Iowa faces a crisis in family planning care for low-income and uninsured women and families. Throughout the state, more than 170,000 women qualify for assistance for family planning care, but have little to no access to the services they need. Organizations like Planned Parenthood, the Family Planning Council of Iowa, and other family planning agencies have worked long and hard to cover these women, but still about 100,000 are left without coverage. 

The fact is that Iowa has ranked relatively low compared to other states in access to contraceptives and other family planning care. Iowa currently ranks 48^th in the U.S. in access to contraceptives. Roughly half of Iowa’s counties do not have a family planning clinic that serves low-income women, and unintended pregnancies are the unfortunate result. 

Though Medicaid programs exist to cover low-income women, the current program leaves many without the care they need. This is why Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa began the Healthy Families project —  a multi-year program to increase education, outreach, and access to family planning care for those who qualify for assistance, but are not being served. 

The Healthy Families project conducted a door-to-door canvass to educate Iowans on this problem, and recruit supporters throughout the state. During the caucus, Healthy Families staff helped more than 960 activists submit resolutions at their precinct caucuses. 

In the 2008, as part of expanding access to contraceptives and family planning services, supporters of the project attended legislative forums. The forums were an excellent opportunity for constituents to share their opinions with their legislators. Activists attended more than 61 candidate forums, made about 945 phone calls to legislators, and sent 1,200 e-mails on the need for family planning access.

The response from legislators was the creation of a state fund for family planning assistance. The rationale behind this fund is grounded in smart fiscal policy: the state can save more than $3 for every $1 invested in pregnancy prevention. Currently, the state bears the costs of unintended pregnancies through social service programs and Medicaid expenditures. Unintended teen pregnancies cost the state more than $47 million alone.  Through prevention, unintended pregnancies can be reduced, and the drain on state resources can be alleviated.

The family planning line item was initially included in Gov. Chet Culver’s proposed budget, though the Legislature chose to create their own budget for the state based on prior-year receipts. Through the budgeting process, a line item for $750,000 was proposed in the Health and Human Services budget. When the issue came to debate on the floor of the Senate, a contentious anti-abortion debate, with numerous anti-choice amendments proceeded. The family planning line item already included language that would restrict use of funds for abortions, but anti-choice legislators, spurred by the Iowa Right to Life organization, equated anything related to family planning to “abortion.”

Subsequent attempts to subvert the new line item failed, including redirecting funds that were intended for prevention to so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” — centers that use intimidation and inaccurate medical information to pressure pregnant women. This was especially troubling since the line item was intended to be an investment in prevention, not an additional program to treat the problem after it occurs. The Senate did pass the line item, however including a $200,000 line item for “pregnancy counseling and support services.”

House leadership, seeking to avoid a lengthy, contentious abortion debate instead chose to remove the line item and additional $200K line. This strategy was not to kill the family planning line item, but rather to use the “conference committee” process to approve the measure. In conference, the family planning line item was restored, and the language for the additional $200K line item was made less restrictive. Both chambers approved the Health and Human Services budget, and the state fund was made law.

This is a tremendous victory for women and families in Iowa. This first step toward decreasing the shortfall of service to eligible women was a bold commitment by the Legislature. The Healthy Families project and its nearly 7,000 statewide supporters celebrated this victory. The project will continue to push forward on family planning care for women and families in Iowa, and will continue its efforts through education and outreach.

Senator Tom Harkin plans to donate money to the campaigns of several Democrats running for the Iowa House and Senate, and he wants us to help him choose the recipients:

Dear :

In 2004, George Bush won Iowa.

In 2006, Iowa Democrats turned things around and won with hard work and organization.

To ensure that Iowa remains blue in the general assembly and votes to put a Democrat in the White House we need to build upon our grassroots infrastructure and give our general assembly campaigns the resources they need to be successful this November.

That is why I have launched a new online contest called “Building Blue” on www.tomharkin.com.  I am going to provide $30,000 in contributions to support Iowa Democratic House and Senate candidates.

Please visit www.tomharkin.com/action/building-blue and nominate your favorite State House and Senate candidate to be eligible to receive up to $7,000 for their campaigns.

The nomination round is open from today until May 27th, so please forward this email and tell your friends and family to vote for your favorite candidates.

The top 20 House and top 10 Senate candidates that you nominate will move on to the second round, which will run from May 28 – June 3.  The top five House and top five Senate candidates will each receive a $2,000 donation and move on to the third and final round of voting.

The final round runs from June 4 – June 17, where the top vote-getter from the House and the top vote-getter from the Senate will each win a grand prize of an additional $5,000 contribution.  I will also send a fundraising email on behalf of the winners of the Building Blue contest.

So please support our terrific general assembly candidates by taking part in the Building Blue contest.

Please visit www.tomharkin.com/action/building-blue today and help build a blue Iowa in 2008.

Thank you for your support and good luck!

Senator Tom Harkin

Think about who deserves to be nominated. My criteria will include how competitive the district is, because extra money may be more influential in a close race.

Democracy for America, which endorsed Ed Fallon in February, has sent out another e-mail supporting his candidacy to its members:

Dear [desmoinesdem],

How many times this year did you wake up and say to yourself: America needs more from our elected Democrats?

I’ve said it too many times to count. That’s why our Primaries Matter campaigns are so important.

When Donna Edwards sent Bush Democrat Al Wynn packing a few months ago, we shook the establishment and sent a message to Democrats in Congress: move America forward or move out of Washington.

Now, Ed Fallon is working to beat Bush Democrat Leonard Boswell on June 3 in the Iowa primary and Rep. Boswell is running scared.

CONTRIBUTE $30 RIGHT NOW

How do we know we have this Bush Democrat on the ropes?

Well it’s not just the desperate Washington-style attack ads Boswell is running to distort Ed’s record. And it isn’t just the favors Boswell called in to get his beltway friends raising money in a panic for the campaign.

It’s the Boswell record that tells the real story of this campaign:

Boswell used to vote for the war and every chance to fund it.

Since Ed Fallon challenged him, Boswell votes against it.

Boswell used to vote for illegal spying on Americans.

Since Ed Fallon challenged him, Boswell votes against it.

But it’s clear that turning Rep. Boswell into some sort of “Ed Fallon-Lite” isn’t going to cut it. We need a real progressive in office who will stand with his constituents all the time — not just when it’s politically convenient.

With your contribution today, our victory in June will wake up Congress and send the message: Shape up or ship out.

Take Ed Fallon over the top: CONTRIBUTE $30 NOW

Thank you for taking action today,

-Charles

Charles Chamberlain

Political Director

Democracy for America’s appeal in February generated donations from more than 1,000 individuals. I’ll be watching the Act Blue page over the next day or so to see how they do this time.

For more information on the differences between Fallon and Boswell on the issues, click here.

For more on Boswell’s voting record in Congress, check out this website created by Progressive Kick.

Which is one of the 55 state blogs that received credentials to cover the Democratic National Convention in Denver. I am unable to travel to Denver this summer, but I look forward to reading the convention coverage in Iowa Independent.

Unfortunately, it appears that some of the state Democratic parties monkeyed around with the blog selection process. More on that after the jump.

Please post a comment if you know of any noteworthy event I’ve left out.

Democrats, please let me know about your upcoming meet-and-greets, fundraisers, town hall meetings or candidate forums by e-mailing desmoinesdem AT yahoo.com.

Monday, May 19:

Ed Fallon will appear on Iowa Public Radio (WOI 640 AM) between 10:00 – 11:00 am. He will be interviewed by Jeneane Beck and will take questions from callers.

Fallon will hold an event at Gateway West Park, 14th and Locust in downtown Des Moines at 3:00 PM. The event will kick off Fallon’s blitz of 12 counties the next day for his ‘New Energy for Iowa Tour.’ At the event, and during the tour, Fallon will announce a major new Congressional proposal he plans to champion if elected to Congress that will greatly benefit both Iowa’s environment and rural economy.

The Iowa Global Warming Campaign, Sierra Club and I-Renew are hosting a free film screening of “Global Warming: the Signs and the Science,” a film that uses expert dialogues on global warming to talk about how we can reverse its course. After the film, attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and participate in a discussion about the film and related issues. Refreshments provided. The “Every Day is Earth Day” event will take place from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Dubuque Public Library, 360 W. 11th St. @ Locust St. Dubuque.

Tuesday, May 20:

Barack and Michelle Obama are holding a rally at E. 6th Street and E. Locust Street in Des Moines, IA (on the west side of the capitol). Doors open at 7:30 pm. **Public Entrance at E. 6th Street and Grand Avenue** The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required but an RSVP is strongly encouraged. To RSVP please visit http://www.barackobama.com/.

Also on May 20, Ed Fallon is doing events in all 12 counties of Iowa’s third Congressional district:

7 am to 7:25 am

Knoxville Courthouse/Bandstand

214 E. Main St., Knoxville

8:00 am to 8:25 am

Chariton Courthouse Lawn (NE Corner)

916 Braden St., Chariton

9:00 am to 9:25 am

Albia Courthouse/Bandstand

10 Benton Ave. E., Albia

10:00 am to 10:25 am

Oskaloosa Town-square Bandstand

106 S. 1st St., Oskaloosa

11:00 am to 11:25 am

Sigourney Courthouse/Bandstand

101 S. Main St., Sigourney

12:15 pm to 12:40 pm

Marengo City Hall/Gazebo

152 E. Main St., Marengo

1:15 pm to 1:40 pm

Vinton Courthouse Lawn

111 E. 4th St., Vinton

2:45 pm to 3:10 pm

Grundy Center Courthouse/Bandstand

706 G. Ave., Grundy Center

4:00 pm to 4:25 pm

Toledo Courthouse/Bandstand

100 W. High St., Toledo

5:00 pm to 5:25 pm

Grinnell

Saint’s Rest Café

919 Broad St., Grinnell

6:00 pm to 6:20 pm

Newton

Uncle Nancy’s Coffee

114 N. 2nd Ave W., Newton

For his final event of the day, Ed will attend the Obama rally in Des Moines.

Windsor Heights Mayor Jerry Sullivan, Democratic candidate for House district 59, is having a meet the candidate event hosted by Clive Mayor Les Aasheim from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Clive Aquatic Center, 1801 NW 114th St in Clive.

One Iowa is holding a volunteer workshop at 6 pm. This is one of seven volunteer workshops to be held over the next month. These workshops will be a chance for you to sign up for shifts at Pride this June!  There will be a quick overview and training session to let you know about what the different volunteer needs and roles will be, where to check in and check out during Pride, and how this process will work.  Immediately following will be a chance for you to ask any questions you may have and to sign up for volunteer shifts.

To sign up for the May 20 volunteer workshop, RSVP here: http://eqfed.org/oneiowa/event…

Wednesday, May 21:

The spring 2008 Polk County Water Quality Snapshot is the fifth year of sampling water quality in rivers and streams in Polk County. Organized by the Iowa Environmental Council and Des Moines Water Works, the snapshot is conducted twice a year in the spring and fall. This year over 30 volunteers will help test over 70 sites on rivers, streams and lakes throughout the county. On Wednesday, May 21, from 8:30-9:30 a.m., volunteers will gather at the Izaak Walton League, at 4343 George Flagg Parkway, for a quick refresher course on water quality testing. At 9:30 groups of volunteers will leave with testing equipment, maps and directions to testing sites. Testing will be completed by 2 p.m. Wednesday.

John Scarpino, Candidate for Polk County Supervisor, District 2, is holding a campaign kickoff reception from 6 pm to 8 pm at Traditions Restaurant, 1509 S Ankeny Blvd in Ankeny. RSVP to Rick Singleton at 515-967-4245 or email Scarpino4Super@aol.com

Jerry Sullivan is holding a special event from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Walnut Creek Inn, 1258 8th St in West Des Moines. Please RSVP to Mike McCall at mmcall AT iowademocrats.org. Suggested donation $25 (host and sponsor levels higher).

Thursday, May 22:

One Iowa is holding another volunteer workshop (see explanation above) at 6 pm. To RSVP for this one, click here: http://eqfed.org/oneiowa/event…

Friday, May 23:

Free concert of Belin Quartet (classical string ensemble) beginning shortly after noon in Nollen Plaza, 3rd and Locust, downtown Des Moines.

Saturday, May 24:

This is the deadline to register to vote if you want to vote by mail in the June 3 primary. (If you are voting in person, you can register on the same day as the primary, but you will need to bring ID and proof of your address, such as a utility bill.)

Whiterock Conservancy and the Iowa Natural History Association are holding a weekend “BioBlitz”:

Whiterock BioBlitz 2008

1:00pm May 24-1:00pm May 25

Please join Whiterock Conservancy and Iowa Natural History Association for the Whiterock BioBlitz, a full day of exploration and learning!

A Biodiversity Blitz, or “Bio-Blitz” consists of a rapid assessment of what lives in a specific area at a given point in time. During the 24-hour BioBlitz at Whiterock Conservancy, teams led by biologists and staffed by novices and enthusiasts will explore the huge 4,300-acre Whiterock Conservancy-managed landscape and document every single species they find. BioBlitz participants will take part in the forays, using the “more eyes will find more species” approach. At the end of the 24-hour period, a comprehensive inventory of Whiterock’s plants, birds, insects, fungi, fishes, lichens, bryophytes, mammals, snails, amphibians, and reptiles will be closer to complete. The Whiterock BioBlitz is open to all members of the public to come explore Iowa’s largest land gift and one of Iowa’s newest and most unexplored treasures. Families with children are welcome as long as kids are willing to walk and parents can concurrently keep a skilled eye on both offspring and butterflies, reptiles, mollusks, etc.

CRITICAL INFO

Registration: Form attached-please fill out and return to Whiterock Conservancy

Headquarters: Whiterock Conservancy Campground

Time Frame: 1:00 pm. May 24 – 1:00 pm May 25

Accommodations: FREE TENT CAMPING (Bring camping gear)

Meals: FREE FOOD (Bring reusable silverware, plates, and cups)

What to Bring: Sturdy shoes and weather appropriate clothes, tent camping gear, reusable water bottles, binoculars, camera, flashlight.

Directions: From Coon Rapids, drive 2.2 miles east on Highway 141. Turn south onto Fig Avenue and drive 2.3 miles. The campground is located on the left before you cross over the Middle Raccoon River.

Questions: Please don’t hesitate to email or call Elizabeth Hill with questions regarding the Whiterock BioBlitz.

Today is the last day of Children’s Book Week.

My husband and I spend a lot of time reading to our kids and have a lot of opinions on children’s books.

If you ever choose books for children (your own or someone else’s), please join me after the jump for some thoughts on this non-political subject.

A little more than two weeks before the Democratic primary in Iowa’s third Congressional district, Ed Fallon has challenged Congressman Leonard Boswell to shift his support as a superdelegate from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama.

It’s a shrewd move for several reasons.

First, Iowa’s third district went for Obama in January, as yesterday’s press release from Fallon underscores:

Fallon says, “Even though Hillary Clinton finished behind Barack Obama and John Edwards in the Third Congressional District, Congressman Boswell continues to ignore the will of the majority by saying he will cast his superdelegate vote for Clinton.”

Fallon worked with John Edwards through the Iowa Caucuses and then endorsed Barack Obama in February. Fallon says, “Both Obama and Edwards are people whose principles reflect my belief that we need to get big money out of politics and stand up to the special interests to accomplish real change in this country. It’s time to come together and focus on defeating John McCain in November.”

As I’ve written before, Fallon yard signs are often seen in the same yards as the Obama “HOPE” signs, while Boswell’s yard signs are frequently paired with Hillary signs.

Any further publicity that aligns Fallon with Obama, and Boswell with Clinton, can’t hurt the challenger and may even sway some undecided Democrats.

Second, Obama is coming back to Des Moines this Tuesday for a victory rally on the night when he is expected to win a majority of the Democratic Party’s pledged delegates. This will surely be a big media event.

Fallon spoke at a Nation for Change rally supporting Obama in Des Moines last month. Whether or not Fallon is able to address the crowd this coming Tuesday, Obama’s visit may generate some media coverage about which prominent Iowans are supporting Obama, and which are still with Clinton.

Third, since Boswell has rejected all invitations to debate, Fallon will not have many more opportunities to trip up the incumbent before the June 3 primary. Challenging Boswell to back Obama is a way to shift the media narrative.

Speaking of debates, Boswell has said he could not spare the time for them because he is too busy working on the farm bill and other legislation. But Congress has already sent the farm bill to President Bush and is likely to be in recess during the last week in May. It’s too bad that Boswell can’t be straightforward about his reasons for not debating Fallon.

A final note before I end this post: after trying for more than a week, I have so far been unable to get any comment from Boswell’s campaign or his Congressional office on whether Boswell was the Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee who on May 8 supported a Republican effort to add the Senate version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (which includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies) to the fiscal 2009 Intelligence authorization bill.

I am still trying to get someone who works for Boswell to confirm or deny this speculation and will bring you up to date on this soon.

Thursday I announced my re-election bid to represent Iowa House District 38.  You can see the full release here.  Here are some of the highlights:

Olson also cited raising the minimum wage, making health insurance available to 17,000 Iowans this year and all kids within three years, expanding voluntary preschool access, and keeping post-secondary education tuition increases the lowest in decades as legislative successes. Tyler was honored to receive the 2008 Lincoln Excellence in Governing Award from Bethel AME Church.

Olson will kickoff his re-election campaign with a reception at the Cherry Building (329 10th Avenue SE, Cedar Rapids) on Wednesday, June 11. The event runs from 4:45PM to 6:30PM. All are welcome, and more information is available at www.tylerolson.org.

We had great success on issues important to us.  I need your help to return to Des Moines.  Please consider a contribution of $20 to the campaign.  Your contribution will help me print cowboy cards to take door-to-door with me this summer and fall.

Two other pieces of legislation I floor-managed were expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and creating the Energy Cities program.  The EITC is available to working families making less than $32,263.  Last year I led legislation that became law to increase the state EITC and make it refundable, helping working families across Iowa.

Your contribution of $20 or $10 helps me continue working to increase the EITC.

The Energy Cities legislation encourages communities to gather the stakeholders (city council, board of supervisor, school district, private business, nonprofits) to develop an energy efficiency plan.  Participating communities are then given priority for certain state programs.

If you are in the Cedar Rapids area, make sure to stop by my campaign kickoff on June 11.  I hope to see you there!

I've got a long diary coming in the next week or two on tips for Barack Obama's volunteers as they reach out to Democrats who did not support Obama in the primaries.

For today, I have just a short message for you.

Heaping scorn on those who supported Hillary Clinton and are disappointed that she is losing does not help your candidate.

If you care about beating John McCain, show a little more empathy and a lot less hostility toward the hardcore Clinton supporters. Otherwise you will only deepen the alienation they feel from the Obama-loving crowd.

When talking to someone who is disappointed that Obama will be our nominee, try to focus on positive reasons to support him, delivered without gloating.

Whoever wins the June 3 primary to represent Iowa’s third district, I think we all should agree that facing a primary challenge has nudged Congressman Leonard Boswell in some good directions. Not only has he come on board with federal legislation he didn’t back in the past (such as the Safe Climate Act), he has also stepped up his constituent service.

The Des Moines Register ran this article on Friday about Windsor Heights moving closer to getting a unique zip code for its residents:

Windsor Heights, which is surrounded completely by other cities, shares the ZIP codes of 50311, 50312 and 50322 with neighboring Des Moines and Urbandale.

Boswell in January introduced legislation, at the urging of Windsor Heights officials, that directs the postal service to designate a unique ZIP code for the city. Iowa Sens. Charles Grassley, a Republican, and Tom Harkin, a Democrat, introduced companion legislation in the U.S. Senate.

Windsor Heights spearheaded a crusade 10 years ago to secure a unique ZIP code for the community, where problems with mail deliveries have irritated residents for years.

Catch that? They’ve been working on this for 10 years. I know Windsor Heights residents who asked Boswell or his staffers years ago to help us get a zip code.

Windsor Heights officials get about 50 complaints a year about the city’s lack of a unique ZIP code. The issue is the top one residents complain about, city officials said.

[City administrator Marketa] Oliver praised the “dogged perseverance” of city leaders in getting the postal service to conduct the survey.

“When I heard, I went ‘Woo hoo,’ ” she said.

Mayor Jerry Sullivan contributed the announcement to support from the Iowa Congressional delegation.

“Leonard (Boswell), if he hadn’t spearheaded this for us, we wouldn’t have gotten to where we are today,” Sullivan said.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Boswell took the initiative on this issue right after Ed Fallon declared he was running for Congress.

This morning my family attended the annual pancake breakfast run by the Windsor Heights firefighters, and a person who has served on the city council agreed with me that we wouldn’t have made progress toward getting a zip code if it were not an election year.

I have no idea whether Windsor Heights’ three precincts will go for Boswell or Fallon on June 3, but I think all of the suburb’s residents should be glad the incumbent has been extra motivated to deliver to constituents lately.

On Friday, Marc Ambinder asked, “Didn’t Democrats scoff when Howard Dean and the DNC put money into Mississippi?”

He’s referring to the flap that erupted two years ago when some Democrats complained that Dean was putting too much money into rebuilding the state Democratic parties. Of course, that’s just what Dean had promised to do when he was running for DNC chairman.

Markos gave us this flashback from May 11, 2006. The speaker is Paul Begala, a Democrat from the Clinton wing of the party, on CNN:

   BLITZER: Very quickly, is Howard Dean in trouble?

   BEGALA: No. I think Candy’s report was spot on.

   He — yes, he’s in trouble, in that campaign managers, candidates, are really angry with him. He has raised $74 million and spent $64 million. He says it’s a long-term strategy. But what he has spent it on, apparently, is just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose. That’s not how you build a party. You win elections. That’s how you build a party.

Now that a Democrat has won a special election in a heavily Republican Congressional district in Mississippi, I guess we all know who was right two years ago.

Senator Ted Kennedy is in a Boston hospital after suffering a stroke in Hyannisport. UPDATE: News reports now say he had seizures, not a stroke.

He spent two hours in the Cape Cod hospital emergency room before being airlifted to Boston.

I hope he is receiving the care he needs for a full and speedy recovery.

May is National Stroke Awareness Month, and this information comes from the National Stroke Association’s website:

In 1989 National Stroke Association received the Presidential Proclamation recognizing May as National Stroke Awareness Month (view a copy of the proclamation). The goal of this annual campaign is to ensure that all Americans understand they can “Save a Life” by knowing about stroke risk factors, prevention, symptom recognition and Acting F.A.S.T. to treat stroke. In addition, this is a time for remembering those who have survived a stroke and to let them know that National Stroke Association supports them throughout their lifelong recovery journey.

This year National Stroke Association will focus its efforts on educating the public to recognize stroke symptoms, and to Act F.A.S.T.

F = FACE     Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?

A = ARM     Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?

S = SPEECH     Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Does the speech sound slurred or strange?

T = TIME     If you observe any of these signs, it’s time to call 9-1-1.

No, I’m not talking about the “high-priced Los Angeles call girls” surveyed by Playboy Radio, who ranked Chet Culver the fourth most “doable” governor.

I am talking about yesterday’s ruling by the California Supreme Court granting full marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Iowa Republicans know they have their work cut out for them this year and are not in a strong position to retake the Iowa House or Senate.

Conservatives in California are trying to get a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage on the ballot for November. If the initiative does get on the ballot, this will be a recurring national news story for the next six months.

I would not be surprised to see Republican candidates all over the country seize on this issue to try to direct the voters’ attention away from the many failures of the Bush administration, including the war in Iraq.

Even though the California Supreme Court is dominated by Republican appointees, the GOP will cite the gay marriage issue as a reason not to elect Democrats. There will be many news reports about gay couples traveling from around the country to California to be married. I expect that Democratic candidates will be put on the spot about whether Iowa should recognize those marriages, or whether Iowa judges should follow the logic of the California ruling.

If you are running for office in Iowa, be ready to address this issue.

On the plus side, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he respects the court ruling and opposes the ballot initiative. In effect, he has taken himself out as a future Republican presidential candidate (even if Congress were to amend the constitution to allow foreign-born citizens to serve as president).

Meanwhile, the advocacy group One Iowa, which is working to secure marriage rights for same-sex couples in our state, has a petition you can sign if you support their goals and oppose any constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

I’ve put the full text of the petition, along with the rest of the e-mail I got yesterday from One Iowa, after the jump.

The campaigns of Congressman Leonard Boswell and challenger Ed Fallon put out very different statements about ethanol on Thursday.

This isn’t the first time the candidates have clashed over agriculture policy. In general, Boswell is happy with our federal farm policies and touts how hard he is working to keep them the way they are.

Fallon would like to see a shift toward more support of local food networks and sustainable agriculture, as well as more regulations to address the economic, public health and environmental problems caused by confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

Join me after the jump for more discussion of the ethanol issue.

Someone has urged me not to pay much attention to the electoral vote trackers

on the front page of MyDD, because in some respects they differ from state polling averages you will find at pollster.com or at Real Clear Politics.

Jerome Armstrong, the founder of MyDD, addressed concerns about the electoral vote tracker in this post:

As it says, when you click on either of the map counters of EV’s:

“This Electoral Vote Map is updated constantly to forecast the 2008 Presidential election based on the latest available state polling.”

The very latest poll in each state, without weighting or averaging.

There isn’t a bias as to the pollster, if you see the poll listed as credible on Pollster.com, or RealClearPolitics.com, it’ll be included. But, if the latest poll is tied, then the result remains the same as the previous latest poll.

This is a forecast made by the very latest poll. If you see a mistake, perhaps a poll was missed that is the latest, then point it out, and one of the admins will make the change.

The forecast isn’t a prediction of the election, but a simple up-to-the-minute poll temperature of the state polling.

(update) And yes, you can edit the map yourself, as one user explains:

1) When you first log onto mydd, it populates the two maps with the most recent single poll for each state.

2) If you then click on the map and change it (for example, you don’t believe that Hillary would lose WA to McCain), the numbers update to your settings – now it becomes like an EV calculator

3) The next time you log on, or refresh the page even, the counters go back to their poll-generated state.

Polling averages (for instance, of the five most recent polls in a state) are great when you have several polls taken within a short period of time, as we’re likely to have this fall.

But I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to average the last five polls in a state if that takes you back a couple of months.

Some people have objected that the MyDD tracker recently showed Iowa in Clinton’s column against McCain. That was based on a Research 2000 poll taken on April 22 and 23, which showed her slightly ahead of him, 43-42. Currently, the most recent poll is from Rasmussen on May 13, which showed McCain beating Clinton in Iowa 45-42. As you can see if you click over to MyDD, Iowa is now red for McCain against Clinton.

You may prefer polling averages to whatever the latest poll says, and I will too, once we start getting more frequent releases of state polls. For now, I think that MyDD’s methodology is sound.

Armstrong is probably the blogosphere’s most prominent Obama critic, and Clinton supporters usually dominate the recommended diary list at MyDD, but I encourage you not to write off everything you see at that site, even if you don’t like Clinton. Anyway, front-pager Jonathan Singer is a big Obama advocate.

I agree with Congressman Bruce Braley that federal agencies need to investigate Agriprocessors, the company operating the meatpacking plant in Postville where nearly 400 workers were detained during an immigration raid on Monday.

It is hard to believe that a company could be unaware that some 40 percent of its workforce may consist of illegal immigrants.

Click the link about to read Lynda Waddington’s whole report for Iowa Independent. Here is a particularly important passage:

“Until we enforce our immigration laws equally against both employers and employees who break the law, we will continue to have a problem with illegal immigration,” Braley said.

According to Braley, just three employers were fined for breaking immigration laws in 2004. Last year, following Bush administration promises “to make employer enforcement a priority,” Braley says 92 employers were arrested, but only 17 fined out of the six million employers in the U.S.

“Naturally, the sheer number of arrests made by ICE during Monday’s raid raises questions about Agriprocessors, Inc.’s knowledge of possible violations of employment and immigration law.”

For his efforts, Braley received the same answer as members of the media have received when asked about a possible or ongoing investigation. “Federal officials would not comment on the possibility of an investigation into Agriprocessors for possible violations of the law,” he said Wednesday evening.

An official at the Iowa Labor Commission has confirmed that Agriprocessors was under investigation for possible child labor and wage law violations at the time of the raid. No one would comment on the possible impact the raid would have that investigation.

On a related note, I completely agree with this letter to the editor, which the Des Moines Register published on Thursday:

From the May 13 paper, “Orthodox Jews…gather across from the Postville plant.” “Ari Berkowitz, a 15-year-old Hasidic Jew, was hanging out with a handful of friends.”

I trust that we will also be seeing captions such as “Southern Baptists watch a baseball game,” and “Jane Doe, a Pentecostalist from West Des Moines, was at the mall yesterday.”

– Sondra Krueger Feldstein, Bondurant

When the Swift plant was raided in Marshalltown last year, media reports didn’t go out of their way to identify the owners and operators of the plant as Methodist, Catholic, or whatever.

Calling attention to the religion of the Agriprocessors’ owners may give the misleading impression that their faith was related to possible legal violations.

The Des Moines Register’s editorial board met separately with each of four Democratic candidates seeking to run against Tom Latham in Iowa’s fourth Congressional district. It will probably be another week or two before that newspaper endorses a candidate.

In the meantime, the news report on the interviews focused on their general agreement regarding the Bush administration’s tax breaks for the wealthy.

I would think that fourth district Democrats need to know more about the differences between these candidates. Are there any significant federal policies on which they disagree? Which committees would they want to serve on in Congress? Would they have a different strategy for running against Latham, or bring a unique strength to the table in the general election?

As I’ve written before, I am staying neutral in the IA-04 primary, but the winner will get $100 from me. I would love to get Latham out of Congress this year, or at least make him work so hard that he seriously considers retiring before the 2010 election.

As Memorial Day nears and the death toll continues to climb in Iraq, most Democrats are united in our determination to extract our troops from Iraq safely and swiftly.  As important as withdrawing our troops is how we care for the troops upon their return home.  Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking with retired veterans at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown about exactly that – how America should, and can, honor our veterans.  

Paul Street has published a thought-provoking piece at Black Agenda Report: The Deeper Racism in Iowa: Beneath the White Obama Craze.

I recommend clicking through and reading this whole article, but here are some passages that illustrate the argument he is making:

Barack Obama’s January 3rd Democratic Caucus victory in Iowa demonstrated that a Black man – or, at least, this particular Black man – could attract winning numbers of white voters. The candidate’s supporters claimed Iowa signaled a new day, that “race doesn’t matter” anymore in the United States. They are in a fantasy of denial. Not only does race remain imbedded in American social relations, but Iowa is especially afflicted with the compulsion to throw African Americans in prison more frequently than any other state. “Liberal” Iowans, proud that their state began a cascade of Obama victories, find it more difficult than ever to face up to the racism that distorts all cross-racial interaction in their cities and towns.

Interestingly enough, you don’t see many if any white liberal Iowa City Obama supporters involved in efforts to fight and overcome routine institutional racism and racial harassment in their city and state.

Given the purported anti-racism behind their support for Obama, they seem remarkably indifferent to – and ignorant of – Iowa’s status as the nation’s leader in disproportionate black imprisonment.

Some of the black and liberal students here find this a paradox.  I have a different perspective. Two days before the heavily Caucasian Iowa caucus, one forthcoming and self-critical caucus-goer and neighbor told me something I’d been suspecting for some time. Obama, he said, was “a way for liberal and moderate whites around here to pat themselves on the back for not being too prejudiced to vote for a black guy.”  But it was all premised, he agreed, on Obama being a “good,” that is non-threatening, middle-class, academic-friendly, and “not-too fiery black” – one who seemed unlikely to confront institutional white supremacy in any way more meaningful than attaining higher office. Like the racially accomodationist, white-friendly media mogul and mass Obama marketer Oprah Winfrey (who came through Iowa to stump for him a few weeks before that state’s critical Caucus), Obama capitalized on middle class whites’ rejection of openly bigoted “level-one” (state-of-mind) racism only because he reassured them he would honor their refusal to acknowledge and confront the continuing power of deeper, “level two” (state-of-being) – societal and institutional – racism in American life. I have spoken with local middle-class whites for whom loving the “good” (bourgeois) black Obama is the other side of the coin of hating the “bad” and “underclass” blacks who are becoming more evident in Iowa City.

The town’s white liberals don’t seem interested in tackling the deeper institutional racism that lives on beneath the surface while they congratulate themselves for being willing to back a certain non-threatening kind of black candidate. They certainly don’t want to look closely at the unpleasant picture of how racial and class oppression produce  pain and inequality in their own schools, neighborhoods, and community. They respond very well to what Black Agenda Report’s Glen Ford has identified as Obama’s “strategy to win the White House” by “run[ning] a ‘race-neutral’ campaign in a society that is anything but neutral on race.” As Ford notes, “the very premise – that race neutrality is possible in a nation built on white supremacy – demand[s] the systematic practice of the most profound race-factual denial, which is ultimately indistinguishable from rank dishonesty.”

I would like to hear your views on this piece, especially if you are an Obama supporter and/or an Iowa City resident.

Hello to the Bleeding Heartland community!  I'm Tyler Olson, representing Iowa House District 38 in Cedar Rapids (you can see my full bio here).  I wanted to introduce myself and express my appreciation for the discussion about how we are going to keep Iowa moving forward.

I just finished my first term in the legislature, and will be announcing my re-election bid shortly.  I'll make sure to post the announcement when it happens, but for now I'm posting my end of session update.  I'm also looking forward to providing updates on both my campaign and other House races as we move through the summer and fall.  Thanks, and look forward to hearing from you!