|
Bleeding Heartland
It's what plants crave.
|
Joe Riding 
|
|
Wed Apr 03, 2013 at 10:10:00 AM CDT
|
|
Representative Bruce Braley's campaign for U.S. Senate rolled out its largest batch of endorsements today: 71 state legislators. All 26 Iowa Senate Democrats plus 45 of the 47 Iowa House Democrats are named in the press release I've posted after the jump. For some reason, Iowa House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and former Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy are not in this group. Murphy is running for the first Congressional district seat Braley is vacating.
Earlier this week, Braley's campaign announced that it raised more than $1 million during the first quarter. That is a solid number, and I'll be interested to see how the numbers break own (contributions from individuals vs PACs, for instance). Bleeding Heartland will publish a detailed roundup of Iowa Congressional fundraising after all the candidates have filed their reports with the Federal Election Commission. Those reports are due April 15.
|
|
There's More...
:: (2
Comments, 557 words in story)
|
|
Tue Apr 02, 2013 at 07:15:00 AM CDT
|
|
In an ideal world, evidence that more than half of Midwest rivers and streams can't support aquatic life would inspire policy-makers to clean up our waterways. Rivers that are suitable for swimming, fishing, and other recreation can be a huge economic engine for Iowa communities.
We live in Iowa, where most of our lawmakers take the Patty Judge view: "Iowa is an agricultural state and anyone who doesn't like it can leave in any of four directions."
Yesterday the Iowa House approved a bill to relax manure storage regulations for large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). All of the House Republicans and two-thirds of the Democrats supported this bad legislation. Details on the bill and the House vote are below.
|
|
There's More...
:: (4
Comments, 1022 words in story)
|
|
Wed Jan 09, 2013 at 07:15:00 AM CST
|
|
The Iowa House will begin its 2013 session next Monday with 53 Republicans, 46 Democrats and one seat to be filled in a special election on January 22.
After the jump I've posted details on the Iowa House majority and minority leadership teams, along with all chairs, vice chairs, and members of standing House committees. Where relevant, I've noted changes since last year's legislative session.
Some non-political Iowa House trivia: three state representatives have the surname Olson (not counting Democrat Jo Oldson). There are two Millers, two Taylors, and two Smiths, one from each party in every case. David is most common first name: the new cohort contains three Daves and two Davids. Four state representatives have the first name Mark, four are called Daniel (three go by Dan) and four were given the name Robert (two Robs, one Bob, and a Bobby). Four women are named Mary (one goes by Mary Ann), and two are named Linda. There are two men each named Greg, Chuck, John, Kevin, Pat, Bruce, Tom, and Chris, and there would have been two Brians if Brian Quirk had not resigned shortly after winning re-election. Oddly, no current Iowa House member is named Mike or Michael.
JANUARY 28 UPDATE: Democrat Todd Prichard won the special election in House district 52, bringing the number of Todds in the Iowa House to two. I've added his committee assignments below. Republicans maintain a 53-47 majority.
|
|
There's More...
:: (2
Comments, 3987 words in story)
|
|
Thu Nov 08, 2012 at 07:20:00 AM CST
|
|
Preliminary results from the Iowa Secretary of State's website show that President Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney in Iowa by 807,146 votes to 720,323 (51.89 percent to 46.31 percent) amid record participation of 1,555,570 voters statewide.
As expected, the president won a plurality of the vote in fewer Iowa counties this year than in 2008, but he did pick up one county that was a big surprise for me. Some thoughts about the presidential vote in Iowa are after the jump, along with maps showing which counties Obama, Romney, and John McCain carried. You can find vote totals for every county on the Iowa Secretary of State's website.
|
|
There's More...
:: (1
Comments, 740 words in story)
|
|
Fri Aug 24, 2012 at 06:45:00 AM CDT
|
|
At this time four years ago, Barack Obama's campaign had about 30 field offices up and running in Iowa, compared to six offices for Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Obama's campaign has had eight Iowa field offices open this summer and is rolling out another 26 offices around Iowa this weekend. So far, Mitt Romney's campaign has ten Iowa field offices, in addition to the unified Republican headquarters in Urbandale.
After the jump, I compare the field office locations for each presidential campaign, grouped by Iowa Congressional district. Where relevant, I've also noted competitive Iowa House and Senate districts near the Obama and Romney field offices, although I doubt either presidential campaign will do much for down-ticket Democratic or Republican candidates.
|
|
There's More...
:: (8
Comments, 1966 words in story)
|
|
Tue Jun 05, 2012 at 21:18:02 PM CDT
|
|
Polls closed across Iowa at 9 pm, and I will update this post periodically as results come in from around the states. Any comments related to today's elections are welcome in this thread.
P.S.- As expected, Wisconsin Democrats fell short in their effort to recall Republican Governor Scott Walker.
UPDATE: Results are after the jump.
|
|
There's More...
:: (42
Comments, 1483 words in story)
|
|
Tue Mar 20, 2012 at 06:15:00 AM CDT
|
|
The redistricting process and several Republican retirements have created many pickup opportunities for Iowa House Democrats. The devastating 2010 election left them nowhere to go but up in the lower chamber, where Republicans currently enjoy a 60 to 40 majority. Relatively few sitting House Democrats represent vulnerable districts.
Speaking to activists at the Polk County Democratic convention on March 10, I heard lots of optimism about the House races. After the jump I've posted some early thoughts on the seats up for grabs.
|
|
There's More...
:: (2
Comments, 1619 words in story)
|
|
Sat Mar 10, 2012 at 17:38:35 PM CST
|
|
The Iowa Democratic Party and Republican Party of Iowa held county conventions today. After the jump I've posted some notes on where Iowa politicians and candidates spent the day, and which Democrats addressed the Polk County Democratic convention. I left the convention during the lunch break, because delegates had finished most of the day's business, including all work on the platform. However, the Polk County Republican convention was still going strong at this writing (around 5 pm).
This is an open thread; all topics welcome, especially county convention stories from today or years past.
Rick Santorum destroyed the competition in today's Kansas caucuses, winning 52 percent of the vote to 21 percent for Mitt Romney, 14 percent for Newt Gingrich and 13 percent for Ron Paul. Romney swept the delegates at stake yesterday and today in the Guam and Northern Marianas Islands caucuses. Romney also won the Wyoming caucuses and most of the delegates from the Virgin Islands.
BONUS POTENTIAL FLAMEWAR TOPIC: Kevin Drum makes a counter-intuitive case: Return of the Jedi is the best Star Wars movie, especially if you take out the 10 minutes of horrific Ewok sequences. Thoughts?
|
|
There's More...
:: (9
Comments, 724 words in story)
|
|
Wed Jan 04, 2012 at 21:48:36 PM CST
|
|
First-term State Representative Kim Pearson announced today that she will not seek re-election in the new Iowa House district 30.
|
|
There's More...
:: (1
Comments, 375 words in story)
|
|
Mon Nov 07, 2011 at 10:22:14 AM CST
|
|
Jim Carley announced last week that he is running as a Republican in the new Iowa House district 30. Carley's background is typical for a GOP statehouse candidate, but his announcement was unusual in one respect. A Republican incumbent already represents Iowa House district 30, and State Representative Kim Pearson has not decided yet whether to seek re-election.
Comments from both candidates about a possible primary contest are after the jump.
|
|
There's More...
:: (3
Comments, 1475 words in story)
|
|
Fri Aug 05, 2011 at 07:33:20 AM CDT
|
|
One of the most surprising Iowa House Republican winners from 2010 now has a Democratic challenger. Altoona City Council member Joe Riding announced yesterday that he will run against State Representative Kim Pearson in the new House district 30, a swing seat covering much of eastern Polk County.
|
|
There's More...
:: (56
Comments, 1362 words in story)
|
|
|
|
|
|
![[Bleeding Heartland Logo]](http://www.bleedingheartland.com/upload/logo.jpg){kind=logo}
