Radio Iowa

Giuliani in Des Moines, touting record, responding to questions about Bloomberg, Iraq study group

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani gave a speech over the noon-hour in Des Moines (it would have been a late morning speech had it not started an hour late at 11:30 am).  Here's the Radio Iowa story.

Afterwards, Giuliani spoke with reporters for about 10 minutes.

The first question was about his membership in the Iraq Study Group (in reference to a New York Times story.  Giuliani's answers following the jump.

Richardson: remove ALL troops from Iraq now

Several Democratic presidential candidates appeared before an AFSCME meeting in DC today.  Here's the AP story.  Here's the Reuters story.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is the next Democratic presidential hopeful scheduled to visit Iowa with stops here Friday and Saturday. Here is the text of the speech Richardson delivered today (on his campaign website).

Richardson spoke with Radio Iowa this afternoon just after his speech to AFSCME members.

"This Iraq war policy is a disaster.  I know the region.  I know the players," Richardson said during that telephone interview.  "...What I've proposed is what I believe is the realistic policy on Iraq and that is that we should pull out all of our troops by the end of this calendar year -- all residual forces.  I believe that our troops have become targets.  They've done a magnificent job but when 60 percent of the Iraqi people say it's OK to shoot at an American soldier that until we complete the withdrawal, none of the strong diplomacy can happen.

Nussle to White House

Former Iowa Congressman Jim Nussle is likely leaving the Giuliani campaign team.  The White House announced this morning that Nussle would become the White House Budget Director. 

Nussle was an Iowa congressman for 16 years.  He ran for governor last year and lost. He led the U.S. House Budget Committee from January, 1997 to January, 2007.

UPDATE:  Here's the Radio Iowa story.  Pete Jeffries, a key advisor to Nussle's gubernatorial campaign and a former aide to US House Speaker Dennis Hastert, now works for AARP in Iowa, but happened to be in AARP meetings in DC today.  He talked with Radio Iowa about Nussle.  (Jeffries told Radio Ioaw he has no intention of returning to DC to work in the OMB.  Radio Iowa left messages with long-time Nussle friend Steve Greiner, too.  Greiner used to be Nussle's chief of staff, then went to work for former US House Speaker Newt Gingrinch.  Greiner was back in Iowa for the last push before the November election.  Greiner & Nussle opened their own consulting firm this spring with offices in Cedar Rapids & DC.)

UPDATE II:  Here's the statement Rudy Giuliani just issued: “President Bush made a great choice in Jim Nussle for Director of the Office of Management and Budget.  The President’s decision was the right one for our country and for taxpayers.   

“Jim and I have long shared a commitment to fiscal discipline and I have every confidence he will continue to be an effective steward of taxpayers’ hard earned dollars in his new position. 

“As our campaign continues to grow our team in Iowa, I am grateful to Jim for his early support and for his hard work in helping our team get started.”

Brownback & Romney on religion, abortion

Kansas Senator/GOP presidential candidate Sam Brownback was in Indianola over the noon-hour, one of the stops on his four-day-long bus tour through smaller cities in Iowa.  The story from the event centers around an email, composed by a Brownback aide, which contrasts Christianity with Mormonism. Here's the Radio Iowa story, with an audio link at the bottom if you wish to hear the entire conversation Brownback had with a group of reporters.

A few dozen Brownback supporters had gathered in Indianola for the noon-time event.  It was originally scheduled as a picnic on the lawn of the Warren County Courthouse, but a rain storm prompted staffers to scurry and move everything indoors (one reporter who inspected the alternative indoor location described the room's size as "smaller than my bedroom").

Many of the college-aged people in the crowd were standing outside the courthouse as the rain storm pounded, then concluded, chanting things like: "Who do we back?" -- to which the reply was: "Brownback."   There were a few chants about the Straw Poll as well.  Reporters standing in an open garage along the side of the courthouse to protect their gear from the rain offered alternative chants such as "who do we lack? -- Brownback" in reference to Brownback's tardy status.  (He was about half an hour late.)

Obama: life is more than "a long road toward nothingness"

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was this morning's keynote speaker at the United Church of Christ State Convention in Fort Dodge.  As the 271 delegates from churches throughout the state waited for some adjustment to the arrangement of the stage -- and waited for Obama to arrive, a few in the crowd started to sing "Rise and Shine, and Give God the Glory" then most of the crowd joined in.  Their second selection was "This Little Light of Mine."

Here's the Radio Iowa story of the event, with an audio link at the bottom if you care to listen to Obama's 23 minute speech. 

Here are some highlights if you don't want to listen:

Walk and chew gum -- at the same time?

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards was in Johnston, Iowa, this morning to tape "Iowa Press" which will be shown on IPTV tonight at 7:30.  During the program, Edwards made the following declaration:  "We need a president of the United States who can walk and chew chewing gum at the same time."

After the show, Edwards held a Q&A session with a group of reporters who were there to watch the taping and speak afterwards with the candidate.  At the end of the Q&A, I held up a package of Eclipse gum which I found in my purse and asked Edwards the following:  "Do you want to walk and chew gum?"

Edwards laughed, then said "I'm not sure I can."  Edwards continued to laugh. "Good to see everybody," Edwards told the assembled group.  He then walked out the door (without chewing gum), followed by nearly a dozen Edwards campaign staffers who were there.

Edwards is campaigning in Iowa today, tomorrow and Sunday.  He's touting a list of moves he says would help reduce health care costs. You'll find a link to audio of the Edwards news conference (7 min) at the bottom of my story.

UPDATE!  Mary Tiffany, a spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Iowa, offered a response moments ago.  "People that live in glass mansions shouldn't throw stones," she said in a statement via email.  The "can't walk and chew chewing gum" statement is "quite a hypocritical comment," according to Tiffany, who went on to say Edwards "doesn't practice what he preaches...Poverty matters to him, yet he was paid $55,000 to speak about the issue."

Straw Poll: Huckabee sort-of in, Thompson "commited"

Two of the Republican presidential candidates talked about the Iowa Republican Party's Straw Poll today.  (Here's the Radio Iowa story on Huckabee and here's the Radio Iowa story on Tommy Thompson.)

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson said some of his staff had seriously considered the idea of having him withdraw, but Thompson told reporters (during a telephone conference call) that he was steadfast in his commitment to participate.

"I'm curious if you had considered skipping the Straw Poll after Giuliani and McCain got out of it," an AP reporter asked Thompson.

"I reflected on it.  I would say that my staff considered it more than I did.  I never, I never thought about skipping the Straw Poll.  I just thought that it was something that I had committed myself to early on.  It was really the way we were focusing our campaign to see how well we were doing.  It's a barometer of that.  It's a test and I never personally, really, thought that we would skip it, but I've got to tell you that the three individuals on the call with me who are probably, I think, the three best knowlegable individuals about straw polls and Iowa politics thought that maybe we should skip it, but then they reflected on it and that's why we hadn't made an announcement because they wanted to consider all the alternatives and they came up with the same conclusion that I did, that this is the right thing.  In fact, it's the only thing that we can do and move forward," Thompson said.

Huckabee on miniskirts: I was joking

Former Arkansas Governor/GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has drawn some on-line attention for something he said about miniskirts -- something that was printed in a magazine called Marie Claire:

     Q: I read that you're against miniskirts.

     A: If a person dresses provocatively, they're calling attention -- maybe not the most desirable kind -- to private parts of their body.

     Q: What about a burka?

     A: No, that hides everything. I think a person's hair, arms, shoulders, legs are an appropriate display of who they are. I want people to be attracted to me because they find me interesting, not because I'm wearing something ... well, I doubt I own anything provocative.

     Q: How about a minskirt?

     A: A thong.

Here's what Huckabee said about it all during a news conference today in Des Moines:  "If anyone reads that, they know that my tongue was planted firmly in the cheek.  If anybody reads that and has anything more than a humorous reaction, they really should get some serious therapy, get a life and move on with some things.  It's amazing to me."

Typo? You decide.

This came into the email box earlier today -- from the Edwards campaign (boldface added):

Waterloo, Iowa – As Elizabeth Edwards visited Iowa for the grand opening of the campaign’s Waterloo office, the John Edwards for Edwards campaign today announced that it has signed up county chairs for all 99 Iowa counties....   

While Edwards (and his wife) are most certainly "for" Edwards...the campaign sent out a correction (boldface added):

Waterloo, Iowa – As Elizabeth Edwards visited Iowa for the grand opening of the campaign’s Waterloo office, the John Edwards for President campaign today announced that it has signed up county chairs for all 99 Iowa counties.   

Hello, my name is (not) Mike Palmer

On June 1, Republican presidential candidate John McCain appeared before a few hundred Nationwide insurance employees at their building in downtown Des Moines. (Here's the blog post on that event.)

I did note in that post that during Q&A with the media after the "town hall" meeting, McCain joked about the white name tags Nationwide security required for each of the reporters, photographers and sound techs who covered the event. "Does everybody have to wear a name tag here?  Security is tight?" McCain quipped to reporters. "You never know when somebody might steal an insurance policy."

David Yepsen, columnist for the DM Register, asked the first quesiton, then other reporters joined in the questioning. Tom Witosky, a reporter for the DM Register, asked about three questions and every time McCain would reply to one of Witosky's questions, McCain began by saying "Well, Mike...."

The assembled reporters thought McCain was confusing Witosky for AP reporter Mike Glover.  After the Q&A, as McCain was saying goodbye to "Mike," Witosky politely pointed out his name was Tom.  McCain got a strange look on his face, then as is his custom he began shaking the hands of the TV photographers up on the press riser. As he drew near me, McCain looked first at my nametag and a very strange look came over his face. I found the nametag this weekend.