have had sex with Craig in a men’s room at Washington DC’s Union Station in 2004. The paper only published the allegations after Craig’s guilty plea in Minnesota.
At this point, the best thing that Craig could do is resign and let Idaho’s Republican governor, Butch Otter, appoint a replacement and set up a Republican incumbent for the next term. Craig’s problem is not that he is gay – it is that he is a hypocrite.

Edwards Extends Critique of Clinton

Garance Franke-Ruta — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:05:10 +0000

At the start of the year, John Edwards repeatedly slammed Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton on her refusal to apologize for her 2002 vote authorizing the use of force in Iraq. His critiques generated a great deal of media attention but did little to convince voters to abandon their support for her, and subsequent studies showed that likely Democratic primary voters’ thoughts on the war — the top issue this campaign cycle — bore little direct relationship to positions taken by the candidates almost five years ago.

Now Edwards is taking a different tack and going after Clinton on the No. 2 issue this election cycle — health care reform — and wedding it to his critique of Clinton’s ties to health industry lobbyists.

“I think you’d have to go to Mars to find someone who doesn’t understand why we don’t have universal health care,” said Edwards at the Livestrong Presidential Cancer Forum in Cedar Rapids. “I think most people in America know why we don’t have universal health care. The reason we don’t have it is because of entrenched interests in Washington — insurance companies, drugs companies and their lobbyists. They’re the obstacles.”

“I believe the insurance companies, the drug companies and their lobbyists killed the health-care reform that was attempted in the 1990s by Sen. Clinton,” he continued. “My lesson is not the same as hers. Her lesson is: Give them a seat at the table — at least that’s what I heard her say a few minutes ago. I think if you give drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbysists a seat at the table, they’ll eat all the food.”

The audience of cancer survivors and health care activists laughed and applauded enthusiastically.

“I think you have to take their power away from them,” said Edwards. “I don’t think they’re ever going to voluntarily give away their power. I think you have to take them on. You have to confront them. You have to beat them.”

A March 2007 Harris Interactive-Wall Street Journal Online poll found that 77 percent of Democrats trusted Clinton to come up with good policies for reforming the health care system, while 58 percent trusted Edwards, who earlier this year released a widely praised plan for achieving universal health insurance coverage by expanding the pool using private insurance, along with new regulations and a mix of federal subsidies and novel gap-filling public insurance programs.

Polls also routinely find between 60 and 70 percent of Americans hold unfavorable views about Washington lobbyists. By tying Clinton’s views on health care to her receipt of money from inviduals who work for the pharamaceutical industry or who lobby for health sector interests, Edwards may be able to reduce the level of trust Democrats have in Clinton’s ability to bring about changes in the health care arena, and thereby their support for her campaign.

“If you could do it by compromise and negotiation, why don’t we have universal health care today?” asked Edwards. “I think we have to confront them head on.”

Clinton Calls for Federal Regulation of Tobacco

Garance Franke-Ruta — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:29:43 +0000

Sen. Hillary Clinton called for federal regulation of tobacco products by the Food and Drug Adminstration at the LiveStrong Presidential Cancer Forum in Cedar Rapids this morning.

“It is an addictive deadly substance, and we need to regulate it,” she said in response to a question from cancer survivor and forum moderator Lance Armstrong.

Clinton said that her health care plan would “help pay to have smokers quit by paying” for smoking cessation programs “because that is a lot cheaper than paying for end-stage lung cancer.” But Clinton stopped short of calling for a national ban on smoking in public places, citing the complexity of local zoning rules.

“I think the way that we are proceeding is probably the smarter way right now,” she said. “A lot of it depends on local laws and regulation.”

In addition to smoking cessation programs, Clinton said she would favor an increase in the excise tax on cigarettes to increase their costs, as well as federal regulation of tobacco advertising.

“I favor the FDA being able to regulate advertising about nicotine and tobacco products, and we’re going to push through a bill, I hope, to get that done,” said Clinton.

Edwards Keeps It Short on Gonzales Resignation

Garance Franke-Ruta — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:36:01 +0000

John Edwards first called for Gonzales’ resignation on March 13, 2007. His full statement:

“Better late than never.”

Official: Caucuses Staying in January

Garance Franke-Ruta — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:06:03 +0000

Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro says Democrats and Republicans have told him that they are committed to keeping the caucuses in January 2008.

“We are bound and determined to hold the thing in January,” Mauro said in a phone interview this morning, reiterating the position he has taken all month. The parties “want it to be held in January.”

Iowa Democrats are in Washington this weekend to negotiate the final date for the caucuses, now scheduled for Jan. 14. “This Saturday we will work to solve the fluidity of the calendar and our Chairman Scott Brennan has been in touch with his counterparts in New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina to work out the best solution possible,” Iowa Democratic Party communications director Carrie Giddins said.

Brennan and Iowa Gov. Chet Culver have previously sought to reassure voters that the caucuses would remain in 2008. “The 2008 presidential campaign has been fast and furious in Iowa, but the nominating calendar will start in 2008 with the Iowa Caucuses,” said Brennan in an Aug. 10 statement.

“The caucuses need to be in January,” agreed Gov. Culver

In Wake of Straw Poll, Huckabee Campaign Downsizes and Waits

Garance Franke-Ruta — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:59:22 +0000

Rather than kicking his Iowa campaign up a notch, second-place Ames Straw Poll finisher Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas downsized his Iowa operation to just three paid staffers in the wake of his low-budget achievement.

“Right now were back down to three. We had, gosh 16 or 18 here for the Straw Poll,” Huckabee Iowa campaign manager Eric Woolson told the Iowa Indepenent. “Those folks have kind of scattered to the four winds.”

Woolson, who also serves as the Iowa campaign’s communications director and press secretary, said the lean campaign had imported much of the rest of its pre-Ames staff from other Huckabee offices around the nation in the weeks leading up to the Straw Poll. “We had four folks out from New Hampshire, we probably had 8 or 10 people from Little Rock, so we probably had closer to 20. This pace was packed!” he said, gesturing around the campaign’s small downtown Des Moines headquarters, which has plate-glass windows that overlook a busy street and advertise the candidate to passersby. “Some full-time volunteers came in from a couple of different states, so we were really packed for the Straw Poll.”

“Obviously, we’ll ramp back up for caucus time,” he continued.Huckabee, who will return to Iowa next week for The Lance Armstrong Presidential Cancer Forum in Cedar Rapids, has been traveling widely since coming in second in the poll and is making the most of his national media appearances, which the campaign says are helping to bring in much-needed financing.

“Iowa is not really a fertile state for fundraising,” Woolson explained. “Iowans expect you to spend money, not raise money.”

“Money doesn’t replace time, it doesn’t replace message, it doesn’t replace grassroots orginazation,” he added. “It can buy you some grassroots organization.”

Endorsements have also started to pour in, he said, though for now the campaign is keeping the Iowa ones under wraps.

The campaign today announced a string of New Hampshire endorsements following a Huckabee visit to the Granite State.

Brownback Shutters Ames Office

Garance Franke-Ruta — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:07:44 +0000

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback’s campaign shut down his second Iowa office, opened in Ames on June 21, after a third-place finish in the Ames Straw Poll earlier this month.

The campaign continues to operate out of its lone Iowa office in West Des Moines.

Iowa campaign spokesman John Rankin was unavailable for comment; a receptionist said he was “on vacation” but still responding to e-mail.

Contacted a second time by Iowa Independent, she clarified that Rankin was simply “out of town…not on vacation,” and remained reachable by e-mail.

UPDATE:“Our plan from the start had been to open the Ames office for the sole purpose of organizing for the Straw Poll, and to close it once the Straw Poll was over,” Rankin wrote in an e-mail. “We met our goal at Ames, which was to finish in the top three.”