Friday Clips

Friday's Clips

My eyes are still numb from campaign finance reports so here's some miscellaneous.

Roxanne Conlin is no fan of Kentucky GOP Senate nominee Rand Paul, who's expressed opposition to the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"Rand Paul's views are dangerous to Iowans," said Conlin. "Paul's condoning of racism could have repercussions beyond imagination for veterans, teachers, police officers, students and families across our state. I'm calling on Senator Grassley to join me in opposing the Republican nominee in Kentucky because his views are greatly out of touch with our values. We must never return to the days of segregated lunch counters and segregated workplaces."

Puts Chuck on the spot: Paul is a hero to the Tea Party wing of the base and Grassley, who after opposing the bill on early votes crossed the aisle and voted last night for final passage of the financial reform bill, still has some vulnerabilities on the right.

Speaking of Roxanne, she and the Other Two Guys will be in Coralville tomorrow night:

On Saturday, May 22 the Johnson County Democratic Party will host one of the first in a series of statewide “Grassley Retirement Parties.” Roxanne Conlin, Tom Fiegen, and Bob Krause, candidates in the June 8th primary for the Democratic nomination for the 2010 US Senate race, plan to attend.

Details: 6:00 to 9:00pm at Morrison Park (near the Aquatic Center) in Coralville.

The event is free and open to the public.The suggested donation is $10 for individuals and $20 for families.

That's kind of rich for Fiegen and Krause's blood but I suppose that's what the "free and open to the public" clause is for.

Also passing through the People's Republic tomorrow: Rod Roberts in North Liberty. Saw one of his ads the other night during the Olbermann/Maddow block on MSNBC, which seems like an odd pairing. In any case Rod "respectfully asked" for my vote. It's perfectly made for Rod's nice guy run up the middle, but unfortunately for him the dynamic between BVP and Terry didn't turn out that way.

But I've heard reports that BVP alienated some folks up in deeeeep red northwest Iowa by coming out against the Lyon County casino; one conservative's moral crusade is another conservative's economic development.

I've also seen TV ads for Coralville Courier, which means someone someplace has some money (let's just say the Deeth Blog won't be up on TV any time soon). But they're a corridor must read as we see today: in a bigger piece re-emphasizing support for Steve Rathje in the 2nd CD race, reports that Mariannette Miller-Meeks was on the verge of dropping out of the general election race in August 2008. Courier cites this 8/13/08 email:

"I thank everyone for their efforts and thank you for being forthright with me. We should go about disassembling the campaign as smoothly as possibele.

God bless, Mariannette"

Face Palm Week as The Guv steps on his own rollout AGAIN. First, the trooper chase (which played into SO many sotto voce verdicts on Culver's persona) bumped the Vice Presidential visit down a notch in the Tuesday/Wednesday news cycle. Then SOMEone loses a briefing book - which I have to admit makes for fun reading. They were kind enough to redact all my friend's cell phone numbers.

Iowa Dems are looking at a rule change that simply makes established practice official: the candidate for governor chooses the running mate. Barb Kalbach, who's determined to poke Culver and Judge in the eye by challenging Judge at the convention, is PO'd.

Like I said before, the time for an internal challenge to Team Chet ended on the March 19 filing deadline. Kalbach should do Democrats some good by challenging one of her GOP legislators, Sen. Nancy Boettger or Rep. Clel Baudler - who are running unopposed. Baudler only won 58% last time and, I'm told, got caught having his clerk push the voting button this past session...