Anyone else in the Bleeding Heartland community not planning to watch the Superbowl tonight?

Jobs are on my mind this weekend. On Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics released some encouraging employment numbers. On the same day, news broke about proposed Air Force cuts that could eliminate around 500 jobs in the Des Moines area.  

Everyone’s talking about the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation’s decision this week to defund (or perhaps not defund) Planned Parenthood. After the jump I’ve posted ten links about the controversy. Hat tip to Political Carnival for this cartoon.

Yesterday the U.S. House approved a bill to require additional Congressional Budget Office analysis on legislation with a large price tag. The concept is intended to reduce the apparent cost of tax cuts to the federal budget. Iowa’s representatives split on party lines over this bill and proposed amendments, including one offered by Democrat Leonard Boswell (IA-03).

Iowa Rivers Revival announced today that Charles City won its 2011 “Iowa River Town of the Year” award. The non-profit organization, created to advocate for protecting Iowa rivers and streams, honored the Floyd County seat because city leaders “responded to record floods in 1999 and 2008 by embracing the Cedar River with new ideas and bold projects, such as transforming a low-head dam into Iowa’s first whitewater kayak course and installing the state’s largest permeable paving system.” A press release describing Charles City’s river projects in more detail is after the jump. UPDATE: Click here for more information about Charles City Whitewater at Riverfront Park.

Iowa Rivers Revival previously recognized Webster City (2007), Elkader (2008), Coon Rapids (2009) and Cedar Falls (2010) as River Town of the Year. Bleeding Heartland summarized those cities’ river programs here. Click here to download the full applications submitted by Charles City and the past winners.  

U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin both voted for a bill to ban insider trading by members of Congress, which overwhelmingly passed the U.S. Senate today. Follow me after the jump for details on how the Iowans voted on significant amendments to the bill, including one backing term limits for members of Congress.  

Iowa Senate Democrats received unwelcome news from Marshalltown yesterday when former Republican State Senator Larry McKibben announced that he will run in the new Iowa Senate district 36 this year. McKibben’s decision makes this seat a tougher hold for first-term Democratic incumbent Steve Sodders.

Candidates love to empathize with struggling middle-class Americans, but middle-income government employees are an easy target for politicians trying to earn their deficit warrior stripes. Today more than a third of U.S. House Democrats voted with nearly all the House Republicans to keep most civilian federal employees’ salaries frozen through 2013. All five Iowans voted for the legislation, even though Democrats Bruce Braley (IA-01), Dave Loebsack (IA-02), and Leonard Boswell (IA-03) have repeatedly said they oppose balancing the budget on the backs of the middle class.

Yesterday was the deadline for Congressional candidates to file financial reports on the fourth quarter of 2011. Details on fundraising by all the incumbents and challengers in Iowa are after the jump.

As I did last quarter, I’m covering the districts in reverse order, because the most interesting money stories came out of the new fourth and third Congressional districts.  

With about 80 percent of the votes counted in the Florida GOP primary, Mitt Romney is beating Newt Gingrich by 47 percent to 32 percent, a wider margin than most of the last week’s polls had indicated. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul are well back with 13 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

Any comments about the Republican presidential race are welcome in this thread. It’s hard for me to see a path for Gingrich or anyone besides Romney winning the nomination. Even though 39 percent of exit poll respondents in Florida “said they were not satisfied” with the candidates on the ballot, a doubt a new conservative “not Romney” savior could seize the crown.

Apologies for the lateness of this post: it’s past time to reveal the Bleeding Heartland Iowa caucus prediction contest winners.  

Iowa Senate Ways and Means Committee Chair Joe Bolkcom took to the Senate floor today with a clear message for Iowa House Republicans and Governor Terry Branstad: “no tax cut will pass the Senate Ways and Means Committee” until an expansion of Iowa’s earned income tax credit has been signed into law.

Can’t wait to learn more of the backstory on this one: Matt Strawn announced this morning that he is resigning as the Republican Party of Iowa’s state chairman. In a videotaped statement, Strawn cited competing business, personal, and political interests. He did not refer to the controversy over his attempt to declare the Iowa caucuses a tie with no clear winner. Supporters of Rick Santorum were outraged when Strawn said publicly that he could not speculate about the vote totals from eight precincts missing paperwork. The Iowa Republican blog publisher Craig Robinson, a former senior Iowa GOP official, repeatedly called for Strawn to step down.

I’ve posted Strawn’s video after the jump, with a partial transcript and an Iowa GOP press release. I’ll update with political reaction as it comes in today.

The Iowa Republican State Central Committee first elected Strawn as chair in January 2009. He beat several political insiders in that contest. Strawn is generally perceived to have improved the party’s organization and coordination. He had no opposition when chosen for another two-year term in January 2011.

A new progressive super-PAC pledged today to support grassroots organizing in Iowa’s new fourth Congressional district against five-term Representative Steve King.

UPDATE: Added King’s reaction to this development below.

After a few months of exploring a second run for Congress in Iowa’s first district, Republican Ben Lange has confirmed that he will soon make his candidacy official.

Mitt Romney is offering Florida voters a “history lesson” about Newt Gingrich this weekend.

On Saturday night the Des Moines Register announced the major stops on the 2012 Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). The 471-mile ride will start in Sioux Center on July 21 and end in Clinton on July 28.

Overnight stops are after the jump, along with findings from a new study on the economic impacts of recreational bicycling for Iowa.

Former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker will represent Zach Edwards, a Democratic operative who is charged with attempting identity theft against Republican Secretary of State Matt Schultz.

Our Secretary of State still wants to see your ID. Make that a photo ID with an expiration date on it, please, so your Iowa State student ID card will not suffice.  

You need it unless you vote absentee, or get someone to swear you are really you, or swear it yourself if you are in a nursing home and can't vote like other absentee voters. Or unless you have a religious objection or swear you are indigent. In those last two cases we break out the dreaded provisional ballots again.

With that many loopholes his new bill offers way more inconvenience, hassle, confusion, and expense for the state than it offers security for already honest elections.

Yesterday U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta revealed some proposed cuts to the military budget, part of a plan to save $487 billion over the next decade. Click here or here for details on the reductions, which will slow the rate of growth in defense spending but are far from the “massive cuts” opponents decry.

Representatives Bruce Braley (IA-01) and Dave Loebsack (IA-02) responded to yesterday’s news by promising to fight for defense-related jobs at the Rock Island Arsenal, a major employer in the Quad Cities area.

Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul spar tonight in Jacksonville, their last debate before next Tuesday’s Florida primary. Several polls released this week have shown slight leads for Romney, but Gingrich is still in contention. It helps that a couple of wealthy supporters have given a pro-Gingrich super-PAC $10 million. A large chunk of that money is funding anti-Romney television commercials in Florida.

CNN is broadcasting tonight’s debate, with Wolf Blitzer moderating. I’ll update this post later with highlights. Any comments about the Republican presidential race are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: I’ve added an anti-Romney and an anti-Gingrich ad after the jump.

SECOND UPDATE: Post-debate thoughts are now below.