Bleeding Heartland - Ron Paul

IA-01: How much will the Liberty movement help Rod Blum?

desmoinesdem — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:10:00 GMT

Yesterday Dubuque-based business owner Rod Blum formally announced his candidacy in the Republican primary to represent Iowa's first Congressional district. The same day, he received the endorsement of the Liberty Iowa PAC, formed two years ago by supporters of Ron Paul's presidential campaign. Both announcements are after the jump, along with my first thoughts on how much the Liberty movement could help Blum in the GOP primary.
Blum posted his announcement on his campaign website, RodBlum.com.

Dubuque businessman, Rod Blum, today announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination to Congress from Iowa's First Congressional District. Blum, a first time candidate in 2012, ran in the Republican primary and nearly upset nominee Ben Lange in a very close race 52% - 47%.
Citing widespread grassroots support and calls for him to run, Blum wrote in an email to voters in the First District, "with so many critical issues facing our country and the support of so many throughout Eastern Iowa, I have decided to enter the race to represent Iowa's First District in the United States Congress."
Also important to Blum was the issue of returning control back to local communities from Washington. "I will fight to keep more of our tax dollars in Iowa so those dollars may strengthen our schools, our infrastructure and our communities. Keeping your tax dollars here, keeps accountability here, where you have more control how and where they are spent."
Blum is a native of Dubuque. He received his undergraduate degree in Business from Loras College and his M.B.A. from the University of Dubuque. Following school he took a job in the computer industry and was C.E.O. of a software development company which eventually went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Blum has also been honored as Iowa High-Tech Entrepreneur of the Year by the prestigious award program sponsored by Ernst & Young. He currently is an owner of Digital Canal Software and is also a real estate developer.
A formal campaign event kickoff is planned for later this summer.
More information can be found at RodBlum.com.
###
Full Text of the announcement email below -
To the Voters of the First District:
The country we all love is in crisis. Tenets that made America the greatest country on Earth are under attack. Personal responsibility, fiscal sanity, the sanctity of life, constitutionally limited government and economic freedom are out of fashion in Washington DC. We all suffer when these principles are abandoned.
Most in Washington believe in the power of the government - I believe in the power of the individual, freedom and liberty. Millions of Americans, doing what's best for their families every day, are the miracle of the free market system. This system of economic freedom has given our families the highest standard of living in the world. But in the last decade of big government, more regulations and out of control government spending has resulted in lower incomes, higher costs and a smaller middle class.
Perhaps the greatest threat to Iowan families is our ever increasing national debt. Our leaders in Washington are addicted to spending and their fiscal insanity threatens to destroy our country. Our national debt has grown by 50% under President Obama and is now a staggering $142,000 per household and is on track to be an astounding $227,000 for every family in Iowa by 2023! Our children and grandchildren should not start out their adult lives with this huge debt on their backs because we didn't have the courage to deal with it.
The solution doesn't lie in ever-increasing taxes and spending; in fact federal tax revenues are projected to set an all-time record this year. As President Reagan often said, "We can't spend our way to prosperity". He understood that real and lasting prosperity can only be generated through free enterprise in the private sector. There is simply not a way to raise taxes high enough to balance current spending levels. The only answer is to send people to Washington who will vote to STOP the out-of-control spending, keep our markets free, and return our country to the limited government mandated by the Constitution.
When I traveled throughout the First District during my 2012 campaign, it confirmed my belief that there is something special about Iowans. I have been humbled by the number of these Iowans who have reached out to me, asking me to run. With this outpouring of grassroots support, and the critical issues facing our country, I have decided to enter the race to represent Iowa's First District in the United States Congress. I will carry the message of Thomas Jefferson to Washington when he said "the government that governs the best is closest to the people." I will fight to lessen the influence Washington has over our lives here in Iowa. I will fight to keep more of our tax dollars in Iowa so those dollars may strengthen our schools, our infrastructure and our communities. Keeping your tax dollars here, keeps accountability here, where you have more control how and where they are spent.
Changing Washington will not be easy. But rest assured I am not interested in becoming a career politician; rather I will go to Washington with a passion and belief that we can restore the principles and tenets that made America great. I ask you to join our team today - TOGETHER we can make Iowan families stronger and brighten the future for many generations to come.

Liberty Iowa Endorses Blum for U.S. Congress
PAC rallies Liberty Movement in support of Dubuque businessman
Wednesday, March 27th 2013
Des Moines, Iowa - Liberty Iowa has renewed its support of Rod Blum for U.S. Congress in Iowa's first congressional district. Blum, who announced his candidacy today, earned the PAC's support in 2012 as well, when his run ended with a narrow primary loss to Ben Lange.
"I'm thankful to accept the support of Liberty Iowa, and I believe that their endorsement highlights my unshakable commitment to protecting the civil liberties and Constitutional rights of Iowans who are concerned about the unchecked growth of government," said Blum.
Liberty Iowa, a state PAC that will celebrate its first anniversary in April, has quickly become a leading voice on issues like agricultural freedom and domestic drone use, and boasts a wide network of conservative and libertarian-leaning activists throughout the state. Adil Khan, Executive Director of LIPAC, believes that network will be a critical part of deciding the upcoming congressional election. "The nation is witnessing a surge of support for principled leaders willing to stand for the liberties of everyday Americans," said Khan. "Rod is that kind of leader, and we are going to work to bring the youth and enthusiasm of the Liberty Movement to bear for him in the first district."
Blum, who garnered 47% of the primary vote last year despite being a first-time candidate, acknowledges the importance of appealing to young liberty-minded voters as well as traditional fiscal and social conservatives. "The Liberty Movement has gained a tremendous amount of momentum among Republicans and Independents, and I want to invite voters from across the spectrum of conservatism to join me in fighting for limited government, sound money, and a responsible foreign policy," said Blum.
Liberty Iowa currently has active chapters in 13 counties within the first district, including the population centers of Linn, Dubuque, and Blackhawk.

During the 2012 Republican primary in IA-01, Ben Lange raised far more money, hired a larger campaign staff, and had far more establishment support in Iowa and nationally than Blum did. Nevertheless, the results were surprisingly close.

Blum declined to endorse a presidential candidate before the 2012 Iowa caucuses and did not even spend caucus night in his home county. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, he did win the Liberty Iowa PAC's support before the IA-01 primary.

In contrast, Lange jumped on Rick Santorum's bandwagon early and appeared at many Santorum campaign events around the first district in late 2011. I thought it would be interesting to compare Iowa caucus results with 2012 IA-01 primary results. Blum's best-performing counties did not overlap with Ron Paul strongholds.

For this table, I took 2012 Iowa caucus results from here and results for the June 2012 primary in IA-01 from the Iowa Secretary of State's website (pdf).

County	Caucus votes for Paul	Caucus votes for Romney	Caucus votes for Santorum	2012 votes for Lange	2012 votes for Blum
Allamakee	157	106	77	1,143	829
Benton	202	184	290	482	380
Black Hawk	870	835	774	1,737	1,269
Bremer	194	249	215	695	578
Buchanan	66	78	133	673	129
Clayton	198	116	110	248	262
Delaware	107	115	146	540	194
Dubuque	665	826	627	910	1,609
Fayette	134	136	172	1,025	483
Howard	34	51	108	111	100
Iowa	151	110	198	191	178
Jackson	163	139	92	202	196
Jones	167	200	180	331	222
Linn	2,089	2,530	1,818	2,106	2,238
Marshall	315	365	373	800	1,140
Mitchell	96	44	68	184	291
Poweshiek	197	116	155	427	318
Tama	126	132	148	462	352
Winnishiek	174	149	136	602	414
Worth	31	34	46	348	369

total	6,136	6,515	5,866	13,217	11,551

The table above does not include all of the Iowa caucus results. In some of the IA-01 counties, Newt Gingrich did well. Still, it's clear that turnout was larger for the June 2012 primary than for the Iowa caucus in January, and there is no obvious correlation between support for Ron Paul and for Rod Blum.

Lange has not indicated whether he will run for Congress a third time in IA-01. If he does, he may not receive as much backing from the establishment as he did in 2012. So far Blum's only definite competition in the IA-01 primary is Steve Rathje. Both men will run on a similar platform of "I know how to run a business, which helps me understand how to run the country."

Any comments about the IA-01 race are welcome in this thread.

2016 Iowa caucus watch: Rick Santorum and Rand Paul visiting soon

desmoinesdem — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:09:00 GMT

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum will be the main speaker at a pro-life lunch event in Des Moines on April 15, WHO-TV's Dave Price reported today. Price notes that Santorum "is the national spokesman for the John Paul II Medical Research Institute in Iowa City led by Kim Lehman, the former Republican National Committeewoman and Santorum 2012 backer." Lehman's group advocates for adult stem cell research only, rather than fetal stem cell research.

In other 2016 presidential contender news, Republican Party of Iowa Chair A.J. Spiker announced today that U.S. Senator Rand Paul will headline the Iowa GOP's Lincoln Day Dinner in Cedar Rapids on May 10. Paul just won the straw poll at the annual CPAC conference, a major event for conservative activists from around the country.

Supporters of Ron Paul's presidential campaign are strongly represented on the Iowa GOP's State Central Committee and in the party's four district committees. However, attempts by "Paulinistas" to win leadership posts in the Scott County and Polk County Republican Party recently failed.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has agreed to headline the Polk County Republican Party's spring fundraiser on May 23.

Any comments related to the next presidential campaign are welcome in this thread. I had to laugh when U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell hinted with a joke that Hillary Clinton is too old to run for president. She will celebrate her 68th birthday in 2016. Mitt Romney just turned 66. Senator John McCain was 71 when he became the GOP's presidential nominee in 2008.

Weekend open thread: Iowa demographics edition

desmoinesdem — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 02:55:54 GMT

What's on your mind this weekend, Bleeding Heartland readers? A few links related to Iowa demographics are after the jump, along with highlights from this week's "Iowa Press" program, featuring Republican Party of Iowa Chair A.J. Spiker and Iowa Democratic Party Chair Tyler Olson.

This is an open thread.
You can look up basic demographic information by Congressional district as well as by state, county, or metro area on the U.S. Census Bureau's "Easy Stats" page. The tables contain information drawn from the 2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates. Be warned: playing around on this website can suck up more time than you'd planned. I've been looking at various statistics from Iowa's four Congressional districts.

Iowa's new political map was based on figures from the 2010 census. According to those numbers, the four new Congressional districts were extremely close in population size, ranging from a low of 761,548 people in IA-01 to a high of 761,624 people in IA-02.

Based on estimates from the Census Bureau's 2011 survey, IA-03 is now the most populous district in the state with 770,819 residents, followed by IA-02 (766,120 residents), IA-01 (763,903 residents), and IA-04 (761,467 residents).

IA-03 also has the largest youth population of the four districts and the smallest number of senior citizens. Not surprisingly, IA-04 contains the most seniors (an estimated 128,119 people age 65 or older), followed by IA-01 (118,709 seniors), IA-02 (112,818 seniors), and IA-03 (98,544 seniors).

The community survey indicates that IA-03 has the largest Black or African American population (an estimated 28,278 people as of 2011), followed by IA-02 (26,257 people), IA-01 (24,510 people), and IA-04 (9,213 people).

The Iowa Congressional district with the largest Hispanic or Latino population of any race is IA-03 (48,201 people), followed by IA-04 (44,288 people), IA-02 (36,455 people), and IA-01 (24,297 people).

IA-03 has the largest Asian-American population as well (20,012 people), followed by IA-02 (15,476 people), IA-04 (12,130 people), and IA-01 (8,422 people).

Because it contains Tama County, the first district has the largest estimated American Indian and Alaska Native population (4,490 people), followed by IA-04 (3,038 people), IA-03 (2,312 people), and IA-02 (2,169 people).

Median household income is highest in IA-03 ($54,641), followed by IA-01 ($50,125), IA-02 ($47,391), and IA-04 ($45,454). One reason for the disparity is that the third district has the highest levels of educational attainment among residents over age 25. The percentage of high school graduates is comparable across the Congressional districts, but in IA-03 some 31.1 percent of residents over 25 have a bachelor's degree or higher. That figure is 26.1 percent IA-02, 24.9 percent in IA-01, and 21.0 percent in IA-04.

IA-01 contains the largest estimated population of civilian veterans (60,307), followed by IA-04 (57,179), IA-03 (54,944), and IA-02 (54,307).

There's much more information about Iowa as a whole, counties, metro areas, and Congressional districts on the "Easy Stats" page.

The gap between the wealthiest 20 percent of Iowans and the poorest 20 percent has been growing over the past decade, though income inequality is higher in many other states than in Iowa.

Speaking of demographics, on February 9 Mitch Henry posted this list of Latino elected officials in Iowa on his Facebook page. It's embarrassingly short.

Jose Zacarias - West Liberty City Council
Sara Huddleston - Storm Lake City Council
Pete Rodriguez - Denison City Council
Dawn Hernandez - Postville City Council
Bernabe Rodriguez - Columbus Junction City Council
Rita Vargas - Scott County County Recorder
Patt Zamora - Davenport School Board
Brenda Garcia-Van Auken - Muscatine School Board
Paula Recinos - Mason City School Board
Paul Castro - Bettendorf School Board

Moving to other political news, I watched Iowa Democratic Party Chair Tyler Olson and his counterpart in the Iowa GOP A.J. Spiker on this weekend's "Iowa Press" program. The video and full transcript are available on Iowa Public TV's website. They spent most of the time discussing the upcoming U.S. Senate race. Neither Olson nor Spiker were willing to endorse a candidate in the primary, and both talked up their party's prospects in the 2014 elections generally. Olson dodged questions about whether he plans to run for governor.

Henderson: Mr. Olson, question for you. Are you going to run for governor?
Olson: Well, we need a new governor. I mean, just look at the last couple of weeks. Governor Branstad has pushed forward proposals to cut education spending --
Borg: But the question is, does that put you in the race?
Olson: Well, that's a decision that will be made over the course of some weeks and months. But we need a new governor. He has pushed cuts to education funding, he is opposing access to health insurance for 155,000 Iowans, cutting funding for clean water and that is just in the last couple of weeks. His record over the last two years reflects the same thing, vetoing middle class tax cuts for Iowans, trying to end our preschool program which meant 25,000 Iowa four year olds would have been out on the street.
Henderson: That may have been your first speech on the campaign trail. Can you be both? Can you be party chair and governor? Or is this party chair thing just a precursor helping you ramp up?
Olson: Well, I'm focused on making sure that Iowa democrats are in a spot so that when we get to a year from now our nominees, no matter who they are, have the resources they need, have the organizational structure that they need to be successful in 2014. We are in a strong spot but we're not going to stand still. We're going to keep moving forward and making sure that our organization is strong.
Henderson: It can't hurt to have the ability to travel to all 99 counties and introduce yourself to people.
Olson: Again, my focus is going to be on building that organization no matter who our nominees are going to be. We're in a strong spot, we're going to keep moving forward.
Borg: Let me ask it this way. Up until Tom Harkin's announcement that he wasn't going to run again we thought it was Bruce Braley who was a prime candidate, democrats did too I think, to go against Governor Branstad, who you raised your hand a moment ago and said I think he's going to run again. But doesn't this now attention -- isn't this a game changer, the announcement, and doesn't it shift all the energy, if not maybe all, a good share of the energy and momentum now toward that Senate race and away from the governor's race, money and attention?
Olson: Well, I think there's going to be a lot more attention on Iowa because Senator Harkin's decision not to run for re-election --
Borg: Is that going to make it harder for the democrats to run someone strong against Governor Branstad?
Olson: I think it's going to benefit democrats running at all levels of office. Senator Harkin talked in his speech announcing that he was not going to run for re-election about the need for a fresh perspective, for voices that understand the world today and maybe not what it was 30 years ago and that is the case that I think democrats are going to make against Governor Branstad as well.

Spiker avoided answering a question about his relationship with Branstad. Last fall, he strongly objected to Branstad's criticism of the Ames straw poll, a major fundraiser for the Iowa GOP.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette picked up on these comments near the end of "Iowa Press."

Henderson: Mr. Spiker, there is a group of republicans who are meeting with the goal of eventually getting the GOP to accept same-sex marriage or at least not make it a central point of any campaign. What are your thoughts on that effort?
Spiker: Well, the party wants to be welcoming and we're a big tent and we want to have people of a lot of different views that are part of the party. But what they also need to understand is that there is a gay marriage party in the state of Iowa and that is the Iowa Democratic Party. The Republican Party embraces one man, one woman marriage and embraces the right of the people to vote on the definition of marriage.

Feel the inclusion! Spiker is only in his early 30s, by the way. In a few decades, he'll be embarrassed not to have joined the cause of Iowa Republicans for marriage equality.

The Iowa Democratic Party sent out a press release on February 8 highlighting the contrast between Spiker and Olson on this issue.

AJ Spiker: "We are the Party of One Man and One Woman"
RPI chair uses 'Iowa Press' segment to reinforce his opposition to marriage equality
Des Moines - Today, during an appearance on Iowa Public Television, new Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rep. Tyler Olson discussed how Democrats are united and focused on the future, while Republican Party Chair, AJ Spiker, demonstrated once again that his party is still fighting the battles of the past.
"There is a gay marriage party in the state of Iowa and that's The Iowa Democratic Party," Spiker said. "The Republican Party embraces one-man/one-woman marriage and embraces the right of the people to vote on the definition of marriage."
The response followed a question from Radio Iowa's O. Kay Henderson regarding recent meetings between Iowa Republicans who are concerned that the GOP will continue to lose with younger voters who embrace marriage rights for same-sex couples.
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rep. Tyler Olson joined Spiker as a guest on this week's Iowa Press, where they also discussed Iowa's political climate, including the race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Tom Harkin in 2014.
Olson struck a very different tone than Spiker, stressing that Iowans have "moved on" from the fight over same-sex marriage.
"Iowa Democrats are focused on job creation, economic development, and expanding access to health care," Olson said. "These are the issues that are important in Iowans' daily lives."
"It's disturbing that Chairman Spiker and the RPI are committed to fighting about issues that have long since been settled."
This segment of Iowa Press will be broadcast Friday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 10 at noon. The program will also be broadcast on IPTV WORLD (.3) Saturday, February 9 at 8:30 a.m. Iowa Press will be available online beginning Friday evening at www.iptv.org .

Weekend open thread: Money in politics edition

desmoinesdem — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 13:45:00 GMT

What's on your mind this weekend, Bleeding Heartland readers? This is an open thread. To get a conversation started, I posted a bunch of links about campaign finance after the jump, focusing on news related to Iowa's 2014 contests for U.S. senator and governor.

At the end I included an old but "new to me" story about Ron Paul's habit of double-billing travel expenses. What will his admirers in the Liberty movement say?
Since Senator Tom Harkin announced last weekend that he will retire in 2014, Iowa politics watchers have been wondering what will happen to the money in his re-election campaign account. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Iowa Democratic Party will both want the lion's share of the funds, but Harkin isn't required to give them money to them. As this weekend's guest on Iowa Public Television's "Iowa Press" program, here's how Harkin answered O.Kay Henderson's question.

Henderson: One of the questions I've been getting all week from people who have been following this story is, what is he going to do with the $3 million he has in his campaign war chest?
Harkin: And I have to be honest with you, Kay, I don't know. I have asked my campaign people to find out what -- I don't even know what I can do with it. I'm sure there are certain ethics rules and certain guidance things like that but sitting here I just don't know.
Henderson: What is your inclination?
Harkin: Well, I don't know until I find out what the parameters are.
Obradovich: If you find out that it is legal for you to give it to the Harkin Institute is that something that you would consider?
Harkin: Sure, if that is legal and ethical and stuff. I don't know the answer to that either.

Read the whole transcript or watch the video here for more discussion of the Harkin Institute at Iowa State University. The upshot is that Harkin hasn't ruled out donating his papers to Drake University if a dispute over research parameters at ISU isn't resolved to his satisfaction. He emphasized that "full, unfettered academic freedom" is a non-negotiable condition for any university receiving his papers.

Iowa Democrats will go ballistic if Harkin ends up giving most of his campaign account to an academic institution. It will be hard enough to fund the coordinated GOTV campaign in a midterm election year with first-time statewide candidates running for governor and senator.

Harkin answered more questions about his campaign money during a press conference after the "Iowa Press" taping. Jeff Patch of The Iowa Republican blog asked Harkin whether he'd been directly fundraising for the academic institute.

"The answer to that is no...Jeff, there's been a lot of stuff that I've read that you've written, that others have written that, you know, there's a little snippet of truth and then you build things around it that just aren't so...I've always appreciated muckrakers, O.K.?" Harkin said, laughing. "They have a role to play. I don't mind that, but I'm not going to take all my time here getting into who did this and what did this and all that kind of stuff."
Harkin said today that he will not raise any more money for his campaign fund, but will continue to raise money for the "TOM-PAC - a political action committee. TOM stands for "To Organize a Majority.". Later this month Harkin is scheduled to hold a fundraiser featuring Lady Gaga.
"One of my deepest, darkest secrets: I am a Lady Gaga fan," Harkin said, laughing. "Actually, she is pretty good."
Lady Gaga is scheduled to hold a concert in Washington, D.C. on February 25. According to politicalpartytime.org, tickets to the Harkin fundraiser are $1500 each.

Can't say I share the senator's appreciation for Lady Gaga's artistic work. I'm not a big consumer of new pop music, but I prefer Pink or Katy Perry.

Cameron Joseph reported for The Hill this week that three possible candidates for U.S. Senate in Iowa "are low on cash after tough 2012 House races."

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has just $119,000 left in the bank as of the year's end, according to recently filed financial reports. Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) is down to $118,000, while Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) has just $51,000 left in his campaign coffers. [...]
Latham raised and spent $3.8 million in the last cycle, King spent $3.7 million and Braley brought in $2.7 million. But their low totals show the congressmen will have to hit the fundraising circuit hard if they want to move to the upper chamber.

I remember being surprised to see so much money in Latham's campaign account as of September 30. Turns out he did spend almost all of it to fend off Representative Leonard Boswell in IA-03.

I'll post another news roundup about the upcoming U.S. Senate race in another thread. Spoiler alert: I wouldn't read too much into this quickie poll from January 29. Latham and King aren't going to run against each other in a primary. And don't be fooled by relatively low statewide name recognition at this stage: King would have very little chance to beat Braley in a general election.

Moving to the governor's race, any Democrat considering a run against Terry Branstad had better be prepared to be outspent by a mile. Last month Branstad reported raising $1,116,705.90 during 2011, on top of the $725,677.04 he had in his campaign account already. His re-election campaign spent $380,453.28 last year, leaving $1,461,929.66 cash on hand according to the latest report (pdf). The governor's huge money lead will make it that much more difficult to develop a strong case against re-electing him. During the 2010 campaign, Branstad flagrantly lied in his stump speech and many of his television commercials.

You can find all the latest campaign finance reports for Iowa candidates for the state legislature or a statewide office on this page of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board website. You can search for past reports by filing date here.

Craig Robinson was the first to comment on a surprising development from 2011: Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds set up her own campaign account.

There is nothing in Iowa law that prevents Reynolds from having her own campaign account, but past Iowa Lieutenant Governors never raised their own funds before, making this uncharted territory. Reynolds filed an "Other Political Subdivision Candidate" report with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. The report showed that Reynolds raised $82,000.00, of which $60,000 was contributed toward the election efforts in the Iowa Senate and Iowa House.
The Branstad Administration likes to mention Reynolds as Governor Branstad's heir apparent, but this is the first major step in making that a real possibility. Having her own campaign account will allow Reynolds to build relationships with donors herself, but more importantly, it allows her to make contributions to local candidates and organizations should she wish to do so. If Branstad really wants to prepare Reynolds to take over some day, he must allow her to venture out on her own politically. The creation of her own campaign account allows that to happen.

The January 2013 disclosure report for Reynolds' account is here (pdf). Most of the $82,000 she raised came in one $75,000 check from the Washington-based Republican State Leadership Committee. Five "usual suspect" Iowa Republican donors kicked in some cash, and Reynolds received checks from one donor from Wisconsin and another from Texas. As Robinson noted, Reynolds passed most of her money ($60,000 total) along to the "Republican Party of Iowa and its Eisenhower Club" for use during the 2014 campaigns.

Final note: I missed this story when it came out last September, but Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington determined,

Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul has been named one of the most corrupt members of Congress in a new report from the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
The report says Paul "double-billed" his travel expenses a number of times over the last decade, meaning he may have been reimbursed for the same flights both under his official allowance as congressman, and by either non-profit groups under his control or his campaign committee.

None of the Iowans in Congress made CREW's 2012 list of most corrupt members of Congress (pdf).

New year, same old story at Iowa GOP

desmoinesdem — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 18:44:46 GMT

Yesterday the Republican Party of Iowa's State Central Committee voted to ~~keep letting the inmates run the asylum~~ re-elect A.J. Spiker as state party chair and put Ron Paul supporters in other leadership positions.
A former co-chair of Ron Paul's presidential campaign in Iowa, Spiker was elected to complete Matt Strawn's term as state party chair last February, when Strawn stepped down over criticism of how he handled the Iowa caucus results. The Iowa GOP hasn't prospered under Spiker's leadership. Donations from large and small donors are way down. Democrats have overtaken Republicans in voter registrations, and the Iowa Democratic Party was far more successful in mobilizing early voters, helping President Barack Obama defeat Mitt Romney by a larger-than-expected margin in Iowa. Democrats did lose one of their Congressional incumbents but held the Iowa Senate majority and gained a net seven seats in the Iowa House.

At times Spiker has seemed more focused on the long-term goals of the "liberty movement" than on the nuts and bolts of electing Republicans. Iowa's delegation to the Republican National Convention cast most of its votes for Ron Paul despite his third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. Maybe that's not a negative for central committee members who won their positions thanks to Paul's Iowa organization. But many major donors and party activists would prefer party leaders to keep their eye on the ball.

Outgoing Iowa GOP co-chairman Bill Schickel challenged Spiker, promising to lead a more inclusive "to boost early voting by 40%, increase Republican voter registration and brand the Republican party as the 'party of conservative ideas and solutions.'" Although Governor Terry Branstad did not publicly endorse Schickel, several major donors closely allied with the governor have publicly expressed concern about the Paulinistas' domination. Two months ago, Spiker strongly objected to Branstad's comments about the future of the Iowa GOP's straw poll.

Some of Schickel's promises may be a bit pie in the sky, but I don't see how anyone could claim Spiker earned a two-year term as state party chair. Central Committee member David Chung made the obvious argument for Schickel:

[Then Iowa GOP chair] Ray Hoffman was not the reason we got swept in 2006 and AJ Spiker is not the reason we got swept again in 2012. But, having lead the party to defeat, it was then and is now, time to search for new leadership.

O.Kay Henderson live-blogged the meeting for Radio Iowa and posted a partial audio clip including nominating speeches and comments from Spiker and Schickel. The Iowa Republican blog also liveblogged the proceedings.

Republican National Committeeman Steve Scheffler nominated Spiker, saying he had "quickly earned the respect & trust of the RNC" and is "not afraid to stand up for traditional values." Spiker claimed the Iowa GOP has solid finances and said he has worked with "very closely with Republicans of all philosophies." At the same time, he said he will "never apologize for social conservatism" and will always stand for the party's principles.

Central Committee member Tim Moran nominated Schickel and warned that it is "not sustainable" to continue on the present course. He pointed out during the meeting that between June and October 2012, only 55 individuals donated to the Iowa GOP, giving a total of $30,000. Schickel told the committee they Republicans to admit "conservatives suffered a defeat" in the recent elections. He argued that "dramatic changes" are needed to prevent the party from becoming a "dinosaur." During the Q&A part of the meeting, Schickel made an excellent analogy:

[Central committee member Loras] Schulte still talking. Says it's vital to be unified, asks Schickel his thoughts on that. Schickel says, "The difference this time is, after Buchanan lost, you didn't bring the entire Buchanan team in to run the Republican Party of Iowa." ... "When our chair, our executive director, our finance director, communications director all came from the same campaign... It's disenfranchising to other Republicans..."

Spiker's allies on the state central committee came through for him yesterday. He defeated Schickel by 13 votes to five on the first ballot.

A spirited debate then ensued among three candidates for state party co-chair: former Michele Bachmann staffer Wes Enos, former Ron Paul co-chair David Fischer, and former Linn County GOP Chair Eric Rosenthal. Nominating Enos, central committee member Jamie Johnson pleaded with his colleagues to give registered Republicans across the state one clear sign that "this is not the Ron Paul Party of Iowa, it is the Republican Party of Iowa." Rosenthal talked about grassroots fundraising and person-to-person volunteer work, not just telemarketing. Fischer said he gets along with all kinds of Republicans but added, "I'm not running so that I can be a cheerleader that anybody that hangs an R behind their name... It's our responsibility as party leaders to hold not only Democrats' feet to the fire, but also Republicans..." Enos emphasized the importance of running strong statewide campaigns in 2014 and urged Republicans not to label people as "campaign for liberty" or "social conservatives," for instance.

To me, it seems obvious that the wise course was to throw a bone to Republicans who preferred candidates other than Ron Paul for president. But the vote wasn't even close: 11 for Fischer as party co-chair, four for Rosenthal, three for Enos. Ron Paul supporter John Kabitzke was re-elected treasurer, while Bachmann endorser Mark Doland was elected secretary.

The Iowa GOP's bank balance will no doubt suffer because of what happened yesterday. Governor Branstad's likely re-election campaign may shield Republican candidates from the impact, though. Branstad will raise a ton of money and will run an early voter drive, whether or not the state party's in a position to help. Fortunately for the GOP state legislative candidates, Iowa House Speaker Kraig Paulsen has shown that he can raise a lot of money, and the new Iowa Senate Minority Leader Bill Dix is a strong fundraiser too. I also suspect that major donors will give more money in 2014 to Republican-aligned groups like Nick Ryan's Team Iowa PAC.

The lack of credible leadership at the state party would be a much bigger problem for Republicans if Branstad retires. A divisive gubernatorial primary would likely ensue, with the eventual winner bruised and under-funded. But I'd be shocked if Branstad didn't seek a sixth term.

I will say this for Iowa Republicans, though: at least their central committee truly elects the party leader. In the Iowa Democratic Party, an incumbent governor or senator up for re-election in two years would just choose the party chair, and the state central committee would rubber-stamp that decision.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread.

P.S. for your "be careful what you wish for" file: The Iowa Republican blog publisher Craig Robinson was the loudest voice for replacing Strawn after last year's caucuses. That blog now laments the Paulinistas' stranglehold on a regular basis.

UPDATE: I was a little surprised that no "faithless" Republican electors cast ballots for Paul instead of Mitt Romney when the electoral college met on January 4. However, keep in mind that Barack Obama carried a bunch of states where Paul loyalists are strongly represented in the GOP (such as Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Colorado). If Romney had won any of those states, we might have seen a vote or two for Paul in the electoral college. In September, an Iowa woman was pressured to step down as a candidate for elector after she disclosed that she would vote for Paul if Romney carried Iowa.

SECOND UPDATE: Moran has resigned from the Iowa GOP's State Central Committee because he is moving out of the fourth Congressional district. The Iowa Republican's Kevin Hall reported,

"The timing worked out really well, personally and politically," Moran said. "The opportunity to relocate is not one to pass up, while at the same time, we have an incoming administration at the State Party that has no interest in the "mechanics" of organization."
Moran is referencing comments made by new RPI Co-Chair David Fischer on Saturday that "there's too much focus on the mechanics" of winning elections. As someone who has been extensively involved in campaign work, Moran vehemently disagrees with Fischer.
"Mechanics and organization are the fundamental needs that candidates and campaigns require when working with a political organization," Moran said. "It's unfortunate the incoming administration is not going to put a high premium on basic campaign tools."
Tim Moran's political resume includes working on Bob Vander Plaats' 2002 and 2006 gubernatorial campaigns, Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign, Bill Northey's 2010 Secretary of Agriculture campaign and serving as the political director for Congressman Steve King's 2008 and 2010 campaigns. He said he plans to remain active in the Republican Party.
"It is good for the Party to remember who wins elections - the grassroots," Moran wrote in an email to Republican activists and officials. "That is where I look to maximize my energy in the coming years."

Ames straw poll hatefest

desmoinesdem — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 02:05:00 GMT

As Republicans in Iowa and across the country ponder how to improve their chances in the next presidential election, bashing the Ames straw poll is all the rage.

Most strategists and politicians recognize that the Republican Party of Iowa needs to dump or radically reinvent its largest pre-caucus fundraiser, traditionally held during the August before the Iowa caucuses. But a few people can't read the writing on the wall.
Governor Terry Branstad made a splash last week in this interview with the Wall Street Journal.

"I think the straw poll has outlived its usefulness," Mr. Branstad said of the 33-year-old GOP ritual. "It has been a great fundraiser for the party but I think its days are over." [...]
In an interview, Gov. Branstad pointed to Ms. Bachmann's rapid rise and fall in 2011 as Exhibit A for why the straw poll no longer makes sense. The Bachmann campaign invested heavily in the one-day event, busing in thousands of supporters from around Iowa and hiring singers like Randy Travis to entertain them in a huge tent.
The Minnesota Republican beat libertarian Rep. Ron Paul of Texas by 150 votes, but never caught fire in Iowa. She came in a very distant sixth in the January Iowa caucuses, getting just 5% of the vote.
"You saw what happened the last time," Gov. Branstad said. "I don't think candidates will spend the time or money to participate in a straw poll if they don't see any real benefit coming out of it."

Branstad's comments spurred a wave of national media speculation about the straw poll, but he was hardly breaking new ground. The previous week, all the guests on Iowa Public Television's "Iowa Press" program agreed that change needs to come. Doug Gross had long been in the "dump Ames" camp. Neither Republican National Committeewoman Tamara Scott (a prominent social conservative) nor Republican blogger Craig Robinson defended the straw poll as currently organized.

Henderson: Mrs. Scott, in August of 2015 will there be a straw poll in Ames or is that an antiquated notion that we should just never have one again?
Scott: I can't answer that. That would be up to the matters of the party to decide.
Henderson: But aren't you a party leader now?
Scott: I am the national committeewoman but I don't think I get that kind of authority yet.
Henderson: Do you think it's a --
Borg: You have a personal opinion on it.
Scott: I think it served a purpose. In 1998 I was thrilled to be there. It got people out. It got involved, people were involved. It was good to see the numbers. I think obviously in the last year it became a little more of a who had the money to purchase what spot where and bring in what entertainer and I hate to see politics reduced to that. I think that we have lost some of the issues and some of the ground because it has become such a long, drawn out process here in Iowa and I think that feeds to the apathy of the Iowa people.
Henderson: Mr. Gross has made his thoughts on this well known. He thinks it should end. Mr. Robinson, do you think the nail should be driven --
Robinson: I do agree and in fact, I actually think it is the candidates themselves who will determine if there is a straw poll that year, not the party. And I think its time has come and I think there are things that can replace it that would be similar but we can't have something that culls the herd, so to speak, like it is now.
Obradovich: Why not have a big event, let them all speak and not take a vote?
Robinson: Right, no I think you have to eliminate the vote. The idea to bring in a presidential debate was kind of born right after the 2007 straw poll where you can kind of give candidates a different way to play it. And so I think we have to reassess and maybe change our approach on some things.

Today the editors of the conservative National Review called for ditching the event.

Though Branstad will not ultimately decide whether the poll returns in 2015 - that decision is up to the state's party and the candidates, among others - we hope that he's prescient. Ames does more damage than justice to the nominating process, and ensures that the country's first view of the Grand Old Party's latest presidential crop is through a distorted lens.
Consider that in the poll's 30-year-plus history it has correctly prefigured the eventual nominee just twice, in the persons of Senator Bob Dole and Governor George W. Bush, in 1995 and 1999, respectively, and only the latter went on - narrowly - to the White House. This go-round, the poll was won by Representative Michele Bachmann, who would falter in the early debates and capture just 5 percent of total primary votes. Representative Ron Paul, of being-Ron Paul fame, finished less than a percentage point behind in second. Whatever one thinks of Paul's import or his place in conservative conversation, he was never in danger of winning the Republican nomination, in this or any neighboring universe. [...]
In fact, the spotlight is part of the problem. The media as much as anyone have imbued the story of Ames with an import that the reality of Ames has not justified - and cannot justify. And they help sell the fiction that the straw poll highlights the divergent preferences of the "grassroots" and the "establishment," and not the divergent preferences of a hand-picked, bused-in sample and the Republican electorate nationwide. This fiction now infects the debate about Ames's future, because the Ames we read about is not the non-predictive, distortive Ames of reality, but a mythic creature in a story. And like so many mythic creatures, this one needs slaying.

Any clear-thinking Iowa Republican should recognize that continuing the status quo is not an option. Serious presidential candidates will skip the event rather than risk ending up like Tim Pawlenty.

To listen to Iowa GOP Chair Spiker, though, you'd think Branstad dreamed up this idea out of nowhere.

"Gov. Branstad is wrong, and this is not a decision he will make anyway," said a peeved A.J. Spiker, chairman of the state GOP. "It is a decision the party and the candidates will make."

Diplomacy was never the Ron Paul crowd's strong suit. Then, when he should have been cooling off, Spiker ratcheted up his invective against his own party's governor.

Spiker sees the moves against the straw poll as part of "a continued effort to make sure that the political industry selects candidates rather than the grassroots." Spiker maintains the straw poll "is probably the best opportunity ... to plant some grassroots and put in place a infrastructure for the Iowa Caucus" and believes the push to end it are parallel to the controversial efforts in Tampa by the Romney campaign for "more consolidation of power" among party elites.

I think Spiker's analogy is apt, but for a different reason. Like his deep concern about Ron Paul delegates from Maine before the Republican National Convention, Spiker's commitment to the straw poll indicates that he and like-minded "Paulinistas" are more focused on building influence within the GOP than on helping Republican candidates win presidential elections.

Conservative talk radio host Steve Deace, a leading voice against moving to the middle, was incensed by Branstad's comments about the straw poll.

"The only people who hate conservatives more than Democrats are people like Terry Branstad," Deace said. He went on to scathingly describe the Republican governor's political influence in the state saying, "I'd almost rather have Barack Obama's endorsement in 2016 than Terry Branstad's; it tells all the Ron Paul and social conservatives who not to vote for."
In Deace's eyes, Branstad's statement is "a preemptive strike aimed at conservatives" to keep establishment control of the Republican Party, and specifically aimed at "trying to stop Rand Paul."

That's about what I'd expect from a guy who blames Mitt Romney for the "traditional marriage" movement's election-day setbacks.

Speaking to reporters today, Branstad floated an idea for holding several events around the state, rather than a single fundraiser in Ames.

Branstad reiterated that a party fundraiser that increases the visibility of candidates in the months before the caucuses is a good thing. It's the presence of a preference poll that doesn't represent the true caucus electorate that is problematic.
"The event, I think, is great," he said. "In fact, what I've suggested is let's replace one event with relational group of events and give people in all different parts of the state and opportunity to participate and see the candidates."

Sounds reasonable to me, although the candidates might be reluctant to add more joint events to the many debates scheduled during the run-up to the caucuses.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread.

Highlights from latest Iowa campaign stops by Ryan and Biden

desmoinesdem — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 11:55:00 GMT

Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan campaigned in Des Moines yesterday, while Vice President Joe Biden kicked off a two-day swing through Iowa in Burlington. I've enclosed highlights from both men's speeches after the jump. I'll update this post later with clips from Biden's events today in Ottumwa and Grinnell.
According to Romney's campaign staff in Iowa, about 600 people came to hear Ryan speak in Des Moines. Governor Terry Branstad introduced Ryan, and Representatives Steve King and Tom Latham both attended the event. Radio Iowa's O.Kay Henderson posted a link to the full audio here. He characterized the 2009 stimulus as a failure and claimed (wrongly) that Obama promised unemployment would never go above 8 percent if the stimulus passed. Many Republicans have echoed the same false claim about Obama's promises on unemployment, incidentally.

Getting back to Ryan's speech in Des Moines yesterday: he praised Iowans for being "frugal," having the lowest average credit card debt in the U.S., and electing "governors who balance the budget."

Midway through his speech Ryan made an appeal to Ron Paul Republicans who have deep reservations about the Federal Reserve system.
"The Federal Reserve is stepping in with yet another bail-out," Ryan said and, as many in the crowd booed, one man yelled: "End The Fed!" Ryan continued: "All this money-printing, all this creation of money is sugar-high economics. What we want, what we deserve, what we need in this country is honest money."
According to Ryan, "Wall Street" and the nation's "big banks" are the main beneficiaries of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, but he said "the rest of us" aren't helped by it. Ryan also told the crowd the country was in danger of economic calamity if President Obama is reelected.

Ryan described the need to cut the deficit as a moral issue, so that we don't pass the debt along to our children. Similarly, Romney's latest campaign commercial running in Iowa shows the candidate saying, "We have a moral responsibility not to spend more than we take in. We can't keep buying and spending and passing on debts to our kids. And I'll stop it." If closing the budget gap is a moral imperative, I always wonder why Republicans won't ask the wealthiest income groups to pay even a little more in taxes. Ryan sidestepped the issue of income tax rates for the top bracket, framing Obama's plan as a strategy to raise taxes on small businesses.

After criticizing Obama's record and assuring the audience that there is time to turn this economy around, Ryan praised Romney for "saving the Olympics" in Salt Lake City and hailed his record in private business:

I want to be really clear about this. Being successful in business--that's a good thing in this country! That's not a bad thing! There's nothing to be ashamed about by being successful in business! We want successful people. We take pride in one another success, we don't resent it.

Irony of the day: during his stump speech in Des Moines, Ryan mocked some comments Obama made at a private fundraiser in San Francisco during the 2008 campaign:

He said people like us, people from the Midwest, they like to cling to their guns and their religion. I gotta tell you, this Catholic deer hunter is guilty as charged, and proud to say so. You know, that's just weird. Who says things like that? That's just strange.

The dominant campaign story of yesterday's news cycle was the leaked video of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney telling an audience at a closed fundraiser,

There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what...These are people who pay no income tax.
Romney went on: "[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

You know, that's just weird. Who says things like that? That's just strange.

Romney doesn't seem to understand that every American pays sales taxes, and many people also pay property taxes or withholding taxes. The 47 percent Romney alludes includes millions of working poor people, whose tax burden as a percentage of their total income is much higher than the typical wealthy person's tax burden. As many others pointed out yesterday, it's bizarre for Romney to disparage people who don't pay income taxes, since he uses tax shelters and refuses to release his tax returns. Romney called an impromptu press conference last night to deal with the blowback. Mother Jones posted the transcript here.

Back to yesterday's campaigning in Iowa. Bruce Scheitlin, who works at Champion Spark Plug and belongs to the United Automobile Workers Local 1237, introduced Vice President Biden at the event in Burlington. He said that the Burlington plant would have lost a third of its business if the Obama administration had let Chrysler fail in 2009. Speaking to the heavily union crowd,

Biden focused on health care for seniors, international trade and, of course, the federal support for the American automobile industry. He contrasted President Barack Obama's positions on those issues with those of his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney. [...]
Biden said it may seem like the easy choice now, but when the president made the decision, it was not clear the industry should be rescued. The line echoed comments he made at the Democratic National Convention two weeks ago.

Brian Crozier of KBUR in Burlington reported more highlights from Biden's event.

Biden also accused Romney of hypocrisy on a key trade issue. Earlier today President Obama announced the U.S. was filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization against China's subsidies for its auto industry. Romney dismissed it as an "election year stunt" after 43 months of failed action against China. Biden shot back during his remarks in Burlington.
"I seldom ever quote the official Chinese government news agency," Biden said, getting laughter from the crowd, many of whom are union members. "This - seriously - this was what the Chinese news agency said and I quote - 'It's rather ironic that a considerable portion of this China-battering politician's wealth was actually obtained by doing business with Chinese companies before he entered politics.'"
Biden described Obama's action on Monday as an effort to get "real, enforceable fair trade" with the Chinese.
"And a level playing field so we can export what the world wants - products that say: 'Made in America,'" Biden said, as the crowd cheered. "That's what the world wants - Made in America."
The crowd started chanting "U-S-A!" in response.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: In Ottumwa on September 19, Biden stuck to his basic stump speech and did not mention Romney's "47 percent" video, which continued to dominate political news coverage. Radio Iowa posted the audio and some highlights.

"Folks, we've seen this movie before," Biden said. "Massive tax cuts for the wealthy, shed reasonable regulations on Wall Street and the big banks, let the insurance companies go back to making decisions about pre-existing conditions, life-time limits and the rest about your health insurance - we know how that movie ends...It ends in a catastrophe for the middle class."
As he did the day before in Burlington, Biden touted the Obama Administration's record on trade issues. According to Biden, the U.S. has filed more trade cases against China in the last four years than Republican George W. Bush's administration did in its eight years.
"The fact is there's nothing I can see that Romney has said or done or is proposing where he would stand up to unfair trade practices or eliminate incentives for American corporations to leave Iowa and go somewhere else," Biden said.

In Grinnell later the same day, Biden added a few student-friendly themes to his stump speech.

He made several references not only to the Obama administration's work on cutting student loan rates, boosting Pell grants and cutting private banks out of the federal student loan program, but also to "women's health care," "marriage equality" and an end to the war in Afghanistan.
"If nothing else were at stake, just imagine what the Supreme Court would like after four years of a Romney presidency, with two appointments," Biden said. "It's pretty profound, folks."
Also prominent at the event was U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, a three-term Democratic incumbent who's district now includes Grinnell and Poweshiek County because of redistricting.
Braley spoke before Biden and sat on stage throughout his remarks, and Biden referred to him several times, complimenting him as "my pal Bruce Braley" who supported the administration's efforts on education.

Braley's home town of Brooklyn is in Poweshiek County, not far from Grinnell. Iowa Democrats need to get the vote out in the Grinnell area to have any chance of winning the open Iowa House district 76 or defeating Republican State Senator Tim Kapucian in the new Iowa Senate district 38.

Meanwhile, The Iowa Republican's Craig Robinson couldn't contain his frustration upon learning that Ann Romney will headline a campaign event in Des Moines later this week.

All told, more than half of visits to Iowa by Romney, his wife, and his running mate, will have been to the Des Moines area, while the rest of the state, including some of the most conservative areas, have barely seen the Republican nominees.
The Romney campaign's emphasis on and around Des Moines is baffling. Make no mistake, Polk County and the surrounding area are important, but so too is western Iowa where many of the state's conservatives call home. Another important area is eastern Iowa, which has long been the battleground in statewide elections.
It's hard to figure out if the Romney campaign is lazy, dumb, or just scared. Des Moines is probably the easiest town for Romney to pull off an event on short notice. In addition to having some stalwart supporters there, there are plenty of Republican politicos who work in the city that can help and have flexible enough schedules to attend events at odd times of the day. Most of the Romney infrastructure in the state is also located in Des Moines.
Maybe the Romney campaign just isn't smart enough to realize that they need to campaign all across the state. Des Moines media is always the best for covering the campaign when it comes to town, but it's not like they refuse to travel. Des Moines is also an awful town to hold political events. Sure the media likes it when the campaign comes to them, but activists from outside of Des Moines are not going to navigate Iowa's capitol city to go to a political event. [...]
The other possibility is that the Romney campaign is scared to hold campaign events outside of Des Moines and Scott County. In fact, when you look at the communities that the Romney campaign has visited, they have only gone to counties in Iowa where they did very well on caucus night. Since Romney has struggled to generate large crowds in "safe" places like Council Bluffs, Des Moines, and the Quad Cities, they may be hesitant to hold events in areas of the state where Romney has not performed well. Ironically, Romney's largest Iowa crowd to date was in Orange City, a place that is dominated by social conservatives. That is a place where Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum both dominated.

THIRD UPDATE: Via Carrie Dann, this chart shows the percentage of Americans in each state who "filed an income tax return but had no income tax liability after taking their credits and deductions." In 2008, Iowa ranked 37th, with about 31 percent of taxpayers having no federal income tax liability. In 2010, Iowa ranked 38th, with just under 30 percent of tax filers having no federal income tax liability.

Ron Paul loyalist resigns as Iowa GOP candidate for elector (updated)

desmoinesdem — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:40:00 GMT

One of the Republican Party of Iowa's candidates for elector resigned yesterday after indicating that she would cast her electoral college ballot for Ron Paul in the event that Mitt Romney wins Iowa this November.
Iowa has six votes in the electoral college, so the Iowa Democratic Party and Iowa GOP each selected six candidates for elector earlier this year. Casting a ballot in the electoral college is an honor usually given to office-holders or longtime party activists.

Typically, it goes without saying that candidates for elector plan to vote for their party's presidential nominee. But in yet another sign of the Ron Paul faction's total domination of the Iowa Republican convention process, Melinda Wadsley was selected as a candidate for elector from Iowa's fourth district. She was one of three candidates for elector from around the country featured in this Associated Press story published on September 13:

"They've never given Ron Paul a fair shot, and I'm disgusted with that. I'd like to show them how disgusted I am," said Melinda Wadsley, an Iowa mother of three who was selected as a Republican elector earlier this year. She said Paul is the better choice and noted that the Electoral College was founded with the idea that electors wouldn't just mimic the popular vote.

Wadsley's words didn't sit well with Republicans, because if Romney wins a close race, even a few "faithless electors" could keep him from reaching the 270 votes needed in the electoral college. By yesterday afternoon, Iowa GOP Chair A.J. Spiker had announced her resignation "effective immediately." Wadsley explained to the Associated Press,

I have always been a straight-ticket Republican, and for the first time in my life I am an undecided voter, therefore, I need to resign my position as a Republican presidential elector.

Like John Deeth, I feel sympathy for the Romney campaign staffer who "has to comb through the elector slates in every state Romney could convceivably win," looking for potential faithless electors.

That person won't need to worry about the other Iowa candidates for elector. Activist Joni Scotter endorsed Romney before the Iowa caucuses. State Senators Mark Chelgren and Jack Whitver both supported Michele Bachmann for president but told the Des Moines Register yesterday that they are committed to supporting Romney in the electoral college. Ditto for Iowa Finance Authority Director David Jamison, who caucused for Rick Santorum. The last Iowa candidate for elector, Kurt Brown, was also a Santorum supporter. He told Jennifer Jacobs that he's "99 percent committed to Romney" but is still studying the rules. My hunch: that means Brown is a solid vote for Romney if his vote is needed to help Romney get to 270 in the electoral college. However, if Romney wins Iowa while losing the electoral college to President Barack Obama, it sounds like Brown might consider casting his ballot for Santorum on December 17.

This fiasco hasn't helped the Iowa GOP's image, but there's not a lot detractors can do about it, since Paul supporters have a solid bloc on the party's State Central Committee.

P.S. - I received this press release from the Liberty Iowa PAC on September 14:

Iowa Liberty Elector Resigns
RNC leaves Republican voters disenfranchised
Chantilly, VA - Melinda Wadsley, Director of Development for Liberty Iowa has resigned her position as presidential elector for the Republican Party. Melinda is a life long Republican from Iowa and has always voted straight ticket.
The recent decision to resign was in response to a request from A.J. Spiker, Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa.
"The Iowa GOP has made it clear they will work tirelessly to ensure all 6 electoral votes go for Romney. As I can no longer in good conscious vote for Romney, I feel the need to step aside, out of respect for A.J. and the Republican Party of Iowa."
Many liberty supporters have expressed outrage after the events that occurred at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.
"I am highly disappointed with both the Romney campaign and the RNC for actions taken at the Republican National Convention" said Melinda Wadsley. "They lost a valuable opportunity to unite the party and welcome the grassroots supporters into their ranks."
The RNC passed rules that would limit the grassroots effort and would allow presidential campaigns more authority on delegates chosen. This centralization of authority is causing lifelong Republicans, such as Melinda, to question the direction the party has moved.
"Nothing like this has ever happened before in living memory at a Republican National Convention." said Morton Blackwell, the youngest delegate for Goldwater in 1964 and Special Assistant to President Reagan for Public Liaison.
"The liberty movement is only getting bigger and stronger, for this reason we at Liberty Iowa will continue to work within the Republican Party," said Adil Khan, Interim Executive Director of Liberty Iowa. "It is vital that we bring disenfranchised liberty voters back to the Republican Party as a vital base of conservative grassroots."

LATE UPDATE: On September 22, the Republican Party of Iowa's State Central Committee chose Lanny Hustedt as the new candidate for elector in the fourth Congressional district.

Hustedt finished second in the balloting behind Melinda Wadsley at the district convention. [...]
Hustedt told TheIowaRepublican that Mitt Romney can count on his "100 percent" support. "I'm very humbled by it," Hustedt said. "It's an important job and I just felt that most people put their names in for delegates or alternates, so I decided to do this."
Iowa has six electoral votes. Hustedt won on the first ballot with nine votes. He is a former chairman of the Wright County GOP and co-chair of the O'Brien County GOP. Lyon County GOP Chair Cody Hoefert garnered five votes. The other two went to college Republican Josh Streif.

Final Republican convention discussion thread: Clint Eastwood and Mitt Romney

desmoinesdem — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 14:55:00 GMT

Mitt Romney formally accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president last night. A surprise appearance by actor and director Clint Eastwood overshadowed Romney's speech.
So far, television ratings for this RNC convention have been much lower than in 2008, when Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was a new and exciting face for the party. To generate some buzz about Thursday night's prime-time lineup, Republican officials were touting an unnamed special guest. That turned out to be Eastwood, who delivered this strange dialogue with an empty chair (representing President Barack Obama).

Mother Jones published the transcript of Eastwood's speech here.

I bet Romney's handlers regretted the decision to send Eastwood on stage without an approved script. Last night the Romney campaign released this written statement:

"Judging an American icon like Clint Eastwood through a typical political lens doesn't work. His ad libbing was a break from all the political speeches, and the crowd enjoyed it. He rightly pointed out that 23 million Americans out of work or underemployed is a national disgrace and it's time for a change."

Amazingly, Romney's people ran their biographical video on the GOP nominee before major network coverage began last night. How could they relegate their best effort to promote Romney to cable networks and let the larger broadcast audience watch Eastwood? Lots of people were scratching their heads.

I only saw parts of Romney's acceptance speech, but from what I read he said very little about his accomplishments as governor of Massachusetts. Typically, when a governor runs for president, the candidate's record as leader of a state forms the centerpiece of the campaign.

Any comments about the Republican convention are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: O.Kay Henderson reported,

Convention delegate Roger Leahy of Fairfield calls the Romney/Ryan ticket the "lesser of two evils" and he may vote for a third party candidate.
"I'm going to still be thinking about it 'til November whatever it is, 6th or 2nd or something," Leahy said this morning, with a laugh. "I don't know. I mean, I've never actually voted for the lesser of the evils. I've always voted for who I thought was the best candidate on the ballot and I'm still looking at that and I think there may be other candidates on the ballot." [...]
Delegate and Ron Paul supporter Jonas Cutler of West Des Moines said today he'll "work for the Republican Party of Iowa" - plus, his daughter is in a Romney campaign commercial - but Cutler will not say whether he'll vote for Mitt Romney.
"We are the future of the Republican Party here," Cutler replied the fifth time he was asked if he'd vote for Romney.[...]
State Senator Brad Zaun of Urbandale - an alternate delegate to the convention who points out his candidate, Michele Bachmann, lost, too - said he's had "disturbing" conversations with many of the Ron Paul supporters from Iowa.
"I've had several of them say, 'I don't even know if I'm going to vote,' and that really upsets me," Zaun said. "Their candidate lost and they're supposed to be representatives of the Republican Party and they need to get behind Mitt Romney."

SECOND UPDATE: Henderson also reported Iowa GOP Chair A.J. Spiker's commnts regarding new rules adopted by the RNC. According to Spiker, tough penalties for states that try to schedule their primaries or caucuses very early are the "biggest protection Iowa's first-in-the-nation status has ever had."

Under the new GOP rules, a state that schedules its presidential primary or caucus before the end of February would only be able to send 12 delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention.
"So (a state) like California that went into February would have 12 delegates instead of over 150, so it's a big penalty," Spiker says. "That's one of the biggest, positive things that come out of the convention that impacts the first-in-the-nation status of the Republican Party of Iowa."
States that have moved ahead on the presidential election calendar in the past, though, have escaped serious party penalties. By the time a national convention comes around, nervous presidential nominees do not wish to offend voters in states like Florida who are crucial for victory in November. GOP Convention delegates ratified the new get-tough-on-leapfroggers rule on Tuesday. Spiker says a bid to give the party's next presumed presidential nominee the ability to dictate who could be a delegate at the 2016 convention has been thwarted.
"I believe that speaks volumes of a lot of us put in to make sure that it was the people rather than the politicians picking the delegates," Spiker says. "It was a tremendous success of a broad coalition: Tea Party people, Evangelicals, moderates, Ron Paul people - it was just a broad coalition to make sure that the grassroots continued to be the leader of that process."

Republican National Convention links and discussion thread (updated)

desmoinesdem — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:20:00 GMT

Normally I am a political party convention junkie, but I haven't watched any of the Republican National Convention so far. Judging from media accounts of the prime-time program, it seems that Ann Romney gave a decent speech, dwelling on the theme of love, after which New Jersey Governor Chris Christie talked mostly about himself and said Republicans need to seek respect, not love. He also praised presidential nominee Mitt Romney for being willing to tell the hard truths about how to fix the deficit, but naturally, didn't share any details on those tough budget cuts to come.

Any comments related to the GOP convention are welcome in this thread. Many links and news stories related to the Iowa delegation are after the jump.
Romney's people tapped Iowa Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds as convention secretary, meaning that she got to call the roll of delegates. Was it a way to counteract the storyline of Ron Paul supporters dominating Iowa's delegation? During the roll call, Iowa cast 22 votes for Paul and only six for Romney. But Iowa GOP Chair A.J. Spiker said in a written statement that the state party will "unite" and "work tirelessly to ensure that Iowa's six electoral votes go to Governor Romney in November."

Radio Iowa's O.Kay Henderson was there as Paul addressed roughly 400 supporters, including most of Iowa's delegation, on Monday morning.

"The victories aren't there and you say, 'Complete defeat.' But, no, I think we keep winning. The harder they try to silence us, the harder they try to push us around, the harder they try to take our delegates away, I think it's an incentive," Paul said.
"It is a tremendous incentive for everybody to work harder." [...]
While the other major competitors for the Republican Party's presidential nomination have released their delegates and endorsed Mitt Romney, Paul has not. Paul never once mentioned Romney during his remarks this morning and he urged his supporters to continue their efforts to remake the Republican Party.
"All the victories are important, but they aren't the end game," Paul said. "The end game is who wins the war and, if you see it as an intellectual war, I'll tell you what: we are way ahead."

I laugh every time I read the grumbling about Iowa's delegates getting stuck in a faraway hotel, 45 minutes to an hour's drive from the convention site.

Speaking of Paul supporters, there are still hard feelings over the Republican National Committee's decision not to seat some people in the Maine delegation. That led to an awkward moment Tuesday afternoon in the convention hall, described by Jack Hitt of Harper's (click through for video):

The RonPaulites, whose furious devotion to a single idea have made them the Ellen Jamesians of the right, were protesting a decision by RNC officials not to seat members of the Maine delegation, which was split between Paul and Romney supporters following rule changes made just prior to the convention. There were energetic shouts of "Aye!" and "Nay!" as a Puerto Rican party functionary-Zoraida Fonalledas, the chairwoman of the Committee on Permanent Organization-took her turn at the main-stage lectern. As she began speaking in her accented English, some in the crowd started shouting "U.S.A.!
The chanting carried on for nearly a minute while most of the other delegates and the media stood by in stunned silence. The Puerto Rican correspondent turned to me and asked, "Is this happening?" I said I honestly didn't know what was happening-it was astonishing to see all the brittle work of narrative construction that is a modern political convention suddenly crack before our eyes. None of us could quite believe what we were seeing: A sea of twentysomething bowties and cowboy hats morphing into frat bros apparently shrieking over (or at) a Latina. RNC chairman Reince Priebus quickly stepped up and asked for order and respect for the speaker, suggesting that, yeah, what we had just seen might well have been an ugly outburst of nativism.

Romney's campaign team must be relieved that didn't happen during prime time television coverage, although it's possible that the chants of "U.S.A!" were designed to drown out Ron Paul supporters, not a speaker with a Puerto Rican accent.

Loud cries of "Boo" and" Seat them now" filled the convention floor as repeated calls to contest a credentials committee report fell on deaf ears after it passed by a voice vote. A majority of the delegates from six states were required to call for a roll call vote on the credentials report, submitting their intent to do so in writing in advance. Despite Maine the delegates' claims, no such support came from their colleagues from other states.
The boos disrupted the speech of Puerto Rico National Committeewoman Zori Fonalledas, who was set to announce the nomination of Speaker of the House John Boehner as permanent convention chairman.
Priebus repeatedly called on the crowd to silence themselves, as dozens of men wearing earpieces converged on the shouting Paul supporters - some delegates, and even more expressing their displeasure from the arena's upper decks.
As Boehner moved to the report from the Committee on Rules and Order of Business, Paul supporters began shouting "Point of Order," calling on the chair to recognize them for a motion. Boehner shouted over them, as other delegates tried to drown them out with chants of "U-S-A."

I thought the Ron Paul supporters in Iowa's delegation were planning to support their colleagues in Maine; Spiker gave that impression last week. Perhaps the Iowans couldn't get enough backup from other states.

On the plus side for Iowa Republicans, GOP nominee in the second Congressional district John Archer was put on the speaking schedule for Tuesday afternoon. (He was originally scheduled to speak on Monday, but tropical storm/hurricane Isaac's planned path derailed all of Monday's events.) You can watch a video of Archer's speech at the C-SPAN website. Transcript:

"Greetings! Greetings to the Iowa delegation. And greetings to all the great people in the state of Iowa!
Hope and change were elected four years ago, and where has that gotten us? We have more debt - almost 16 trillion in debt. This White House believes in a tax and spend philosophy.
We have more doubt - families don't know how much Obamacare will cost them, and businesses don't know what new regulations will burden them.
We have more despair - for 42 months, unemployment has been above 8 percent. We keep waiting for it to improve - and waiting and waiting and waiting. We don't have to wait any more. We can do better! And we'll do it by talking honestly about the issues.
As we have in Iowa this year, we will continue to talk about big ideas this week. We'll talk about a balanced budget - we can do better. We'll talk about tax relief for working families - we can do better. We'll talk about stopping the regulatory attack on farmers and small businesses - we can do better. We'll talk about protecting Medicare and Social Security for this generation of seniors and the next - we can do better. And we'll talk about getting government out from in-between patients and their doctors by repealing Obamacare - we can do better.
And we will do better in Iowa and across this great nation by electing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as the next president and vice president of the United States this November. Thank you, and God bless Iowa and this great nation."

Archer spoke to the Quad Cities television station KWQC yesterday morning.

UPDATE: On August 29, U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, gave a speech to his father's supporters. Again O.Kay Henderson was there (click through for a link to the audio):

"Now I had heard there were some troublemakers in Iowa and as I was driving the hour and a half out here, I figured, 'Boy, they stuck those guys way out in the wilderness,'" Rand Paul joked as he began speaking to the crowd.
But Paul quickly urged the crowd to tamp down the ranting and raving and consider the perspective of those who've criticized his father's supporters.
"Politics is messy. You can look at it two ways," Rand Paul said. "Some would say - and there is some point to this - Ron Paul got a very small percentage of the vote, but got a much larger percentage of delegates. It's because they worked hard and they got through the system, so you could argue they had a disproportionate influence here. Now, I'm not arguing we had too much influence, but you can look at it both ways." [...]
"Now some get unhappy at the proceedings and say, 'Oh, I'm not being treated fairly. I'm going to take my toys and go home,'" Rand Paul said. "I don't think that's the best way to do it. I think the best way is to participate within the Republican Party whether you're always getting what you want or not. If you're an adult, you don't always win every time. You've to realize that. Stay in the party. Make the party bigger and stronger."

August 30 update: I didn't watch Paul Ryan's acceptance speech last night, but I read that it was full of lies. Besides the usual misleading statements about Medicare and Medicaid, Ryan blamed Obama for a General Motors plant closure, even though GM announced plans to close that plant in June 2008. Also,

Ryan lied about the Simpson-Bowles commission, falsely accusing Obama of walking away from debt reduction, and ignoring the fact that Ryan himself fought to ensure the Simpson-Bowles commission never even released a report. Ryan lied about his plans for the safety net, saying he intends to "protect the weak" when he budget plan intends to gut public investments that benefit the poor.
Ryan lied about the debt, saying Obama "has added more debt than any other president before him," when the truth is, that was George W. Bush -- who added over $5 trillion to the debt thanks in large part to congressional votes cast by Paul Ryan.

Funny blog post by Jennifer Jacobs:

Although they were finished at Tuesday's session at 11 p.m., some of the Iowans didn't get back to their hotel an hour's journey away until as late as 2:30 a.m., they said. [...]
The problems started Tuesday morning. A shuttle was expected at noon sharp, but no bus appeared.
A bus coordinator stopped by Sunset Vistas hotel to make sure travel arrangements were going smoothly and learned the Iowa team was stranded.
"No bus was ever scheduled for us," said alternate delegate Chelsy Askren of Clayton County.
"By accident or design," added [State Representative Glen] Massie. "You know how we voted." [...]
Delegate Steve Scheffler said he didn't get back to Sunset Vistas until 2:30 a.m. Previous GOP conventions in Minnesota and New York "were nothing like this," he said. "This was just a disaster. Ridiculous."
Some of the delegates, including Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, have cars at their disposal and aren't relying on the shuttle buses.

Possible Iowa caucus reform discussion thread

desmoinesdem — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 02:05:00 GMT

The Iowa way of assigning delegates for presidential candidates may need to change for the 2016 election cycle, assuming the Republican National Convention approves a rule change sought by Mitt Romney's campaign.
Supporters of Ron Paul were able to dominate the at-large delegate selection process for the Republican National Convention and other party business at the GOP district and state conventions, even though Paul finished third in the straw polls conducted at Iowa precinct caucuses in January. A similar story unfolded in some other states that do not bind delegates to presidential candidates immediately following caucuses or primaries.

Romney's campaign wants to make sure that never happens again.

The Republican National Convention Committee voted 56-40 to make it impossible for supporters of one presidential candidate to override the will of voters at a state convention, as Ron Paul supporters did in Iowa and Nevada. [...]
The rule forces statewide presidential primaries or caucuses to determine the ultimate allocation of delegates, preventing takeovers like Paul executed in Iowa by eliminating unbound delegates in statewide contests. States would be allowed to decide whether to give all their delegates to the winner of the primary or caucus, or distribute them proportionally according to the results.
"Iowa will have to change the way they do it," said a GOP official.

Governor Terry Branstad, who remained neutral before the caucuses but later endorsed Romney for president, likes the proposed change.

"Generally speaking, the delegates have been proportioned fairly close to how (presidential candidates) did in the Caucuses," Branstad told Radio Iowa during a telephone interview early this afternoon.
Branstad supports the move to bind delegates to the results of the Caucus Night voting.
"I just think it does make a lot of sense and I'd be certainly supportive of that," Branstad said. "I think that way the people who go to the Caucuses can feel their representation is reflected in the (national convention) delegation."

But Iowa GOP Chair A.J. Spiker, who co-chaired Ron Paul's campaign in Iowa, told Radio Iowa, "I'm shocked that the Romney campaign would decide to divide Republicans just before the national convention." Yes, Mr. Spiker, we know that the fate of Ron Paul delegates is of great concern to you.

I have never been a big fan of the caucus system, in part because the delegates allocated to each candidate do not always reflect the preferences of caucus-goers. Any change that would make the delegate selection track more closely to the caucus-night results would be an improvement, in my opinion.

However, this change would not address the Iowa caucus problem of excluding highly engaged voters who are unable to attend in person. The Republican National Convention Committee considered but rejected a rule that would have required caucus states to allow active-duty military and disabled veterans to participate by absentee ballot. I support introducing absentee ballots to the caucus process, but only if they are available to anyone who can't turn out on caucus night (including shift workers, disabled people, and those who lack transportation to the caucus site).

John Deeth sees binding delegates as a major potential threat to Iowa's first-in-line status. However, the executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party downplayed that angle when speaking to the Des Moines Register.

Norm Sterzenbach, executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party, says he does not think the Republicans' proposed rules change is a good idea - but he doesn't expect it to cause problems with New Hampshire. He said binding delegates leaves no room for changing circumstances, such as a candidate who wins the caucuses but later is found to be unqualified for the presidency or who dies before the convention.
However, he noted that New Hampshire already tolerates Iowa Democrats' practice of allocating delegates based on the caucus-night vote. If Iowa is merely complying with an RNC rule, it shouldn't affect the relationship, he said.

Any relevant thoughts are welcome in this thread.

P.S. - Speaking of the Republican National Convention, Monday's events in Tampa have been postponed due to threatening weather from Tropical Storm Isaac. However, some Ron Paul supporters believe the postponement is a "hoax" to prevent Paul from becoming the Republican presidential nominee. Talk about a flimsy grip on reality.

UPDATE: During the convention, Spiker touted one new RNC rule as the "biggest protection Iowa's first-in-the-nation status has ever had."

Under the new GOP rules, a state that schedules its presidential primary or caucus before the end of February would only be able to send 12 delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention.
"So (a state) like California that went into February would have 12 delegates instead of over 150, so it's a big penalty," Spiker says. "That's one of the biggest, positive things that come out of the convention that impacts the first-in-the-nation status of the Republican Party of Iowa."
States that have moved ahead on the presidential election calendar in the past, though, have escaped serious party penalties. By the time a national convention comes around, nervous presidential nominees do not wish to offend voters in states like Florida who are crucial for victory in November. GOP Convention delegates ratified the new get-tough-on-leapfroggers rule on Tuesday. Spiker says a bid to give the party's next presumed presidential nominee the ability to dictate who could be a delegate at the 2016 convention has been thwarted.
"I believe that speaks volumes of a lot of us put in to make sure that it was the people rather than the politicians picking the delegates," Spiker says. "It was a tremendous success of a broad coalition: Tea Party people, Evangelicals, moderates, Ron Paul people - it was just a broad coalition to make sure that the grassroots continued to be the leader of that process."

Department of strange fundraising appeals

desmoinesdem — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:20:00 GMT

I've seen a lot of flimsy hooks for political fundraising, but nothing like the latest call for donations to the Republican Party of Iowa.
Candidates, elected officials, and political parties will seize on almost any pretext to raise money. I lost count of how many e-mail blasts I've gotten this week from Democratic groups and campaigns trying to cash in on Representative Todd Akin's comments about rape and pregnancy.

By comparison, the Iowa GOP's Facebook post from last night was creative:

Rumor from the RNC Meetings in Tampa is that the RNC may only seat half of the delegates elected for Ron Paul from Maine. The Republican Party of Iowa strongly values an open election process and hardworking grassroots activists. If this turns out to be true and 1/2 of the Ron Paul delegates from Maine are not seated, then the Iowa GOP will be donating one of its RNC guest passes to all Ron Paul Delegates kept out. If you'd like to help the Iowa GOP defend liberty with a donation, please do so here.
https://www.iowagop.org/single...

Come again?

You want loyal Republicans to "defend liberty" by supporting the Iowa GOP's efforts to get another state's Ron Paul delegates into the Tampa convention hall?

I can't imagine the Iowa Democratic Party asking me for money to make sure delegates elected halfway across the country were able to wave the flag for Hillary Clinton at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Speaking of which, I received a robocall from Senator Tom Harkin last night, encouraging me to fill out the absentee ballot request form the Iowa Democratic Party sent me a few days ago. Banking early votes is a smart use of limited resources during a general election campaign. Worrying about another state's delegates for a losing presidential candidate is ... (tries to think of a polite word for the opposite of smart) ...

The frustration of Republican blogger Craig Robinson (already annoyed by the Iowa GOP's weak fundraising) was palpable.

It would be nice if the Republican Party of Iowa was as passionate in helping our congressional candidates achieve victory this fall as they are about holding the hands of Ron Paul delegates from Maine. It would seem more appropriate for the Republican Party of Iowa to solicit donations to help win control of the Iowa State Senate than to ask for donations to help Ron Paul delegates from some other state get into the convention.

He wasn't the only Republican to be concerned. State Representative Dawn Pettengill posted this comment on the Facebook thread:

The link takes you to the donation page for Iowa candidates. I'm struggling to find the connection between that link and the post. Someone please fill me in with who posted this and if the people at RPI want to help out Maine, start a different group than our state RPI page and find a different funding mechanism than the one being used to fund our state candidates!

Since A.J. Spiker was selected to replace Matt Strawn as Iowa GOP chairman, Ron Paul supporters have flexed their muscles on several occasions while conducting state party business. Getting riled up about a possible affront to Ron Paul delegates in Maine is just silly.

The campaign for the next two-year term as Iowa GOP leader should be entertaining. Spiker's term ends in January 2013--assuming he makes it that long.

UPDATE: Pettengill posted a couple more comments on that thread:

Dawn Pettengill Let me be clear-ER! I do not care about Maine. I do not care if the people who work at RPI want to help Maine. They can do it on a different page, with a different funding mechanism and on their own time. The Iowa website listed in this link is for Iowa candidates, to pay our staff and hold events for all candidates related to IOWA. We have a lot of people who are a little more than armchair quarterbacks working their butts off right now to defeat Democrats. They are giving up ALL of their personal time to stand for us. Let's be a little respectful to that. Keep the House. Take the Senate. Get our Congressmen elected. That is bottom up and that's the way we win.
5 hours ago · Like · 2
Dawn Pettengill ‎75 days. We don't have time for this. Keep your eye on the prize, because another term of a House majority and us working our tails off, only to have it die the second it hits the Senate, is NOT fun!
5 hours ago · Like · 1

Checking out the Iowa GOP's website, I noticed that last week they were offering supporters "a $10 gift card to Chick-fil-a as our special gift to you" in exchange for becoming a regular monthly donor of at least $10 to their "Patriot Club." I wonder how many takers they got for that one.

Signature Ron Paul bill unites Iowans in U.S. House

desmoinesdem — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:45:00 GMT

Iowa's five U.S. House members helped approve one of Representative Ron Paul's top legislative priorities yesterday.
H.R. 459 would "require a full audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks by the Comptroller General of the United States before the end of 2012." House leaders brought the bill to the floor under a suspension of the rules, meaning it needed a two-thirds majority to pass. The roll call vote was 327 to 98. Tom Latham (IA-04) and Steve King (IA-05) joined the nearly-unanimous Republican caucus in supporting this bill. The Democratic caucus was divided, with 89 "yeas" and 97 "nays." Bruce Braley (IA-01), Dave Loebsack (IA-02), and Leonard Boswell (IA-03) were all in the yes camp.

Paul would like to do more than audit the Federal Reserve system but views this legislation as a good first step.

Paul, who has yet to officially drop out of the 2012 presidential race, has long sought to dismantle the Fed based on arguments that the Fed's power to create money has devalued the dollar. He also says the Fed hurts Americans by making them vulnerable to Fed-induced housing and stock market bubbles, and more recently, that the Fed reacted to the recession by creating billions of dollars to bail out financial institutions.
But with little appetite in Congress to abolish the Fed, Paul is hoping that increasing the transparency of the Fed's monetary policy decision-making process can at least give Americans more understanding of the decisions it makes.
"The bill essentially removes the prohibitions against a full audit," Paul said during Tuesday's debate on the bill. He was referring to current rules that allow the Government Accountability Office to audit most aspects of the Fed, but not monetary policy decisions.
"To audit, we should know what kind of transactions there are," Paul said. "We should know about the deals that they made when they were fixing the price of Libor. These are the kinds of things that have gone on for years that we have no access to."
The New York Fed said this month that it knew London banks were under-reporting their borrowing costs, which altered the reported London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) and was thought to be something that boosted profits for those banks.

While I don't share Paul's perspective on economic policy, I support more public scrutiny for the Federal Reserve. I disagree with Democrats who claim an audit would be viewed as political interference in monetary policy decisions. President Barack Obama has neither increased transparency at the Fed nor held Fed officials accountable for their failures. Timothy Geithner got promoted from head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to Treasury Secretary after he helped keep the public in the dark about the AIG bailout. Obama reappointed Ben Bernanke to a second term as Federal Reserve chairman despite the Fed's flawed handling of the Wall Street bailout and its complicity in the housing and credit bubbles that sparked the "Great Recession."

Unfortunately, Paul's bill will be dead on arrival in the U.S. Senate.

Braley was the only Iowan in Congress to release a statement on this vote yesterday. He co-sponsored Paul's bill and serves on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which approved the Fed audit legislation last month.

Washington, D.C. - Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) today released the following statement after the House passed the Federal Reserve Transparency Act introduced by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). This legislation calls for an extensive audit of the Federal Reserve System before the end of 2012.
"This bill is a bipartisan, common-sense solution to make sure that there is transparency and accountability within the Federal Reserve and I'm proud to be a cosponsor.
"We look to the Federal Reserve to provide guidance on the stability of our economy, and as taxpayers we deserve to know that the Fed is handling its responsibilities in a fair and public way. Ensuring that the Federal Reserve undergoes an extensive audit is one way to make this happen."
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced the Federal Transparency Act of 2011 last year and Rep. Braley signed on as a cosponsor, joining 273 other representatives.

Share any relevant thoughts in this thread.

John Landon will represent Iowa House district 37

desmoinesdem — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:15:00 GMT

Despite finishing a distant third in the June 5 primary, John Landon won a district nominating convention last night to be the Republican candidate in the new Iowa House district 37. Since Democrats did not field a candidate in the Ankeny area district, Landon is in effect guaranteed a seat in the Iowa House for the next two years. I've posted background on Landon and the House district 37 campaign after the jump.
The new House district 37 covers the north side of Ankeny, the small town of Alleman, and some rural parts of northern Polk County.

The rapidly-growing Ankeny area is a Republican stronghold, so no Democrat stepped up to the plate to run in this district. According to the Iowa Secretary of State's Office, House district 37 contained 5,712 registered Democrats, 9,025 Republicans, and 6,538 no-party voters as of July 2012 (pdf).

Landon "began campaigning for the District 37 nomination as soon as the new redistricting map was approved" and formally announced his candidacy last October. Here's the biography posted on his campaign website:

John Landon is honored to be a candidate in the June 5th Republican primary election for Iowa House District 37 State Representative which includes Northern Ankeny and Lincoln and Douglas Townships.
As a small business owner and family farmer, John will be an aggressive leader for Ankeny and surrounding townships in the state legislature. He is dedicated to balancing the state budget; creating jobs in a favorable climate for business and agricultural growth; eliminating costly regulations; and making education more cost effective.
Born and raised on the family farm near State Center, Iowa, John is a fourth generation Iowan, a veteran and a small business owner who has lived in Ankeny for the last two decades with his wife Marvis.
John is a Partner at Peoples Company, a farm management and real estate business, where he serves as a farm manager and agricultural realtor. In addition, John and his wife Marvis operate several local farms that grow corn and soybeans. John has also merchandised grain for two international grain trading companies, and managed three different grain elevators over a career in business and farming that spans three decades. John's long career in agriculture and family farming gives him a unique perspective on what drives Iowa's economy, as well as an in-depth understanding of Iowa's agrictulrual production, bi-products and related manufacturing industries.
John is a graduate of West Marshall High School, and enlisted in the Navy Seabees soon after graduation. He completed a tour of duty in Viet Nam, and also served a tour in Puerto Rico. Following his honorable discharge from the Navy, John graduated in only three years from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture.
John is a dedicated public servant who believes strongly in supporting his community. John is a member of the Ankeny Area Chamber of Commerce and an active leader in Polk County Republicans. He has served as a church Deacon and currently leads the Stewardship Committee at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Ankeny. He also served as a Cub Scout Pack 87 leader, and Boy Scout Troup 188 Leader over a twelve year period.
John and his wife Marvis, a realtor with Coldwell Banker who retired from the John Deere Ag Division in 2009, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in February 2012. Their son, a 2011 Iowa State University graduate; and their daughter, a 2012 ISU graduate, are both graduates of the Ankeny School district, having attended Ankeny schools K-12.

Speaking to Iowa conservative blogger Justin Arnold last October, Landon said he became politically active because he had grown "increasingly dissatisfied with state government over the last 12 years." In particular, Landon objected to regulations that, in his view, laid a "heavy blanket over business." Attending an Iowa House hearing over tax reform in 2009 galvanized him to become more involved:

"There became a discussion in the state about the deductibility of Federal income taxes on our state returns. There was a public hearing and we drove down to the Capital and went into the House chamber for that hearing. And I saw the Speaker of the House rule over it like a little dictator with an iron fist, and eventually he threw us all out and cleared the gallery. I realized at that point just how far state government had become removed from the average citizen, and that got me activated."

Iowa political junkies may recall that the same Iowa House hearing jump-started Christian Fong's political career and prompted the leader of Iowans for Tax Relief to compare then Speaker Pat Murphy to a "jack-booted Nazi." The tax reform plan, which would have lowered income rates but also eliminated federal deductibility, stalled in the Democratic-controlled Iowa House and failed to pass during the 2009 legislative session.

On the issues, Landon offered standard Republican fare: he's for reducing taxes and state spending, "local control" in education, and a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. He's against illegal immigration and abortion rights. Like Governor Terry Branstad, Landon considers commercial property tax relief a top priority.

Six candidates qualified for the Republican primary ballot in House district 37. Landon didn't raise a huge amount of money for his campaign. He reported $3,765 in contributions during 2011 and about $5,100 more before the primary (see financial reports here and here). That was enough for Landon to outspend his rivals before the primary, though. In fact, Landon's strong yard sign presence and full-page direct mail piece prompted The Iowa Republican publisher Craig Robinson (a House district 37 resident) to call him "the one to beat."

Landon fell short on June 5, however. He received 366 votes, or 17.5 percent of the votes cast in the GOP primary. Jim Robidoux, a teacher and business owner, received nearly twice as much support (714 votes, 34.2 percent). Matt DeVries, a longtime activist in Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty, took second with 623 votes, or 29.8 percent. A political action committee created this year by Paul supporters had endorsed DeVries, who in late 2010 sought the GOP nomination for the special election old Senate district 35.

As they say, close only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades. Since no candidate reached the 35 percent threshold for winning the primary outright, 22 delegates to a GOP convention in House district 37 were in a position to determine the nominee. Craig Robinson had a feeling things wouldn't go well for Robidoux.

Robidoux isn't favored to prevail at the nominating convention because he focused on trying to win the primary instead of stacking the Polk County Central Committee with his friends and allies. How foolish of him. While he was wasting time knocking on 1500 doors across the district, he should have been plotting and scheming. Instead of being involved with the Ankeny School Board, he should have been attending dysfunctional Polk County Central Committee meetings and partaking in the infighting that festers there.
Most people expect Matt DeVries, the second place finisher in the primary, to be the candidate selected on Wednesday night. While DeVries got 91 fewer votes than Robidoux on primary night, his strong ties to the Ron Paul campaign give him an advantage at the nominating convention since the Paul campaign instructed it's supporters to fill delegate and central committee spots on caucus night.
Even with the direction from the Paul campaign, 10 of the 22 positions on that Polk County Central Committee went unfilled on caucus night. As the primary in House District 37 began to heat up, so too did the effort by some campaigns to get their people in place in case no candidate met the 35 percent threshold.
While DeVries and the supporters of Ron Paul are the usual suspects when it comes to the efforts to stack the central committee to win the nominating convention, he's not alone. John Landon, who finished 348 votes behind Robidoux in the primary in third place, has probably put forth the greatest effort in putting his friends and allies on the Polk County Central committee.

All but one of the 22 district committee members showed up for last night's nominating convention. In a speech to the delegates, Robidoux espoused conservative positions and explained why he used to be a registered independent. In addition, he asked what would justify overturning the people's vote in the primary. DeVries said he could build "consensus" for smaller government and reminded delegates that he was the only candidate to emphasize the pro-life issue. Landon mentioned that 2009 Iowa House hearing and said he was fed up with high taxes and regulations. He also advocated for local control and more choice in education. Jeff Wright, the fourth-place finisher in the primary, said he was a fiscal and social conservative willing to "fight" for the state.

On the first ballot, DeVries and Landon each received ten votes, Robidoux received one vote, and Wright received zero votes. Landon then won the second ballot by twelve votes to nine. Stacking the district committee proved to be an effective strategy for Landon, though Robidoux would have succeeded if he had turned out just two dozen more votes on June 5.

House district 37 looks like a safe Republican seat for the forseeable future. The biggest threat to Landon's career in the next decade will be the prospect of a GOP primary opponent. Since only one challenger won a Republican Iowa House primary this year, it's likely that Landon will serve in the House for quite some time.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: I agree with John Deeth that in a crowded field, it would be better to let the primary voters determine the winner through instant runoff (ranked choice) voting, instead of leaving the decision to a small number of party insiders.

Although Robinson voted for Landon in the primary, he expressed concern about last night's events.

Landon could easily be viewed as an illegitimate candidate since his performance in the primary was so poor when compared to Robidoux and DeVries. That could invite a challenger in the general election since there currently is not one. It could also set Landon up for a primary fight in 2014 since the means of his victory is not going to sit well with some voters.
Even though Landon got the result he desired at the nominating convention on Wednesday night, it comes at a cost. There will no doubt be some hurt feelings and bad blood that linger long after the 2012 election. Ankeny is a Republican stronghold, but it shouldn't be taken for granted. The community is experiencing dynamic growth, and it's not just Republicans who are moving here. As Ankeny grows, the more diverse it becomes. The more diverse the city, the more important it will be for Republicans to be united around their candidates. I worry about the lingering effects from what took place on Wednesday night.
I have been concerned about the internal convention process for Iowa Republicans for the last two years. Instead of delegates and central committee members viewing themselves as representatives to their precincts, many now act as if they are kingmakers. And it's not just the Ron Paul supporters who are guilty of acting this way. [...]
The primary results showed that my friends and neighbors preferred Robidoux over Landon by a significant margin, almost 16.65 points to be exact. I respect their decision, and feel that Landon and the central committee members did not. I have a hard time coming to grasp with that, especially in a political climate were the people are demanding that their representatives in Des Moines and Washington D.C. listen to them.

The wackiest Iowa political story of the decade?

desmoinesdem — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 21:10:00 GMT

Friday the 13th sure was unlucky for Iowa Republicans, who must go back to the drawing board in the new Senate district 34. GOP nominee Randi Shannon dropped out of the race against Democratic State Senator Liz Mathis with a statement more bizarre than anything I can remember in major-party Iowa politics.
Background: last year three Republicans sought the nomination in the special election to represent Iowa Senate district 18. Cindy Golding won a district nominating convention against Mary Rathje (Governor Terry Branstad's preferred candidate) and former U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth. Golding then lost to Mathis, a popular former television news anchor, by a convincing 3,000 vote margin (pdf).

Iowa's new map of political boundaries put most of the old Senate district 18 (but not the area where Golding lives) in the new Senate district 34. As of July 2012 (pdf), this district contained 13,138 registered Democrats, 13,995 Republicans, and 16,587 no-party voters. Nevertheless, Rathje and Dummermuth took a pass on the swing-district race, leaving Randi Shannon unchallenged for the GOP nomination. Shannon's biography on her state Senate campaign website describes her as a business owner and homeschooling mother. She was also active in Ron Paul's presidential campaign in Iowa.

Shannon's letter announcing her withdrawal from the Senate district 34 race is dated July 4, 2012, but it didn't hit the news until Friday the 13th, when it was posted on the Randi Shannon for Iowa Senate Facebook page. The full text with formatting is here; I enclose an excerpt. All grammatical and capitalization errors are in the original.

The Republic for Iowa
In Union With The Republic of the United States of America
July 4th, 2012
From: The Office of the Senator of the Republic of the United States of America, And The Republic for Iowa, Senator Randi Shannon
Hello everyone, my name is Randi Shannon, and I have been honored to be Iowa's Republican Candidate for The Office of State Senator in District 34. The support I have received from so many in this district has been just incredible! I will never forget your commitment to my campaign!
I want to especially thank my fellow Ron Paul for President Supporters, My Fellow Members of Liberty, My Friends who home school as did I, the many Pro-Life Members who have been so supportive of my candidacy over these past few months, and of course all my supporters in the Republican Party who have offered me so much help and encouragement, including many Republican Office holders here in Iowa, I promise you, your efforts on My behalf will be remembered.
Let me now announce to everyone in Iowa, I have become aware of the existence of the Original Republic for The United States of America."We the People" re-inhabited our lawful de jure (de jur- "by right of lawful establishment") government on March 30th, 2010. This is The Republic founded in 1787 and then abandoned during The Civil War in the 1860s.
It was then replaced in 1871 by the UNITED STATES CORPORATION. (de facto-without law). This Unlawful Corporate Democracy, established by the forty-first congress, has been acting as though it is the "official government" which clearly it is not! In point of fact, it is the reason why "We the People" Instead of Experiencing Freedom and Prosperity, suffer under the weight of Oppressive Statutes and an Out of Control, Monstrous National Debt which is Robbing Us and All Future Generations of Americans of Our Treasure and Our Legacy for which Our Founding Fathers' so Valiantly Fought and Died.
And Remember This! Where the de jure Republic of The United States of America exists the de facto UNITED STATES CORPORATION, having no standing, must go away!
Now, knowing this, and with the best interests of The People of Iowa District 34 uppermost in my heart and out of respect for my own conscience, I am here to announce that I am ending my campaign as of this July 4th, 2012. Trust me this story does not end here nor does my commitment. In fact, my level of service to the good people of Iowa who have been so supportive of me and my campaign will be greatly increased.Please allow me to continue, because I have some great news to share with all of you! [...]
Remember, THE UNITED STATES CORPORATION was changed from The Republic, and since then, we have seen a plethora of Statutes passed as if they were Law without the consent of "We the People". With the abandonment of The Republic, and especially following 1871, the abuses of the UNITED STATES CORPORATION heaped upon the American People and the Peoples of the International Community have been inestimable and unconscionable. In this, I cannot and will not have a share! From the President on down, many of these so-called servants of the The People have repeatedly violated their oaths of Office, their fiduciary responsibilities, and in every way imaginable they've committed the most egregious acts against "We the People" of the United States of America and People around the world.' They have continually violated the People's Trust. Be fooled no longer, that Trust is broken beyond repair!
Therefore, in order to affect the most good on behalf of The People of Iowa's 34th District and in keeping with my conscience, I have accepted the position of U.S. Senator in The Republic of The United States of America, where I may better serve You and All of The People of Iowa. I want you to know I have taken an Oath to Uphold, Support and Defend The Constitution of The United States of America. This I will do to the best of my ability, So Help Me God.

Cedar Rapids Gazette columnist Todd Dorman lives in Senate district 34 and posted a funny take on Shannon's departure.

I hope this illegitimacy thing doesn't mean we have to forfeit a bunch of victories, like World War II or our 1980 Olympic hockey gold.

Iowa Senate Republican leader Jerry Behn should have taken questions yesterday about his failure to vet Shannon properly before the primary. Instead, he sent out his staffer Don McDowell to face the wolves. I felt sorry for McDowell (who used to write the entertaining Cyclone Conservatives blog) as he went through the talking points:

Don McDowell, spokesman for the office of the Iowa Senate Republican leadership, says the Linn County GOP will likely hold a district convention in the next couple of weeks to pick a candidate to replace Shannon on the ballot in November. He said the party has until mid-August to find a new nominee. Shannon's formal withdrawal from the race will be filed with the Secretary of State today or Monday, he said.
"I just want to emphasize that this is a personal decision that Randi made. And I think we still have plenty of time for a replacement candidate to come forward. And I think there are a lot of issues to run on still," said McDowell, citing what he contends are Mathis' misguided votes on state spending, education policy and property tax reform.

At least Republicans didn't have to deal with this fiasco in October, when it would be too late to find a viable candidate. I think Liz Mathis' odds of being re-elected just went up, but there's always a chance the GOP will find a much stronger challenger than Shannon. Almost anyone would be an improvement on this clown.

Shannon said she's excited for her position with the republic and will be one of two Iowa senators, four house members, a judge and several police officers that act as "American rangers."
She said the republic has already enacted legislation that declares life beginning at conception in addition to legislation she said she's already voted for - establishing the aforementioned rangers.
Since what she calls the "corporation government" has enacted unconstitutional laws, the republic has constitutional enforcement officers, that you can call if you are pulled over for anything but a felony charge or for injuring someone else.
Shannon said the ranger would inform the police officer that they were violating their oath, at which point Shannon said the officer would have to comply.
When asked if she believes that a Cedar Rapids Police officer would listen to an American ranger, she had this to say:
"I do believe that they would listen to them because they know the law," she said.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread. If you can think of a wackier Iowa political story in your lifetime, please share that in the comments.

UPDATE: The Republican Party of Iowa leadership (now almost totally controlled by Ron Paul supporters) could have used this opportunity to denounce the alternative government movement. Instead, they kicked press questions over to Senate Republican staffer McDowell.

Radio Iowa has more comments from Shannon:

"I can't in good conscience after I knew about the republic and I did the research - which I implore everyone to do, actually go and research and find their own answers, like I did," she says. "Reach out and speak to other people. Don't take the existing government's word for it, because they lie about a lot of things."

Republican Party of Iowa or Ron Paul loyalists of Iowa?

desmoinesdem — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:40:00 GMT

Supporters call them "constitutional conservatives" or members of the "Liberty Movement." Detractors call them "Paulbots" or "Paulinistas." Whatever you call them, you have to admit that the Ron Paul faction of the Republican Party of Iowa pulled off tremendous organizing feats last weekend.
Paul supporters had a tough act to follow going into the Iowa GOP's state convention weekend. In April, they won a solid plurality on the party's new State Central Committee. In May, they secured ten of the at-large delegate slots for the Republican National Convention.

Twelve more RNC delegates were chosen at district conventions on June 15. Incredibly, slates endorsed by Ron Paul supporters swept the delegate elections in Iowa's first, third, and fourth district, and won two of the three slots in the second district. Adding those eleven people to the ten Paul supporters on the at-large slate, "constitutional conservatives" were set to win 21 of Iowa's 28 total delegates to the national convention.

Three national delegate slots go to Iowa's representatives on the Republican National Committee. Iowa GOP Chair A.J. Spiker co-chaired Paul's presidential campaign in Iowa. Republican National Committeeman Steve Scheffler didn't endorse Paul before the Iowa caucuses, but he had the Paul supporters' blessing in his effort to win a second term on the RNC. Republican National Committeewoman Kim Lehman endorsed Rick Santorum for president before the caucuses.

Usually, approval of the at-large RNC delegate slate is a foregone conclusion at the state convention. This year, some Republicans were horrified by the prospect of sending so many delegates who had backed the third-place candidate at the Iowa caucuses.

A delegate named Leta, from Warren County, interjected: "Ron Paul has officially pulled out of the race, so we all should go for Mitt Romney."
Some delegates applauded her comment, while others yelled, "No" and a few booed. Delegate Bethany Gates of Benton County said sending an entire slate of Ron Paul supporters to the national convention is a black eye for Iowa's Caucuses.
"We are going to look ridiculous and we will lose our first-in-the-nation (status)," she said.

In past presidential election years, delegate slots for the national convention have often gone to major party donors or longtime Republican activists. In contrast, some of those elected on the Paul slate have barely been involved with the Iowa GOP in the past. That was a sore point for some Republicans outside the "liberty" camp.

"The nominee from Polk County is someone that not only myself but none of the members of my executive committee that I have asked can tell me who that person is," [Polk County Republican Party co-chairman Dave] Funk said, "and to nominate someone who has not been active in local county politics is inappropriate."
Marlys Popma, a long-time GOP activist, said many the Ron Paul supporters who're going to the national convention don't have a history of voting in Iowa elections.
"I'm sorry. This is a responsibility. Voting is a privilege and a responsibility," Popma said. "How am I going to send these people to Tampa to vote for us if they don't even vote for themselves and their children at home?"
Patrick McQueery, a state convention delegate from Black Hawk County, responded.
"Regarding the voting record of the individuals on the slate, I'd like to submit to you that perhaps they didn't vote because they didn't see anyone fit to vote for on those elections," he said, drawing applause and a few boos.

According to Radio Iowa's O.Kay Henderson, the parliamentarian "struggled to keep order" during the convention proceedings.

The Paul supporters carried the day, as convention delegates approved the Paul-dominated at-large slate by 794 votes to 689. James Q. Lynch published the full list of RNC delegates and alternates, including the at-large slate and the delegates elected at the district conventions on June 15:

National Delegates -- Drew Ivers, chairman, Hamilton; Steve Anders, Pottawattamie; Robert Anderson, Johnson; Andrea Bie, Allamakee; Nancy Bowery, Page; Gov. Terry Branstad, Boone; Michelle Bullock, Polk; Ani DeGroot, Johnson; David Fischer, Polk; Sen. Chuck Grassley, Butler; Mark Hansen, Pottawattamie; Will Johnson, Dubuque; Dusty Juhl, Story; Ed Kelenyi, Jefferson; Brian Kraft, Boone; Gopal Krishna, Polk; Roger Leahy, Jefferson; Jeff Luecke, Dubuque; Rep. Glen Massie, Polk; James Mills, Floyd; Lexy Nuzum, Madison; Brent Oleson, Linn; Kelly Schoen, Linn; Margaret Stoldorf, Montgomery; and Jeff Taylor, Sioux.
Alternate delegates -- Chelsy Askren, Clayton; Jennifer Bowen, Dallas; John Bowery, Page; Buddi Brooks, Pottawattamie; Chris Canny, Johnson; Sam Clovis, Plymouth; Jonas Cutler, Polk; Therese Davis, Guthrie; Aaron Dowdell, Marshal; Benjamin DuBois, Story; Mike Gresham, Fremont; Eric Grote, Franklin; Cody Hoefert, Lyon; Jeff Jorgensen, Pottawattamie; Tracee Knapp, Ringgold; Titus Landegent, Plymouth; Gabe Lanz, Polk; Ruth Long, Union; Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds, Clarke; Lisa Smith, Wapello; Sarah Stokes, Black Haw; Chet Swanson, Jefferson; Kurt Whalen, Scott; David Wiederstein, Cass; Sen. Brad Zaun, Polk.

Electing a new Republican National Committeeman and Committeewoman was also on the agenda for the June 16 state convention, even though the new RNC representatives' terms won't begin until August. Four years ago, Scheffler and Lehman ousted Iowa GOP establishment stalwarts Steve Roberts and Sandy Greiner at the state convention.

Scheffler, who also runs the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, had the Paul supporters' blessing for a second term as committeeman but faced three rivals for the position: Judd Saul, David Chung, and Robert Cramer. The Iowa Republican blog devoted some unflattering coverage to Scheffler last week, related to allegations that he used a church in Burlington to funnel donations to the Iowa Christian Alliance.

Outgoing committeewoman Lehman did not seek a second term on the RNC. Four women sought to replace her, including prominent Paul supporter and retiring Iowa House member Kim Pearson. The other three candidates were Judy Davidson, Tamara Scott, and Margaret Stoldorf. Davidson chairs the Scott County GOP annd stayed neutral before the Iowa caucuses. Scott is Iowa director for Concerned Women of America and co-chaired Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign in Iowa. Stoldorf chairs the Montgomery County GOP and is a past county supervisor. She supported Rick Santorum for president.

Pearson won a plurality but not a majority on the first ballot. Scott came from behind to win on the second ballot in what Craig Robinson called the "lone bright spot" of the day for non-Paul supporters at the convention. In a fun bit of pre-convention intrigue, the Iowa GOP's Rules Committee sought to change the procedure for electing RNC members, so that the person with a plurality on the first ballot would be elected. That rule change was derailed after The Iowa Republican blog pointed out that it violated the state party's constitution. Pearson would have been Iowa's Republican National Committeewoman for the next four years if that rule change had been adopted.

Despite Pearson's loss, it was a banner weekend for Ron Paul supporters in Iowa. They deserve a lot of credit for getting so many like-minded people to show up for the county, district, and state conventions. On June 18 the Liberty Iowa PAC, a political action committee created this spring by former Ron Paul staffers, did a little chest-pounding in this press release:

Liberty Iowa Highlights State Convention Success
LIPAC Efforts Result in National Delegate Wins
Des Moines, IA- Republican conventions in Iowa this weekend saw sweeping victories by constitutional conservatives within the party. Delegates from all over the state poured into Des Moines Friday and Saturday to participate in the selection of Iowa's delegates to the Republican National Convention in August, as well as to elect a National Committeeman, National Committeewoman, and help shape the party platform.
In an unprecedented string of successes, well-organized members of what has become known as the "Liberty Movement" orchestrated a near-sweep of national delegate slots, and defeated a proposed amendment to the RPI constitution aimed at limiting dissent within the party.
21 of the 25 delegates elected to represent Iowa at the Republican national convention are members of the Liberty Movement, and most supported Texas Congressman Ron Paul in the January 3rd Iowa Caucuses.
Liberty Iowa, a PAC aimed at advancing the causes of limited government and individual freedom, celebrated what Executive Director Adil Khan called a "signature win". "Liberty Iowa's network of dedicated activists proved once again that we will be a force in Iowa politics for years to come. Our volunteers were active in coordinating delegates and alternates throughout the convention process, and our efforts were rewarded - Iowa can now count on a strong voice for liberty at the national convention," said Khan.
While Liberty Iowa is not affiliated with any presidential campaign or candidate, many Paul supporters also actively support the PAC. Seven of Iowa's pro-Paul national delegates, as well as several alternates, are active within Liberty Iowa, in both leadership and volunteer capacities. Drew Ivers, Ron Paul's State Campaign Chairman, said that Liberty Iowa's efforts were critical to the convention gains. "A number of groups and organizations of liberty-minded people participated in this victory, including Liberty Iowa, whose efforts proved to be of great value in the weeks leading up to convention." Ivers said that Iowa's delegates would carry an important message to the Tampa convention. "The future of our nation can only be secured by bringing expansive, out-of-control government back under control," said Ivers. "There is a movement to restore liberty and return state and national government to constitutional limits, and Liberty Iowa is an important part of that movement."

Not to rain on the Paul supporters' parade, but they face a big challenge winning over the Iowa GOP's fundraising base. Since Spiker replaced Matt Strawn as state party chair in February, donations have slowed dramatically. I anticipate that the weekend's events will encourage more Republican donors large and small to invest their political resources elsewhere. That will make it hard for the Iowa GOP to fund a strong statewide GOTV program this fall.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread.

Texas gives Romney enough delegates for the nomination

desmoinesdem — Wed, 30 May 2012 03:31:00 GMT

Preliminary results from today's Texas primary indicate that Mitt Romney now has enough delegates to win the Republican Party's presidential nomination. Only two months ago, it seemed plausible that Romney might not reach the 1,144 delegate threshold until later this summer.
CBS News estimates that Romney "will have at least 1,198 delegates as a result of his victory in Texas." With about two-thirds of the votes counted, he leads Representative Ron Paul by 71 percent to 11 percent.

Paul stopped actively campaigning earlier this month, but confirmed that his supporters will "continue to work in the state convention process," trying to win delegates to the Republican National Convention. Those efforts have been successful in Iowa and several other states.

Former presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have not yet released their delegates to support Romney at the convention. However, they have both encouraged their supporters to vote for Romney against President Barack Obama in November.

Unfortunately for Romney in my opinion, news of him officially securing the GOP nomination will likely be overshadowed by Donald Trump's return to center stage as America's leading "birther." CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer stepped out of character for a moment today, telling Trump during an interview, "You sound a little ridiculous."

Any comments about the presidential election are welcome in this thread. I was surprised to see this finding from a new Rasmussen poll: "Democrats are a lot more excited about their [presidential] candidate than Republicans are about theirs." I know some big Obama fans, but I doubt that most Democrats are "excited" about voting for him again.

Ron Paul delegate revolution discussion thread

desmoinesdem — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:41:09 GMT

Ron Paul finished third in the Iowa caucuses on January 3, but his campaign's superior organization elected more delegates to county and district conventions than that of any other presidential candidate. Two weeks ago, Paul supporters won six of 16 elected positions on the Iowa GOP's State Central Committee. On May 5, Paul supporters secured most of Iowa's at-large delegate slots for the Republican National Convention. Details are after the jump.
Craig Robinson posted the list of at-large delegates and alternates chosen by the Iowa GOP's delegate selection committee.

At-Large Delegates
Governor Terry Branstad
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
Margaret Stoldorf - Chair of Montgomery County GOP and Santorum Supporter
Michelle Bullock - Polk County - Contributor to Ron Paul
James Mills - State Central Committee Member for Floyd County Paul Supporter
Steven Anders - Pottawattamie County Director for Ron Paul
Roger Leahy - Jefferson County Ron Paul Coordinator
Mark Hansen - Pottawattamie County Ron Paul Coordinator
Will Johnson - Dubuque County Ron Paul Organizer
Lexy Nuzum - Madison County Ron Paul supporter
Andrea Bie - Allamakee County Ron Paul Supporter
David Fischer - State Central Committee Member and Ron Paul's Iowa Co-Chair
Drew Ivers - State Central Committee Member and Ron Paul's Iowa Chair
Alternate At-Large Delegates
Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds
State Senator Brad Zaun - Polk County, Bachmann State Chair
Dr. Cody Hoefert - Santorum supporter and Lyon County GOP Chair
Ruth Long - Longtime GOP activist from Union County
Dr. Sam Clovis - Santorum supporter from Plymouth County also a radio show host.
Jeff Jorgensen - Pottawattamie GOP Chair
Lisa Smith - Former State Central Committee Member, close friend to Steve Scheffler and Gopal Krishna.
David Wiederstein - Cass County GOP Chair
Mike Gresham - Fremont County Chair
Jenifer Bowen - Executive Director of Iowa Right to Life
John Bowery - Page County GOP Chair and Ron Paul Supporter
Tracee Knapp - Ringold County
Therese Davis - Former Chair of Guthrie County GOP

To my knowledge, no one on this list endorsed Mitt Romney before the Iowa caucuses. Branstad and Grassley went public with their support for Romney only after he was well on track to win the Republican nomination.

Technically, this isn't the final at-large delegate list for Iowa. The Republican Party of Iowa's state convention will vote on this list in June. Typically, state convention delegates ratify the list prepared by the delegate selection committee.

Robinson adds,

The current makeup of this slate guarantees Ron Paul 10 of Iowa's 28 delegates. Paul will also be supported by State Chairman A.J. Spiker and National Committeeman Steve Scheffler, which brings his total 12 delegates. Paul only needs to have three delegates elected from the District Nominating Caucuses the night before the state convention to secure a majority of Iowa's delegates. He will easily get the three delegates he needs.

I dislike the Iowa caucus system for various reasons, and one of my biggest gripes is that the county delegates selected at the precinct level don't necessarily reflect the preferences of caucus-goers. The Iowa GOP doesn't have this problem on caucus night, because unlike the Iowa Democratic Party, Republicans report the raw vote totals for each presidential candidate from each precinct.

But now Iowa Republicans are on track to give the majority of the state's RNC delegates to the candidate who finished third among more than 120,000 caucus-goers. That is bound to make the Iowa caucuses look bad and hurt our state's case for remaining first in the presidential selection process.

Iowa's not an isolated case. Paul supporters won 21 out of 24 national delegate positions from Maine over the weekend. Paul finished second to Mitt Romney when the Maine caucuses were held in February.

Paul supporters also won most of the national delegate positions from Nevada over the weekend, although most of Nevada's delegates will be bound to support Romney in the first round of voting at the RNC in Tampa.

What do you think, Bleeding Heartland readers? Should Paul's supporters be congratulated for using party rules and procedures to benefit their candidate? Or are they exposing flaws in the caucus system that will undermine the credibility of Iowa and other states that hold caucuses?

IA-01: Lange's former primary rivals endorse Blum

desmoinesdem — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:36:55 GMT

First district Congressional candidate Rod Blum rolled out endorsements today from two Republicans who ran in the 2010 primary to represent IA-01. Will Johnson and Mike LaCoste cited Blum's business experience and record of accomplishments in a press release I've posted after the jump. Those are major themes in the case Blum has been making against primary rival Ben Lange. LaCoste also echoed Blum's appeal to stop sending attorneys and career politicians to Congress.

Lange easily won the 2010 nomination with more than twice as many votes as Johnson, his nearest competitor (pdf). LaCoste dropped out of that race a few weeks before the primary.

Any comments about the IA-01 campaign are welcome in this thread. Bleeding Heartland covered Lange's endorsers here and here. Lange leads Blum in fundraising, though Democratic incumbent Bruce Braley has a larger campaign war chest than either of his GOP opponents. A detailed post on Braley's case for re-election is in progress.

UPDATE: On April 30 the Liberty Iowa political action committee endorsed Blum. I've added the press release below. The Liberty Iowa PAC's executive director, Adil Khan, worked for Ron Paul's presidential campaign in Iowa and North Dakota.
Blum for Congress press release, April 27:

ROD BLUM RECEIVES KEY ENDORSEMENTS FROM THE FIRST DISTRICT
Dubuque, IA - Rod Blum, Congressional candidate for Iowa's new 1st District, recently received two key endorsements from former Congressional candidates in the 1st District. Both Will Johnson and Mike LaCoste touted Mr. Blum's experience in the private sector and his stances on the issues that matter most to Iowans.
Will Johnson, former Republican Candidate for Iowa's 1st District in 2010, endorsed Mr. Blum recently and thanked him in the process for "answering the call to run and represent our conservative values." Mr. Johnson continued by complementing the campaign itself as well, saying "Mr. Blum has the ideals, organization, experience and support to see this through and win. Having someone of Rod's business acumen and long experience gives voters a distinct choice," said Mr. Johnson, adding that Mr. Blum "will beat (Democrat incumbent) Bruce Braley decisively."
Mike LaCoste, also a former Republican Candidate for Iowa's 1st District, gave Mr. Blum his seal of approval saying "He is the only candidate in the race who has had a lifetime of experience and accomplishment. I strongly believe that serving in Congress is a privilege, NOT a career. We have too many lawyers in Washington, DC. Rod will take his real world common sense business experience to Washington."
Mr LaCoste also emphatically added, "It's easy to campaign on changing Washington, lowering taxes, cutting spending, but it will be an entirely different thing to stand up to Washington insiders once there. Rod Blum will never cave to the special interests and will strongly represent northeast Iowa conservative values."
"I am deeply humbled to have received the endorsements of two outstanding conservative Republicans" Mr. Blum commented on the endorsements. "Together, we can all work towards our goal of defeating Bruce Braley in November and ensuring we send a Constitutional, pro-life, fiscal conservative to fight for Iowans in Washington DC."

Liberty Iowa PAC press release, April 30:

Liberty Iowa Endorses Rod Blum
State PAC supports U.S. Congressional Candidate
Des Moines, Iowa - Liberty Iowa, a nonprofit political action committee based in Des Moines, has endorsed Rod Blum for U.S. Congress in the first congressional district. Blum joins a list of nearly a dozen candidates that the newly-formed PAC has formally endorsed for various offices across the state.
The endorsement comes in the midst of a flurry of political activity following the April 21st Republican district conventions, which saw a shuffling of the party power structure in favor of the state GOP's more conservative elements.
Adil Khan, LIPAC's Executive Director, said that the endorsement showcased his group's desire to promote Constitutional conservatives in the wake of what one Republican State Central Committee member called a "conservative revival." "We are proud to endorse candidates who reflect the values and priorities of Liberty Iowa, and who will be leaders in the fight for limited government and individual freedom," said Khan. "Rod Blum has shown himself to be a friend to the cause of liberty, and we believe that his election will send a strong message to Washington D.C. that conservatism is alive and well in Iowa."
Blum, a successful Dubuque entrepreneur, will face a primary challenge from Ben Lange for the right to square off against Rep. Bruce Braley (D) in the general election.
Blum's campaign released this statement Monday morning regarding the endorsement: "It is truly a privilege to have my candidacy endorsed by Liberty Iowa PAC. This organization is at the forefront of a movement that will help us restore conservative, constitutional representation across Congressional District 1 and all over Iowa," said Blum. "Like me, many of those involved with Liberty Iowa are tired of supporting Republican candidates that have not properly defined the reasons that they are running, or laid out their core beliefs for all of us to see. It is paramount to me that our Republican Platform of Iowa be adhered to without exception, and that our Liberties are always protected."
Authorized and paid for by Liberty Iowa PAC www.LibertyIowa.com

No Romney endorsers on new Iowa GOP State Central Committee

desmoinesdem — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 11:40:00 GMT

Is Mitt Romney destined to become the presidential nominee least liked by his own party's activists? Yesterday's elections to the Republican Party of Iowa's State Central Committee provided another clue that the answer is yes.
The Iowa GOP's new State Central Committee consists of 16 people, four chosen from each of Iowa's four new Congressional districts. The only Republicans able to vote for the central committee members were delegates to yesterday's district conventions. Those delegates were previously elected at Iowa GOP county conventions in March.

The Iowa Republican blog asked all publicly announced candidates for the State Central Committee three questions, including "Who [sic] did you caucus for in 2012?" Kevin Hall posted a handy "voter guide" about the GOP committee candidates here.

It's remarkable how few people running for the State Central Committee wanted to associate themselves with the certain Republican nominee.

Hall mentioned seven candidates in IA-01, eight in IA-02, nine in IA-03, and eleven in IA-04. I don't know how many people ran for the central committee at the district conventions without publicly announcing their bids ahead of time. One of the people elected in IA-04, Kris Thiessen, was not mentioned in Hall's post.

Here's how the presidential preferences broke down for the central committee hopefuls contacted by The Iowa Republican blog.

IA-01: Four refused to answer, one each caucused for Ron Paul, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum.

IA-02: Three declined to state a presidential preference, three caucused for Paul, one each for Santorum and Michele Bachmann.

IA-03: Three caucused for Paul, two for Romney, one for Bachmann, one for Newt Gingrich, one declined to state a preference, one was for Tim Pawlenty initially but neutral later.

IA-04: Two were for Paul, two for Santorum, two for Gingrich, one each for Romney and Perry, one declined to say for whom he caucused but "was a supporter of Santorum after the caucuses," and two said they did not caucus (one of those had worked on Romney's 2008 campaign).

It's striking that only three people seeking spots on the State Central Committee were willing to go on the record saying they caucused for Romney, who essentially tied for the win on January 3. Maybe some of the people who declined to state a preference were closet Romney supporters. It would be risky to advertise that fact to a small electorate composed entirely of district convention delegates. Romney's campaign didn't work as hard as Paul's to get their supporters elected to county conventions and from there to district conventions.

Here are yesterday's election winners. I've noted the incumbents who were re-elected and presidential preferences, when available.

IA-01

David Chung (incumbent, declined to state presidential preference)

Dave Cushman (Paul)

Tony Krebsbach (declined to state preference)

Loras Schulte (Santorum)

Chelle Adkins, a State Central Committee incumbent who refused to state her preference, was not re-elected at the district convention. Another incumbent did not seek another term on the committee.

IA-02

Bob Anderson (declined to state preference)

Mark Doland (Bachmann)

Marcus Fedler (Paul)

Jeff Shipley (Paul)

Trudy Caviness and John Ortega, incumbents who did not state their presidential preference, failed to win another term on the State Central Committee. Another incumbent from this district did not seek re-election.

IA-03

Wes Enos (incumbent, Bachmann)

John Kabitzke (Paul)

Gopal Krishna (incumbent, did not state preference)

Joel Kurtinitis (Paul)

One incumbent from this district did not seek re-election.

IA-04

Jamie Johnson (Santorum)

Tim Moran (incumbent, did not caucus; worked for Romney campaign in 2008)

Chad Steenhoek (Gingrich)

Kris Thiessen (Paul)

Three incumbents from this district did not seek re-election. Two failed to win another term on the State Central Committee: Paul supporter James Mills and Craig Williams, who said he did not caucus for anyone in 2012.

To sum up, the new Iowa GOP State Central Committee has six Paul endorsers, two Santorum endorsers, two Bachmann endorsers, one Gingrich endorser, and five who either did not caucus or did not state a presidential preference publicly. That leaves zero who were loud and proud for Romney.

No doubt the 16 central committee members will all support the eventual Republican nominee against President Barack Obama. Still, it's clear that as a group, the district convention delegates weren't favorably inclined toward Romney.

A.J. Spiker, who co-chaired Paul's campaign in Iowa, replaced Matt Strawn as Iowa GOP chair in February.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: I should have clarified that RNC members Kim Lehman and Steve Scheffler are also on the state central committee. Lehman and Kris Thiessen will be the only women on that 18-member body.