Tag: iowa

Obviously, I’m biased in any RedState Gathering / Iowa Straw Poll contest…

…but why does the Iowa GOP even want to split their straw poll off from the Iowa State Fair? I can sort of get the idea that the state Republican party may be a little upset with RedState: after all, we routinely daydream about a wonderful world where agriculture subsidies and ethanol mandates are history. But shifting the time and venue of the Iowa Straw Poll so that it interferes with the RedState Gathering still seems a little… petty.

I know, I know: the Iowa GOP will undoubtedly claim that we were completely irrelevant to their decision-making process.  Some of them might even believe it.  But there’s a certain percentage of that state’s party infrastructure that has never forgiven RedState for upstaging them in 2012 with Rick Perry’s announcement. And, let’s face it: Iowa is bad at picking the Republican nominee. Which is something else that the Iowa GOP doesn’t seem inclined to forgive us for mentioning.

Iowa Democrats: Save us, Martin O’Malley, you’re our only hoHAHAHA sorry.

It’s a measure of how awful the Democratic bench is – not excluding its front-runner – that this is newsworthy: “Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley stepped up his critique of Wall Street excesses here Friday as he began his first swing through Iowa this year with a populist speech to an enthusiastic crowd of close to 300 people attending a Democratic dinner.”  As most people reading this probably know already, O’Malley is not exactly known for having the word ‘enthusiastic’ associated with him.  He is, in point of fact, rather dull. Continue reading Iowa Democrats: Save us, Martin O’Malley, you’re our only hoHAHAHA sorry.

Iowa Democrats kind of not ready for Hillary.

The more you think about this story, the weirder it gets.

Democrats are beginning to worry that Hillary Clinton is creating a drought in Iowa.

A year out from the Iowa caucus, some party members fret that Hillary Clinton’s dominance in the Democratic field will leave the party high and dry as the campaign season intensifies. A lack of competition within the party may hurt fundraising and makes it hard to develop the new blood that often grows out of highly competitive races, some party activists say.

Continue reading Iowa Democrats kind of not ready for Hillary.

Democratic Election season in Iowa off to a slow start.

At least, that’s the impression that I’m getting here. Admittedly, back in 2007 the fun didn’t really start until the second half of the year, but the general take from that piece seems to be …Ehh. Hillary will show up, and we’ll go rah-rah, and then she’ll win and that’ll be that. It’s not that they’re jumping up and down for her; it’s that nobody apparently really expects that Hillary Clinton will be seriously challenged in Iowa this go-round, so she might as well take it slow. Continue reading Democratic Election season in Iowa off to a slow start.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R, Iowa) to give GOP response to 2015 SotU address.

It’s a pretty interesting choice: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today announced that U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) will deliver the Republican Address to the Nation following the State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 20, 2015.”  Combat veteran, freshman Senator, on nobody’s list for 2016 in any capacity: with any luck, the leadership is trying to integrate some of the last wave of populist conservatives into Congress. Either that, or she can give a really good speech. I can live with either.

Moe Lane

PS: There is a fellow who sneered at the junior Senator from Iowa earlier today.  The name of this fellow – who apparently suffers from the twin burdens of owing all of his success to his last name, and having perhaps a decidedly unrequited lust for female conservative legislators – is known to me, but I choose not to repeat it. …Ah, the classics.

Terry Branstad wishes to destroy the Ames Straw Poll.

Nice thought, but…

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is pushing to end the state’s Republican straw poll, but the state party chairman says the event may still go on next year.

Branstad said Monday that the poll – traditionally held in Ames the summer before a contested presidential caucus – is a turnoff for many candidates and could diminish the power of the state’s caucuses.

…yeah, the rest of us kind of hate the Iowa caucuses, too. And the ethanol subsidies.  And, yeah, I will admit it: the Ames Straw Poll. On the other hand: I’d probably hate all the essentially meaningless rituals that we’d see come out of whichever state replaced Iowa as first in the primaries.  And on the gripping hand: we’re probably going to pick up Iowa in the 2016 Presidential election, so let me just shut up now.

I believe that what Tom Harkin did here is called ‘objectifying.’ Or just ‘being an jackass.’

Hey, how do you refer to a state Senator and National Guard war veteran who served in Iraq? Well, if you’re retiring Senator Tom Harkin, you apparently ignore those parts of the resume and zoom in on physical details:

Retiring Democratic Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin says that Iowa voters shouldn’t be fooled because Joni Ernst is “really attractive” and “sounds nice.”

“In this Senate race, I’ve been watching some of these ads,” Harkin said at the Story County Democrats’ annual fall barbecue last week honoring the retiring senator. “And there’s sort of this sense that, ‘Well, I hear so much about Joni Ernst. She is really attractive, and she sounds nice.’”

…Course, when your party is running the trial lawyer who goes around insulting the next Senate Judiciary chair and suing people over chickens, I suppose that you don’t have much to work with there.  Still. Don’t these people pay attention to their own agitprop? …Pathetic, really.

If/when Jodi Ernst wins next Tuesday…

…it’s going to be because of stuff like this:

…Ernst, who was wrapping up her 99-county tour, appeared with Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and John McCain. Braley, who earlier this week finished his part of the Democrats’ 99-county tour…

Bolding mine. ‘His part?’ Tell me: did Bruce Braley at least get a participation trophy?

Via

Moe Lane

PS: Vote.

White House tries to help Bruce Bailey in his gubernatorial bid… Oh, God, STOP it.

This is starting to offend my professional pride.

Maybe the White House should possibly do Bruce Braley a favor and, you know, shut up or something? – At least, that’s probably how Braley is feeling right now. Personally, I think that Barack Obama should come stump for the guy. Oh, wait, that’s because I don’t have Braley’s best interests at heart.

Moe Lane

PS: And, of course, as I’m writing this up I see this:

Do tell. Do tell.