This week’s featured native plant is wild ginger. Although common in wooded areas throughout Iowa, its flowers are easily missed unless you’re looking for them. Wild ginger usually blooms in April and May. I’ve posted two pictures after the jump, along with a couple of bonus photos of violets, because their leaves can resemble wild ginger leaves.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

My Newt Gingrich campaign deathwatch thread was about a year ahead of its time, but Gingrich finally suspended his presidential campaign this afternoon.  

President Barack Obama outlined plans to “complete our mission and end the war in Afghanistan” in a televised speech last night from Kabul. After signing an agreement with President Hamid Karzai, Obama said 23,000 U.S. troops will come home from the war zone by the end of this summer, and withdrawal will be complete by the end of 2014. Beyond that date, he promised, U.S. troops will have only “narrow security missions” in Afghanistan, “But we will not build permanent bases in this country, nor will we be patrolling its cities and mountains.”  

For obvious security reasons, Obama hadn’t announced ahead of time his plans to visit Afghanistan on the first anniversary of the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

I’ve posted the full text of Obama’s remarks after the jump, along with reaction from Representative Dave Loebsack (D, IA-02). I will update this post later as other members of Iowa’s Congressional delegation respond to the president’s speech. Last year Democratic Senator Tom Harkin and Representative Bruce Braley (D, IA-01) advocated bringing U.S. troops home from Afghanistan more quickly than currently scheduled.

UPDATE: Added comments below from Braley and Republican Senator Chuck Grassley. Both are concerned about our Afghanistan policy, but from very different perspectives.

Matt Strawn stepped down early from his job as chair of the Republican Party of Iowa, but he will be immersed in this November’s down-ticket elections as Iowa chair of the 527 group GOPAC.

President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is launching a new television commercial today in Iowa, Virginia, and Ohio. The spot responds to a negative ad by the 501(c)4 group Americans for Prosperity, pivoting to an attack on future Republican nominee Mitt Romney. After the jump I’ve posted video clips and transcripts of those commercials and the latest anti-Obama ad from the 501(c)4 group American Future Fund.

I’ve been skeptical that Iowa House Republicans and Iowa Senate Democrats would agree on comprehensive education or property tax reform in an election year. Until today, though, it never occurred to me that anyone would propose adjourning the 2012 legislative session without passing a budget for the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1.

Then State Senator Bill Dix floated one of the worst ideas I’ve heard lately.

Late last week, the U.S. House approved four bills related to cybersecurity. Only one was controversial: the Cyber Intelligence and Sharing Protection Act (CISPA), which the House passed on April 26. Depending on your point of view, CISPA is either a useful tool for cracking down on cyber threats or a huge threat to the civil liberties of internet users.

The 206 Republicans and 42 Democrats who voted for this bill included Iowans Leonard Boswell (IA-03), Tom Latham (IA-04), and Steve King (IA-05). Bruce Braley (IA-01) and Dave Loebsack (IA-02) were among the 140 Democrats who voted no, joined by 28 House Republicans (roll call). More details on this bill and on the House debate are after the jump.

Domestic violence has become a political football lately as members of Congress spar over reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

Since April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month, I posted below numerous non-political links about ways to prevent violence and resources for victims of violence.

This is an open thread. What’s on your mind this weekend, Bleeding Heartland readers?

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.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced yesterday that it will not seek to regulate agricultural work done by children under age 16. Several members of Iowa’s Congressional delegation welcomed the news. Their statements are after the jump, along with background on the proposed rules and the full statement from the Labor Department.

UPDATE: I’ve added Senator Tom Harkin’s comments below. He was the only Iowan in Congress to express concern about the government walking away from “regulations that were, at their core, about protecting children.”

The U.S. Senate voted today to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. All 53 members of the Democratic caucus voted for the bill, including Senator Tom Harkin. Fifteen Republican senators, including all five women, also voted yes. Chuck Grassley was one of the 31 Republican men who voted no.

Details on today’s votes and substantive changes to the Violence Against Women Act are after the jump, along with a lengthy floor statement by Grassley explaining his preference for a “consensus” measure over what he called a “political exercise” by Democrats.

The U.S. House voted yesterday to exempt small lenders from regulations adopted in the 2010 financial reform bill commonly known as Dodd-Frank. All Republicans present and 73 Democrats supported the Small Business Credit Availability Act. The roll call shows that Democrat Leonard Boswell (IA-03) was one of the yes votes, along with Republicans Tom Latham (IA-04) and Steve King (IA-05). Democrat Bruce Braley (IA-01) voted against the bill, while Dave Loebsack (IA-02) was absent, attending President Barack Obama’s event in Iowa City.

Proponents assert that this bill would help farmers, manufacturers, and small and rural businesses secure loans. I’ve posted the official bill summary after the jump. It sounds like a leap of faith to assume that loosening regulations on small banks, savings associations, and credit unions will free up credit for small businesses.

The U.S. Postal Service would have to continue Saturday mail delivery for two more years and would face a one-year moratorium on closing rural post offices under a bill the U.S. Senate approved yesterday. Both of Iowa’s senators voted for final passage of the bill, although Republican Chuck Grassley had previously supported GOP efforts to block the legislation. More details on the postal reform bill and key Senate votes are after the jump.

This week’s wildflower is a favorite for many people I know. May apples typically bloom in May (hence the name), but this year flowers appeared several weeks early in central Iowa.  Also known as umbrella plants, these flowers are easy to spot, since they often grow in large colonies. A bunch of photos are after the jump.

This is an open thread. I’m not planning to write a separate post about First Lady Michelle Obama’s visit to Windsor Heights yesterday, or President Barack Obama’s speech at the University of Iowa today, so any comments about those events are welcome here. I would advise “fired up and ready to go” students to focus their volunteer energy on one of the competitive Iowa House or Senate races within striking distance of Iowa City.

Governor Terry Branstad released details from his 2011 tax return late last week. His income was down considerably from 2010 to a little more than $190,000. That’s still nearly four times the median household income in Iowa and puts Branstad in the top 5 percent of Iowa households by income level. The bulk of his income came from the salary for being governor ($116,131) and pension payments from his previous service in state government ($52,954).

Branstad’s tax bill was a bit of a head-scratcher: $17,777 in net federal taxes but only $52 in state taxes for 2011. Most Iowans pay way more than $52 in state taxes on income way below $190,000. Even more surprising, last year Branstad received a $369 refund on his state tax return despite reporting $313,663 in adjusted gross income during 2010.

The governor’s tax bill illustrates the inequities in Iowa’s tax code and the need for a more effective alternative minimum tax.

The Iowa legislature has passed a bill to create a public information board with the power to enforce open-records laws on local government entities.

Republican candidate John Archer has launched his second television commercial across Iowa’s new Congressional district. Follow me after the jump for the video and transcript.

Archer’s first television commercial ran for one night only on January 3. Last month his campaign ran a radio ad district-wide with a focus on gasoline prices and energy policy. Dan Dolan, the other Republican candidate in IA-02, has not placed any radio or television commercials but has spent a considerable amount on direct mail.

It’s a chilly and wet Earth Day in my corner of central Iowa, but I hope the Bleeding Heartland community is enjoying the weekend. Later today I hope to get out to pull up garlic mustard, an invasive plant from Europe that spreads easily and displaces native American plants.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome. After the jump I’ve posted the full audio from the Iowa Senate floor discussion of climate change on April 19, plus video highlights and excerpts from a Radio Iowa news account. State Senator Rob Hogg gave every senator a copy of this statement from Iowa faith leaders urging action to combat climate change.

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.

Iowa’s three representatives on the Republican National Committee were denied entry to a reception with Mitt Romney today after they refused to sign a “delegate pledge form.”