The blog Talking Points Memo grabbed Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin just before he walked into a Democratic caucus meeting on Monday afternoon and Harkin seemed to signal that he’ll back the bill minus the two provisions sought most by liberals — a government-run health insurance plan and an expansion [...]
The Register listed the wrong time for when television coverage begins tonight for President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan. Coverage starts at 7 p.m.
[...]The Sioux City Journal reports that State Rep. Wes Whitead, D-Sioux City, will not run for another term from House District 1 in 2010.
The Journal says that Rick Mullin of Sioux City has filed papers to run for the Democratic nomination and that Whitead says Mullin would [...]
The hottest ticket in Washington this month was definitely last night’s state dinner at the White House for the prime minister of India.
State Rep. Swati Dandekar and Arvind Dandekar were two of the lucky ones, getting the chance to hobnob with cabinet members and a slew of celebrities.
Here’s the [...]
ABC’s “This Week” — Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Ben Nelson, D-Neb.; Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.
CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Joe [...]
Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:
ABC’s “This Week” — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich.; Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Clinton; Education Secretary Arne Duncan; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.; [...]
Bruce Braley has had his congressional seat rated “likely Democratic,” down from “solid Democratic,” by the Cook Political Report. That doesn’t mean Cook views Braley as in trouble. The rating means: “These seats are not considered competitive at this point but have the potential to become engaged.”
Curious [...]
Turn to C-SPAN if you want to watch. Best guess is a vote will happen sometime after 8 p.m.
[...]ABC’s “This Week” — White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.
CBS’ “Face the Nation” — White House senior adviser David Axelrod; Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner; David Plouffe, former Obama presidential campaign manager; author Jon Krakauer.
CNN’s “State of the Union” — [...]
Shell Rock Republican Bill Dix tells the Waterloo Courier that he will seek the GOP nomination for Iowa Senate District 9. He represented part of the district in the Iowa House from 1997 to 2007.
Dix lost the 2006 GOP primary for the 1st Congressional District by 11 [...]
Mike Huckabee will visit Iowa in early November to promote his new Christmas book, “A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories that Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit.” (Autographed hardcover: $20. Autographed hardcover with leather collector’s box: $25).
Huckabee is hitting Davenport, Cedar Rapids and West Des Moines all on Nov. 8:
2:30 [...]
New York magazine has a very long story about Rudy Giuliani and What He Will Do Next and there’s some Iowa introspection hidden in there:
And then there was his cockamamy campaign strategy, in which he sat out the Iowa caucuses, skipping a contest that riveted the world for a [...]
ABC’s “This Week” — Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
CNN’s “State of the Union” — Afghan presidential candidate and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah; [...]
Bret Hayworth at the Sioux City Journal talked with the never-dull Michele Bachmann and came away with a few interesting nuggets.
First, did you know that Bachmann is a native of Waterloo? It’s true — Michele Marie Amble was born in 1956 into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats.
Actually, [...]
Brace yourself for a slew of punditocracy now that Marc Ambinder has touched down among the national scribes:
Unless you’re beloved by conservative Christians, don’t bother campaigning in Iowa. That’s one lesson learned by some strategiests allied with for several potential 2012 presidential candidates. Others see differently. The question applies most to Gov. [...]“State of the Union” (CNN) — White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel; Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry; Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).
“Face the Nation” (CBS) — White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel; Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry; Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
“This Week” (ABC) — White House [...]
The quarterly fundraising numbers are in. Here’s cash on hand as of Sept. 30 for the congressional delegation:
$2,549,187 — Tom Harkin
$446,842 — Bruce Braley
$419,536 — Tom Latham
$343,215 — Leonard Boswell
$278,404 — Dave Loebsack
$173,833 — Steve King
Grassley’s Sept. 30 report isn’t [...]
And on the 24th day, Tom Harkin rose and declared that the public option would be in the health care bill when it came to the floor of the Senate.
That, of course, is not news. He says this a lot.
Every. Single. Day.
The rest of the Senate waffles like Brett Favre [...]
Research 2000 has a new poll out for the liberal website Dailykos today and Terry Branstad is the only matchup that Culver loses:
Branstad 48, Culver 43
Culver 55, VanderPlaats 33
Culver 58, Rants 28
The poll also has some Senate matchups:
Grassley 51, Christie Vilsack 40
Grassley 51, Conlin 39
[...]
Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn is profiled in today’s Washington Post.
The story starts with an opening paragraph recycled every four years:
You may not have heard of Matt Strawn but every Republican who is pondering a run for president in 2012 has him on their speed dial.
But [...]
Gov. Chet Culver has scheduled a special election Nov. 24 to fill the seat of a Cedar Rapids legislator who announced earlier this week that he would resign.
The election in House District 33 will pick a replacement for Democratic Rep. Dick Taylor, who announced his resignation Monday.
[...]State Sen. Joe Seng tells the Quad City Times that he will run for re-election next year.
The Davenport Democrat has had some health problems, which had prompted speculation he might retire.
Seng, who represents District 43, is the ranking Democrat on Natural Resources and Environment. He’s also a member [...]
Charles City Democrat Mark Kuhn told the Mason City Globe-Gazette on Monday that he will not seek re-election to the Iowa House in 2010.
Kuhn has represented House District 14 for the past decade and he’s the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. His other [...]
One of the fringe benefits of being a wire editor is it allows you to be curious about anything and everything because you never know what will be the next issue in politics. Here’s some of the best from the past week:
Steep losses pose crisis for pensions (Washington Post) [...]
On this slow, snowy morning, here’s a sample of how some newspapers handled the Nobel Prize story …
Puerto Rico
Japan
Canada
Austria
Washington, D.C.
Casa Grande, Arizona
Belgium
United Arab Emirates
[...]
Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:
ABC’s “This Week” — Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.; Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass.; retired Army Gen. Jack Keane.
CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Jack Reed, D-R.I.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sens. Carl Levin, [...]
Did President Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? We’ll be updating this throughout the weekend with commentary from around the world.
New York Post (editorial) — Ironically, Obama’s brief record contains only examples where he’s arguably lowered chances for peace — such as his calls for scrapping nukes that [...]
The new Survey USA Poll used a sample of 35 percent Democrats, 29 percent Republicans, and 31 percent independents.
[...]Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:
ABC’s “This Week” — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and John Cornyn, R-Texas.
CBS’ “Face the Nation” — National security adviser James Jones; Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.; retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni; Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” [...]
Documentary filmmakers Amy Rice and Alicia Sams are showing their film “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama” in Des Moines on Oct. 20.
The filmmakers had behind-the-scenes access to the Obama campaign much in the way “The War Room” did during the Clinton campaign in 1992.
The film will be [...]
