Radio Iowa

The new lectern

If this journalism thing doesn't work out, I'm always prepared to fall back on my one true talent -- typing quickly -- as a trade.  Statehouse reporters discovered recently that Senate Republican Leader Ron Wieck of Sioux City has a trade or a hobby that has yielded a permanent piece of furniture for his statehouse office. Wieck built a lectern.  (I choose lectern as the appropriate word, rather than podium.  Look it up and choose for yourself.)

"So when did you make this?" I asked Wieck on Thursday monring after he stood behind the lectern to talk with reporters gathered in his statehouse office for a news conference. (Thanks to Chris Dorsey from www.iowapolitics.com for snapping this photo.)

"Probably maybe for three or four weeks before we got down here," Wieck replied.

"Richard was joking with you," I said, referencing WHO Radio reporter Richard Lee who had asked Wieck the week before if the piece affixed to the front of the lectern was ivory (you know, like from an elephant).

"It's not ivory. It's genuine Corian, a countertop material," Wieck replied.

"Do you have a wood shop at home?" I asked. 

"Yea," Wieck said.  He used a router to carve a pattern on the sides of the lectern, a pattern that features a heart.

"Is this the most ambitious thing you've ever made beyond a birdhouse?"  I asked.

Clintons still hate the Caucuses

Here's the latest Clinton campaign argument that caucuses are, well, bad and primaries are good.

Governor Culver draws ire of Democrats in Iowa Senate

Governor Chet Culver issued a statement today, about eight minutes before the Iowa Senate was scheduled to begin debating a bill that would expand the scope of contract negotiations for union employees in state and local government in Iowa, including school teachers.  Here's what the governor said in his written statement: "In January, in my Condition of the State Address, I challenged the legislature to try to find consensus, and to not be afraid to debate difficult labor-management issues. I said then that Iowa has always had a tradition of fairness in the workplace, and that Republicans and Democrats proved this when they joined together in a bipartisan effort to pass the state’s first collective bargaining law.

“Our predecessors showed great courage when they found consensus on this, and so many other important labor-management issues. I believe, if we try, we can too. Today I respectfully call upon members of the Senate to apply a little common sense to this important labor-management debate.  I believe it’s crystal clear more time is necessary for all Iowans to have a chance to better understand this proposed legislation and be more involved in the process.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think, to date, a genuine effort to find consensus and common ground through constructive dialogue and discussion has occurred. Important changes to government at every level are being considered here.  Upon review by my Administration, I continue to have concerns about making sure that members of the legislative and executive branches, as well as local governments and school boards, fully understand the substance of and potential fiscal impacts of this legislation. This is why more time is necessary for all involved to understand and consider this proposal, to weigh in, and to make necessary changes.

“My Administration expressed this concern to legislative leadership last week and so, again today, I ask leaders in the Senate to pause and take all the time necessary to allow for an honest and thorough debate.   I call upon the Senate to allow a public hearing and the time for full consideration of any necessary changes before any final action is taken on this legislation. I believe there are important things we as a state should do to ensure we’re protecting the rights of workers, creating a healthy labor-management relationship, and practicing sound fiscal management.  My commitment to carrying out those principles remains strong.  However, I believe what is happening now is not the way to do it.  There is a different way, the Iowa common sense way, and I call upon all involved to pursue that path.”

Monica's little blue dress

Former Iowa Democratic Party chairman/Des Moines lawyer/Obama backer Gordon Fischer created a firestorm with some fiery remarks he posted on his blog this past weekend.  Mark Halperson over at The Page has the links today.  Here's the Radio Iowa story.

Fischer is married to a woman named Monica, but the comments Fischer made on his blog have to do with Monica Lewinsky.

Tempers flare

The first sentence in a story I've written about the lengthy debate in the Iowa House over the past two days begins with the phrase "tempers flare."  Just in case you doubt it, here's two minutes of audio in an.mp3 from the House debate shortly before noon today (Friday).  In it, you hear Representative Phil Wise, a Democrat from Keokuk, call upon Representatifve Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City.  Mascher complains about a guest who is on the House floor during debate.  The man -- a member of the Sioux City school board -- is a guest of House Republican Leader Christopher Rants of Sioux City.  Mascher's desk is right next to the desk Rants uses on the House floor.  You can hear the two (Mascher & Rants) quibbling yourself by clicking on the audio link.

The bill has sort of passed the House by now, but it won't be sent to the Senate for debate until after five o'clock this Thursday afternoon.  Senate Republicans are prepared for a similar blitz.  "It's going to e a long weekend," a Senate GOP staffer said as I walked by him in the hallway.

Republicans in the House engaged in a series of stalling tactics over the past two days.  One involved a "caucus" -- a private meeting of House Republicans -- sometime early this afternoon.  As the meeting broke up, I ended up riding in a statehouse elevator with a group of Republicans headed from their basement meeting room back up to the House chamber on the capitol's second floor.  There was much ribbing and joking among the Republicans, some of it about crowding onto the elevator with a reporter.

"You'd never guess a bunch of people who just got their asses kicked would be joking around like this," said one GOP lawmaker in the group as they emerged from the elevator.

Rewind to Reverend Wright in Indianola

There have been a good number of hits lately on this blog as people "googled" Reverend Jeremiah Wright and came upon this post.  It's a review of a speech Wright gave in Indianola at Simpson College on January 17, 2008.  (There's an audio file of the speech here as well.) 

John Carlson of The Des Moines Register wrote a column about Wright's speech in Indianola in today's paper. 

No mulligan for Michigan, Florida

Carrie Giddins, the woman who served as spokesperson for the Iowa Democratic Party through the campaign season which culminated with the January 3 Iowa Caucuses, wrote an op ed that appeared in The New York Times today.

Giddins concludes with this paragraph:  "There is no such thing as a do-over. Do-overs are what you get when the end results don't matter. Do-overs are what children do on a playground. Adults accept their mistakes, learn from them and move on."

Results of Iowa Democratic Party's county conventions

This news release just issued by the Iowa Democratic Party:

Des Moines – Today, Democrats in 99 counties held County Conventions, the second stage of the Iowa caucus to convention process. 

“Today, Iowa Democrats again turned out in large numbers to reject the failed Bush-McCain campaign and its policies,” said Scott Brennan, Iowa Democratic Party Chair.  “We are committed to winning Iowa for our nominee and party building activities like the Caucus and County Conventions help strengthen our counties, precincts and neighborhoods.”

The Iowa Democratic Party also released results from the County Conventions.  The following results are from 67 of 99 counties and represent 2,132 of 2,500 State Delegates. Results will be updated periodically on our website www.iowademocrats.org as they are available.

Senator Hillary Clinton:  31.5%

Senator John Edwards:  16%

Senator Barack Obama:  52.1%

UPDATE:  Crunching numbers based on today's outcome and interpreting how it will influence the number of delegates Iowa sends to Denver (if no one drops out of the race before the national convention), it appears Obama picked up ten delegates and Clinton lost a delegate today.  Edwards lost eight, but still has six.

Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge makes Obama-backing public

Iowa Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge today made a public statement of support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama -- at a statehouse news conference organized by the Obama campaign.  Click on this link to see the Radio Iowa story of the Obama camp's work to woo more delegates at this Saturday's conventions in each of Iowa's 99 counties.  You may also listen to the entire 20 minute news conference, as there's a 20-minute-long mp3 attached to that story.

The last question at the event centered on the news surrounding former New York Congresswoman/Hillary Clinton backer Geraldine Ferraro's comments.  Ferraro, the Democratic Party's 1984 vice presidential nominee, has suggested in media interviews and in public appearances that if Barack Obama weren't black, he wouldn't be where he is today -- leading Clinton in states won and delegates committed for the national convention.

"I'm always troubled by campaigns that do not focus on issues, do not focus on lifting people up and really get to places that I believe are inappropriate," Judge said in reply to the question.  "I would hope that we can get back to where we ought to be, talking about the things that are important to this country and I think we can.  I really believe that Senator Clinton is an honorable person and I think sometimes things get away from us in public life and we have lots of staff doing things that maybe don't get coordinated very well and I would hope they get some corrections made and I think they will."

McCain camp memo to King & others: quit it

Rick Davis, Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign manager, has issued a memo and Jonathan Martin of The Politico has the full details.  The intended audience is McCain supporters (and, of course, the media) and the reason this memo was written is because of what Iowa Congressman Steve King and a couple of other McCain supporters have said recently about Barack Obama's middle name and his heritage. 

A couple of key points from The Davis Memo: 

"Overheated rhetoric and personal attacks on our opponents distract from the big differences between John McCain’s vision for the future of our nation and the Democrats."

McCain "has held himself to the highest standards and he will continue to run a respectful campaign based on the issues. We expect that all supporters, surrogates and staff will hold themselves to similarly high standards."

Obama, while campaigning Monday in Mississippi, called King's remarks "inflammatory and offensive."