From the Des Moines Register:
The Republican leader in the Iowa House, Christopher Rants, will make
“a major announcement about the future of the House Republican caucus” today
at 10:30 a.m.
Rants’ staff said he will be holding a press conference in his office at the
Statehouse at 10:30 a.m.
1 Comment
thanks for the heads up
Doesn’t seem like such a “major” development to me. If she is going to vote against the Democratic agenda most of the time, and criticize the Democratic leadership, we are better off with her in the Republican caucus.
The media always pay more attention to criticism of party leaders that comes from within the party. Once the critic is a member of the opposing party, the criticism is not considered as newsworthy–just partisan noise.
This standard of news selection goes back a long way. Robert Entman’s book Democracy Without Citizens (I think it was published in 1989) documented this by analyzing media coverage of the Carter and Reagan administrations.
Bottom line: let Pettengill be just another Republican who occasionally votes with Democrats. She will get less attention that way, and we will have a better chance of replacing her with someone who believes in the Democratic Party.
desmoinesdem Mon 30 Apr 1:54 PM