Political Forecast

Today’s Register reports on a new 527 group founded to help conservatives in Iowa:

“A new conservative political organization has sprouted up in Iowa, financed with corporate contributions from tobacco firms, a giant beer manufacturer and the management company of payday lender LoanMax, according to records on file with the Internal Revenue Service.

In its filing papers, the Iowa Leadership Council said it promotes “conservative principles and engages in advocacy to improve the health, education, prosperity, safety and overall quality of life for all Iowans.” The council is organized as a so-called 527 organization under IRS rules, which means it can accept corporate money and run issue ads in connection with campaigns.

Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants, a Republican who loaned the council $1,000 for its startup, said the Iowa Leadership Council will serve as the first conservative counter to liberal national organizations such as MoveOn.org that have been active in the state. The council is “organized to promote conservative principles in Iowa,” said Rants.”"

Then, when considering last night’s Thomas Frank lecture at Drake, New Iowan writes this:

“This is precisely what Frank was talking about — the manipulation of working class cultural grievances by entities that work against the economic interests of the working class. Dude.”

Dude, indeed.

Oh, and this little tid-bit just gives us a bit of fodder against Nussle and might give him a bit of bad publicity:

“The council shares the same legal counsel as the congressional campaign committee for U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Ia., a candidate for governor, as well as his political action committee, the Iowa Priorities PAC.”

So, one could easily assume then that this group has some kind of ties to Nussle–this world really isn’t as small as the song makes it seem. It also would seem to lend credibility to the gossip in this week’s Cityview Civic Skinny column:

“A top Republican said that not only has Nussle raised more money than all the Democratic candidates combined, but Nussle has also been telling top party people that he wants a governing majority in the Iowa Legislature when he “takes back Terrace Hill.” To do this, we’ve heard Nussle has guaranteed that he is going to find $1 million more strictly for legislative and executive council races. “Democrats are going to have to rely on a lot of national money if they hope to get back the governor’s office, because they’re obviously divided and are going to have to spend a ton down the stretch just to settle on a candidate. That hurts the smaller races. Add a million dollars to Republican legislative war chests and that spreads them really thin,” our source said.”

It will be interesting to see if on any of the reports that come out today if this Iowa Leadership Council has contributed much yet…or will be before the November election.