Republican State Senator Merlin Bartz set the bar high for irony on the opening day of the 2012 legislative session. Bartz sought publicity for a bill he has introduced to remove “frivolous, obsolete, and redundant mandates” from the Iowa Code.

On the one hand, that’s a worthwhile effort for the ranking member of the Iowa Senate Local Government Committee. On the other hand, a guy who’s using a 19th-century law to force neighbors to pay for half of his new fence might not be the best standard-bearer for this cause.

Leaders representing both parties in the Iowa House and Senate outlined their priorities in their opening remarks to this 2012 legislative session. Even the Republicans said next to nothing about social issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage or promoting religious education.

The Iowa legislature’s 2012 session begins today with several major policy reforms on the agenda. Making progress on even one of those issues would be daunting under any circumstances, but particularly during an election year when different parties control the Iowa House and Senate. Lots of links are after the jump.

What’s on your mind this weekend, Bleeding Heartland readers? Today is Stephen Hawking’s 70th birthday. The Mirror published 17 things “you need to know” about the renowned physicist. I haven’t read A Brief History of Time or any of Hawking’s other publications for adults, but my kids and I are big fans of the three children’s books he co-wrote with his daughter, Lucy Hawking: George’s Secret Key to the Universe, George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt, and George and the Big Bang. Highly recommended for children with any interest in science, especially if they are fascinated by space travel or the solar system.

Doctors do not know why Hawking has lived for so many years with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He has credited the excellent care he has received through Britain’s National Health Service. In a 2009 editorial against government-run health care, the American conservative publication Investor’s Business Daily claimed that a person with physical handicaps like Hawking’s “wouldn’t have a chance in the UK.”

This is an open thread; all topics welcome. After the jump I’ve posted excerpts from yet another reaction to Stephen Bloom’s harsh commentary on Iowa for The Atlantic monthly. This one is by Peter Feldstein, who co-authored The Oxford Project with Bloom. Bleeding Heartland readers discussed Bloom’s essay a few weeks ago in this thread.  

Six Republican candidates are debating twice in 15 hours this weekend ahead of Tuesday’s primary in New Hampshire. Mitt Romney, who’s way ahead of the field, will be playing not to lose. Everyone else will be under pressure to trip him up.

Any comments about the ABC debate on Saturday night or Sunday morning’s encounter on “Meet the Press” are welcome in this thread. I’ll liveblog the ABC debate after the jump.

Moderate Republican Fred Karger was excluded from these and all previous televised debates, but he has been campaigning in New Hampshire and has a tv ad on the air. Transcript: “Fed up with the Republican Party? Well, there’s one candidate you just might like. Fred Karger is the only moderate Republican running for president. He’s pro-choice, supports gay marriage, and wants us out of Afghanistan now. Send the Republican Party a message: vote for Fred Karger for president.”

UPDATE: Added excerpts from the Meet the Press debate transcript at the end of this post.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released new employment figures yesterday, showing nonfarm payroll employment up by 200,000 in December 2011, and the unemployment rate down slightly to 8.5 percent. Several members of Congress from Iowa cited the news a Their statements are after the jump.

I’ve also enclosed reaction from U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin to President Barack Obama’s recess appointments of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and three members of the National Labor Relations Board. While Harkin welcomed Cordray’s appointment, Grassley slammed the president for “upending years of Senate practice and legal precedent.” Grassley was among Senate Republicans who filibustered Cordray’s confirmation last month.

Now that we’ve had a couple of days to digest the Iowa caucus results, I want to invite Bleeding Heartland readers to discuss how the outcome affected the Republican Party of Iowa. My thoughts are below; please share your take in the comments.  

Iowa House Assistant Majority Leader Steve Lukan announced yesterday that he will not seek a sixth term in the state legislature. His retirement improves Democrats’ prospects of picking up the new Iowa House district 57.

UPDATE: Democrat Nancy Dunkel is running in this House district. Background from her January 6 press release is below.

Mitt Romney may have wrongly been declared the winner of the Iowa caucuses due to a tabulation error, according to an exclusive KCCI-TV report today.

The Iowa Democratic Party released complete precinct-level delegate results this afternoon. With 1,774 precincts reporting, 8,064 out of the 8,152 total county delegates elected statewide were for President Barack Obama. “Other” (uncommitted) elected 88 delegates across 18 counties. In terms of state delegate equivalents, there were 1181.03 Obama state delegates (98.42 percent) and 18.97 “other” state delegates (1.58 percent).

Click here to view all counties and statewide data. Click on each county’s name to view precinct-level delegate numbers. In case this page disappears like the IDP’s 2008 caucus results page did, I have posted details on all Iowa precincts electing “other” delegates after the jump.

A Polk County District Court Judge has ordered the Iowa Department of Public Health to list a birth mother’s same-sex spouse on the child’s birth certificate without requiring the non-birthing mother to go through the adoption process.

However, the ruling does not automatically apply to all Iowa same-sex couples seeking to have both parents listed on their children’s birth certificates.

First-term State Representative Kim Pearson announced today that she will not seek re-election in the new Iowa House district 30.

Representative Michele Bachmann is suspending her presidential campaign this morning after finishing sixth in the Iowa caucuses. In the summer, she briefly became the first female GOP presidential candidate to be a major contender in key early states. What happened to her afterwards won’t encourage other women to seek higher office.

This thread is for sharing stories from your precinct caucus meetings as well as for discussing the results once they have been reported.

Iowa Republicans and Democrats, I’m particularly interested to know how many candidates for Congress or the state legislature addressed your caucus, or had a campaign representative greet caucus-goers and speak on their behalf. GOP Congressional challenger Rod Blum is planning to meet Republicans in two IA-01 counties instead of caucusing in his home town of Dubuque. GOP Representative Tom Latham, who is running against Leonard Boswell next year in IA-03, claims to have lined up leaders in all 384 precincts across the district. Steve King’s challenger, Christie Vilsack, is speaking to all Democratic caucus-goers in Story County’s sole caucus location, Ames High School.

UPDATE: Adding results after the jump.

In a few hours, I’ll go to my Democratic precinct caucus. I’ll bring party platform resolutions to submit, but my main goal for the evening will be to secure an uncommitted delegate to the county convention.

I want to send the message that President Barack Obama hasn’t stood up for core principles of the Democratic Party. He has repeatedly expressed his confidence in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who never should have been appointed and has mismanaged funds that were supposed to help keep Americans in their homes. He shafted middle-class federal employees in order to craft an image as a deficit hawk, yet he proposed increases in the defense budget and allowed the Bush tax cuts to be extended at all income levels. He signed into law indefinite military detention authority that goes against our basic constitutional principles. He agreed to allow more offshore oil drilling without securing any GOP concessions on energy policy. He validated bogus conservative talking points about “job-killing” regulations by postponing EPA smog rules. Last summer, he treated Americans to the surreal picture of a Democratic president urging the Republican speaker of the House to join him in cutting Social Security and Medicare.

Democrats like me face long odds tonight, especially in Iowa’s most populous counties, Polk and Linn. Iowa Democratic Party caucus rules and the decisions of some county Democratic committees will make it extremely difficult for uncommitted caucus-goers to clear the viability threshold for electing delegates.

I didn’t expect this year’s Republican caucuses to be as much of a nail-biter as the 2008 Democratic competition in Iowa, but here we are on game day, and the top three GOP candidates could plausibly finish in any order.

In another sign that Iowa’s second Congressional district will be competitive next year, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has added three-term Representative Dave Loebsack to its “Frontline” list of vulnerable incumbents. Meanwhile, Loebsack’s three declared challengers have been meeting and greeting Republican activists during the busy Iowa caucus season.  

Most Iowa caucus-goers head home after the presidential candidate selection, but hard-core activists stick around to elect county convention delegates and consider resolutions for the party platform. If you bring a resolution to your precinct caucus, you have a good chance of getting it approved.

Little-known fact for those who plan to exercise this option: platform resolutions are supposed to be written in a different format from other political resolutions you may have read.

Is Rick Santorum rising fast enough to finish in the top two on Tuesday? The Des Moines Register’s final Iowa poll before the caucuses is one of many to show Santorum gaining strength. Representative Steve King and Senator Chuck Grassley made positive comments about Santorum’s campaign over the weekend. Although Rick Perry is criticizing Santorum’s record in Congress, there’s not enough time left to make an effective case against the latest “not Romney” through paid media.

The new Iowa polling numbers are after the jump, along with news from the stump and some candidates’ closing Iowa television and radio ads.

Happy New Year to the Bleeding Heartland community, and condolences to the Hawkeye and Cyclone fans who watched yesterday’s bowl games. Here’s hoping for a better 2012 to all.

Former Governor Chet Culver may finally get to start serving on the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation board of directors sometime in the new year. President Barack Obama appointed Culver to that position in July, but the Senate Agriculture Committee didn’t get around to holding a confirmation hearing until December 15. You can watch Culver’s testimony here, beginning with Senator Tom Harkin’s introduction around the 76:00 mark. No senators on the Agriculture Committee raised objections to Culver’s appointment, so if it ever comes up for a vote on the Senate floor, he is likely to be confirmed.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.