The last throes

It appears today -- Friday, April 25, 2008 -- is the final day of the 2008 Iowa legislative session.  Lawmakers, the people who work for them, the lobbyists who try to influence them and the reporters who cover them have been working overtime this week as legislators make their final decisions and huge bills work their way through the process.

Last night, the Iowa Senate concluded its work shortly before midnight. The Iowa House was still "in session" though. Republicans in the House had retreated to a room on the ground floor of the statehouse to have a private strategy meeting while Democrats remained on the second floor, milling about the House chamber when I took this snap at about 1:15 a.m. 

It's a picture of the two top Democrats in the legislature. House Speaker Pat Murphy of Dubuque is sitting to the right, occupying the chair he sits in during House debate. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs is on the left. The other lawmaker in the picture is Representative Swati Dandekar of Cedar Rapids.  The photoshop experts at Learfield tell me it's a blurry picture. How appropriate as it was taken by yours truly, the bleary-eyed reporter who was in hour 17 of her work day..