Chet Up Nine

Chet Up Nine

Last Register polls out. Braley is up by a whopping 21 points, and Mike Mauro is ahead 10. Sec of Ag is a squeaker...

The Accusations Fly

The Accusations Fly

Strong words in the staff room, the accusations fly...

"Don't Stand So Close To Me" is now stuck in my head. That happened to me once back in my teaching days; I have a very vivid memory of a very tight dress with a long slit and a deliberate seat in the front row. This was before Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct" and not as explicit, but it was a definite distraction from the day's lecture. But I didn't follow up on it being too damn ethical and all. Ah, the regrets of an old man...

Anyway, in Sec of Ag the accusation is an inept hired farm hand 20 years ago vs. current Brazilian investments. It's a smudge on Denise's Green Queen image but clearly seems to be a one time incident, while Bill Northey's portfolio is in true character for Mr. Agribusiness.

In the Secretary of State race Mike Mauro is guilty of having the same last name as his brother, which is about like accusing Shirley Manson of mass murder. Meanwhile, Chris reports that the Invisible Woman is still driving around with Virginia plates. (Follow link for photo.)

Hanusa finally has a web site up; just a one page placeholder. Kind of like she's a placeholder on the ballot.

An Elephant Crackup?

An Elephant Crackup?

This could be an election headline. Predictions of GOP House losses range between:

Chris Bowers, MyDD: -26

Cook: -20 to -35 or more

Larry Sabato: -23 to -30

Pollster.com: -31

Rothenberg: -34 to -40

Electoral-Vote.com: -39 to -40

In 1994 the biggest predections were in the 25-30 range and the Dems lost over 50.

However, today's headline is NOT electoral:

Today’s elephant populations are suffering from a form of chronic stress, a kind of species-wide trauma. Decades of poaching and culling and habitat loss, they claim, have so disrupted the intricate web of familial and societal relations by which young elephants have traditionally been raised in the wild, and by which established elephant herds are governed, that what we are now witnessing is nothing less than a precipitous collapse of elephant culture.

Elephants are wonderful animals and they can't help it that a mean-spirited political party chose them for a symbol. Or Thomas Nast did anyway.

Speaking of mean spirited, there was yesterday's Steve King No quisiera Que Usted Votara story. Tom Miller responds:

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller declared Thursday that Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver has "full authority" to offer voting information in foreign languages on his office's official Web site.

Miller said that "the use of other languages can facilitate exercising the constitutional right to vote."

Anyone else notice that King's All My Base Are Belong To Me campaign screed was shipped out on congressional letterhead?

Rettig Gets (lame) Pederson Response

Rettig Gets (lame) Pederson Response

Again from the in box, Janelle Rettig:

Lt. Governor Sally Pederson called me this afternoon. It was a conference call with Pederson, Mike Milligan (Ex. Dir. IDP), Kim Painter (Johnson County Recorder), and myself.

Pederson said that she had seen the mailing, she didn't find it offensive, felt the party (or anyone for that matter) had nothing to apologize for. She was unwilling to consider that having a mailing with the headlines "Davitt Supports Traditional Marriage" followed by "protecting Children for Sexual Predators" was at all demonizing to gay and lesbian people.

She did promise to look into it more, but I was not left with much hope that she considered this important. There was a lot said but no action and no accountability.

I did ask Pederson what she thought tied the four bold headlines together:

Davitt Supports Traditional Marriage	Teaching Character Education
Protecting Children from Sexual Predators	Keeping Children Away form Adult Material

She responded that what tied it together was values.

My problem with the mailing is twofold:

1) The IDP paid for a mailing that goes against its own platform.
2) By including something about marriage for same-sex couples in the same mailing, same page directly above "Sexual Predators" the mailing ties in the reader's mind the two issues together. The fallacy that gay people are more likely to be child molesters is a deep-rooted fear that some people hold. This mailing feeds those fears. Intentional or not this is a very damaging mailing.

I'm sure some of my friends will be mad that I'm sharing this criticism of my party four days before an election. But leaders need to lead, even in the face of misguided public opinion. And if bigotry is wrong, it's just wrong. And it's even more wrong when the very people who are supposed to stand for equality instead take cheap shots.

And it's wrong that Kim Painter can hand out the marriage licenses in Johnson County, but she and her partner can't get one.

Steve King No quisiera Que Usted Votara

Steve King No quisiera Que Usted Votara

Rep. Steve King el miércoles exigieron que la secretaria de Iowa del estado Chet Culver quite la información de votación en idiomas con excepción de inglés de la secretaria del sitio del Web del funcionario de estado.

"Ley de Iowa requiere claramente que todos los materiales de votación estén impresos en inglés," escribió a King, republicano, a Culver, el candidato democrático para el gobernador.

Culver encendió detrás que era una "tentativa desesperada" por Jones intentar y excepto la campaña de Nussle, y que la ley permite el uso de otras idiomas de garantizar las derechas de los votantes.

Los republicanos no quisieran que usted votara, los demócratas desean ayudarle a votar.

(En inglés)

Numbers, We Got Numbers

Numbers, We Got Numbers

KCCI says: Culver 50, Nussle 45. Also leads for Leonard Boswell and Mike Mauro.

Missed this a couple weeks ago but Survey USA has the Bush approval ratings; W's support is literally hiding in the mountains (UT, ID, MT, WY). Translated into electoral votes, that's 15.

Of course that's assuming he wasn't running against a nitwit like John Kerry. I hate to comment on The Comment Controversy but I will. This is all about All Your Base: it doesn't PERSUADE people, because it's incredibly bloody obvious the guy just pulled a Dan Quayle potatoe. (Anyone else remember when Bush Sr. meant to say he and Reagan had had success and he said "we've had sex"?)

But this oops gives the talk radio hosts and red meat rhetoricians something to rant about, to motivate an audience that's already made up its mind. The fact that they've latched onto something this lame, that they're making an argument this ludicrous, is a sign of their desperation.

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But my party isn't off the hook; deliberate statements are far more important than verbal stumbles. From the inbox, Janelle Rettig writes:

The Iowa Democratic Party has paid for and sent out a mailing that talks about "voting your values." It was sent to independents in Rep. Mark Davitt's race, but likely was sent into other races.

Page three of the mailing says "Davitt Supports Traditional Marriage -- Mark Davitt supports the Iowa law that guarantees that marriage in Iowa will only be between a man and a woman." This issue is immediately followed by "Protecting Children from Sexual Predators." Want to bet the tying together of the two topics was intentional? Karl Rove couldn't have done better. It's disgusting for the Iowa Democrats to feed the fires of untruths as it relates to gay people and child molesters.

The Iowa Democratic Platform calls for complete civil rights for GLBT people and "Equal marital rights for all consenting adults regardless of sexual orientation or gender identification." If these are the stated principles of the Iowa Democratic Party, how can the Party fund such mean and damaging mailings scapegoating gay and lesbian people?

I personally am quite disturbed that the Iowa Democratic Party has asked GLBTA people to step up and contribute more, volunteer more, be more involved, then they turn around and use our love and relationships to divide us. Furthermore, they have done it with money we likely helped raise.

You may know that The Iowa Republican Party recently sent a similar piece of garbage into Jim Leach's district attacking Dave Loebsack. At least in that mailing the GOP was honest about their agenda of discrimination. The Democrats tie gay folks and pedophiles into the same topic. I've been working hard to hold the GOP accountable for their mailing and now we have to hold the Democrats to the same standard.

It is wrong for Democrats or Republicans to try to win races by pushing discrimination against anyone. Shame on the Democrats for following into the game of destroying people and pitting people against each other to win races.

Janelle and her partner Robin have been working extremely hard for Democrats up and down the ticket, and she has expressed strong support (combined with constructive criticism) for Chet Culver in a recent heated discussion on the Iowa City listservs. No Iowan deserves a cheap shot like this.

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ARRRRRRRR! T' scurvy landlubbers at t' Des Moines Register finally write a story about Cap'n James Hill, t' Pirate candidate for Congress!

Hill, 42, acknowledges that there is an underlying reason to his campaign- a desire to write a book about his experience running for office and maybe even get himself a job as journalist.

Hill will continue his campaign through next week even though he seems a lot more like Don Quixote than Jean Lafitte, the gentleman pirate of New Orleans who helped save the United States in the War of 1812.

That Onion article the other day saying the Republicans were putting all the party's money into just one race? Here's a REAL poll: "In Arizona's 5th congressional district, a new SurveyUSA poll finds Harry Mitchell (D) inching ahead of Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ). Mitchell leads 48% to 46%..."

15 years later, remember victims of Nov. 1 shooting - Opinions

15 years later, remember victims of Nov. 1 shooting

I was on the air when it happened...