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Exclusive: An interview with State Rep. Chris Rants about blogs

Published by

Chris Woods

December 31, 2006 in Blogs, Exclusives, Iowa Legislature, Iowa politics, Media, Rants, Chris and Republicans. 2 Comments

Earlier this week while I was reading Krusty’s blog (got to keep on your toes by reading the opposition) I noticed that on this post about Speaker-Elect Pat Murphy, former Speaker of the Iowa House and now Republican Minority Leader in the House Christopher Rants had supposedly posted some comments. This really got me intrigued, so I emailed him to see if it was really him and to my great surprise it was. We have now emailed back and forth a bit and I have asked him some questions about blogs and online politics in Iowa. It has essentially become an interview and I hope you’ll read it through.

Chris Woods: How long have you been reading Iowa political blogs and what first brought your attention to them? Do you generally read only conservative blogs or ones from both sides?

Chris Rants: I’ve read them off and on for the last year or so. I can’t say I’m an everyday reader, because I’m not. I got started on it primarily when I heard staff around the capitol talking about them. I’ll read Krusty, The Cooler, Ted Sporer, and Things going round & round. If there is something out there my staff thinks I need to know about they let me know - which means I’ve even read Gordon’s a time or two.

I’ve been getting my news primarily online for several years now - reading the Register when I’m in SC, reading the Journal when I’m in Des Moines. Reading the Gazzette and other papers online.

CW: Do you think the folks operating online form a new constituency to pay attention to in Iowa politics?

CR: This form of media absolutely needs to be paid attention to - but the “folks operating” it remains to be seen. I say that because anyone anywhere can operate a blog - both people who are responsible and those that are not - those that fact check and publish the truth and those that publish innuendo and rumor.

What remains to be seen is how/if the bloggers respond to newsmakers attempts to get their message out, particularly if they are of another political stripe.

CW: Do you have plans to launch a blog of your own sometime?

CR: I’ve been operating a web page for sometime - we haven’t called it a blog - but we’ve been posting news and information for the last four years. We have a weekly email that goes out titled “Rants & Raves” with an update on what is happening in state government.

We are re-launching it when session starts next week with a format, more news & place or public commentary on the news article of the day at www.rants.us.

CW: How do blogs affect political communication in Iowa? Should groups like the IECDB [Iowa Election and Campaign Disclosure Board] regulate the kind of speech or information or endorsements given by blogs?

CR: I don’t believe that anyone should “regulate” our first amendment rights - so no, the IECDB shouldn’t regulate Iowans speech. It becomes problematic, however, when blogs and sites are set up by an organization for a specific purpose, but they hide behind the veil of anonymity. For example, the supporters of a particular candidate start a blog for the purpose of tearing down another candidate, but they hide behind the guise of being a news blog, never state their purpose, and just skew commentary in that direction. That is occurring now. But we should error on the side of protecting free speech over regulating a campaign activity.

What is, and will happen is the public will become more skeptical, and cynical of this form of media just as they have of the “mainstream” media.

CW: Should other elected officials follow your lead and post either comments or entries on blogs? And how should their staff respond to allegations on the blogs? Do you allow staffers to comment or contact blog authors to correct information or to just to communicate with them in general?

CR: That is for them to decide.

I was criticized for posting on Krusty, but I’ll be posting again. I haven’t, and won’t engage in the back and forth nonsense of tearing people down, and its pointless to try and defend yourself from those who aren’t really interested in an intelligent dialogue but rather want to just play gotcha, and they take pot shoots without identifying themselves. I won’t get into a conversation with a phantom. When I read Krusty’s commentators I often wonder if these are Republicans or are they really Democrats posing as Rs just to agitate and stir up trouble.

CW: Finally, what do you think of anonymity on the blogs, whether from writers or commenters?

CR: I think the anonymity is a problem - particularly on the part of the commenters. The anonymity on the part of the writers - like Krusty or the Cooler - I think will always call into question their motives. The unregulated anonymous posting by commentators has become just ridiculous. They aren’t adding additional news, instead it has a vicious nature, and the personal destruction that takes place is not productive. Good people can have their reputations hurt by rumors with no foundation. I have to stand by, and back up anything I say - I think others should as well. Yes, I understand there are times when anonymity is needed to protect whistleblowers - but the accused deserve the right to confront their accusers. What I see happening today are people with personal axes to grind and they get to carry out their vendettas with no fear of reprisal or accountability.

Rants has been a very hospitable guy to my questions and I appreciate him taking the time for this interview.

And don’t worry, I have been/will be in contact with the House Democrats and the Senate Democrats to make sure that they can get involved in the blogging world as well, whether through interviews or guest-posts or newsletters, anything that can get them involved. So, I’m not turning to the darkside, I’m just indulging my own curiosity.

Now, I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on the interview. Let the comments flow!

More site updates

Published by

Chris Woods

December 31, 2006 in Blogs and Site stuff. 2 Comments

In case you might have noticed, the site currently doesn’t have a header and the sidebar is missing some ads and stuff. That’s because as we prepare for 2007, I’m going through and doing some site updates and making sure everything under the hood is updated to their best level. If you notice something besides the lack of a header, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

UPDATE: I’ve fixed the issues regarding the header and will be repairing the sidebar in minutes. Any other issues?

Year in Review

Published by

Chris Woods

December 31, 2006 in 2006 Elections, Blogs, Democrats, Iowa politics, Media and Republicans. 0 Comments

Here are two worthwhile Iowa-centric years in reviews, both worthy of a read: John Deeth’s and CityView’s. Deeth’s is more of my style, but to each their own.

2008: Beyond the candidates at the Iowa caucuses

Published by

Chris Woods

December 31, 2006 in 2008 Elections, Caucuses, Democrats, Edwards, Fallon, Ed, Iowa politics, Obama and Vilsack, Tom. 1 Comment

If you’re interested at all in the behind the scenes action in the caucuses and knowing the names behind the candidates, then you better start keeping track now. Beyond the simple visits and events with candidates, the staffs work hard to get things going and to make these things work. Building off of Geraldine’s post, as well as this one at TPM Cafe, and the list provided over at GW’s Democracy in Action Iowa Caucus page, I’ll try and give you the names of the people you’re going to need to know who are working for particular candidates, both official and unofficial campaigns.

Iowa Democratic Party

Scott Brennan — IDP Chairman (will remain neutral)
Mike Milligan — Executive Director of the IDP, with past experience for years in Iowa politics and managed the 2006 Trifecta victory for Iowa Democrats.
Norm Sturzenbach — Political and Caucus Director, past deputy campaign manager and political director of Chet Culver’s gubernatorial campaign, as well as past work with Bill Bradley’s 2000 Iowa campaign and AARP in 2004.

John Edwards

No Iowa-specific staff that I know of, yet. However, having Ed Fallon as a volunteer/early endorsement, he might be able to offer a bit of Iowa insight that might be helpful for the caucuses. Rob Tully, past IDP Chairman, also offers a wealth of experience and strategy.

Barack Obama

Jordan Oster — Director of Iowa DraftObama.org, previously worked for Chet Culver’s gubernatorial campaign and is currently a Drake University student.
Steve Hildebrand — unofficial campaign manager/pusher for Obama. He has been reaching out to potential staff behind the scenes, was Sen. Tom Daschle’s campaign manager in 2004 and Sen. Tim Johnson’s in 2002. He ran the Iowa caucuses for Gore in ‘00 and knows Iowa quite well.

Tom Vilsack
**Note: His campaign will be based in Des Moines, but I’ll just be listing the Iowa-specific people who’ll be working the caucuses.**

Dusky Terry — Iowa State Director, former Secretary of Agriculture candidate for Iowa, former staffer for Vilsack’s Heartland PAC, and former policy advisor for Vilsack.
Jesse Harris — Iowa Field Director, previously was the IDP Coordinated Campaign Field Director and Field Director for Chet Culver’s gubernatorial campaign. Previously was a field staffer for John Edwards in 2004.
Jeff Link — Communications Strategist. Link is an Iowa boy through and through, just like Dusky and Jesse, and he’ll likely be contributing to the caucus communication strategy with experience from his previous work for Senator Harkin and Gore-Lieberman 2000 in Iowa.
Gordon Fischer — activist/strategist/consultant? Gordon is a past IDP Chairman and knows the caucuses like the back of his hand, so his experience will be very helpful.

Hillary Clinton

Again, no Iowa-specific staff since there is no official campaign yet, but her early support from Bonnie Campbell is likely to help her in Iowa and help her with caucus strategy.

I know it is still very early to be talking about stuff like this, but this just gives you an idea of who is going where this early on, at least in regards to staff. Tracking endorsements and activist support will be something to definitely keep track of as time goes on. I think by the end of January or February, we’ll start to have a clearer picture of who will be where when it comes to staff and stuff. Part of that is because the whole season has started so early. When it comes to endorsements and big activist support, I’d expect to start seeing emails/releases with names around the start of the summer or the middle of it.

Iowa Press recap

Published by

Chris Woods

December 30, 2006 in 2006 Elections, 2006 Governor's Race, Boswell, Leonard, Democrats, Gronstal, Mike, IA-02, IA-03, Iowa Legislature, Iowa politics, Media, Rants, Chris, Republicans and Yepsen, David. 5 Comments

I only caught the last 5 minutes or so of Iowa Press when it aired tonight, but I was surprised to find out that IPTV.org is now carrying video of their programs online after they’ve aired. I just finished up watching the Reporter’s Roundtable edition for the final episode of 2006 and was pleasantly surprised by what I heard.

In terms of the governor’s race, the biggest thing that I garnered from their discussion was David Yepsen’s mentioning of how just how much Jim Nussle’s divorce hurt him — even though it wasn’t talked about. Yepsen said it had an impact and there was a kind of whisper campaign with it. You could almost see and feel the other reporters flinching at Yepsen’s mention of it and then they went into more discussion about it. The short and sweet of the issue is this: Nussle couldn’t respond to Culver’s ads with Mari and the kids because the minute he brought his family into the equation he would have to deal with divorce questions and issues.

I think we also got a true taste of Yepsen’s dislike for Iowa City when the Board of Regents fiasco was mentioned. Yepsen said, and I quote from the transcript:

“People in Iowa City are always upset about something, and this will cool off.”

Somehow, I don’t think that is the case. Kay Henderson did mention that Culver told her this week that he will appoint four new regents in his first 90 days in office — but Yepsen did retort worthily that they wouldn’t be able to take their seats until April 1st.

Finally, they talked about their rising and falling stars of 2006. Most of the focus was on the Democrats because it was their year of success. Their rising stars included Kevin McCarthy (Democratic Majority Leader in the House), Representative Tom Courtney, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (I’m beginning to think that David Yepsen has the hots for him or something the way he talks about him), and Congressman David Loebsack.

When it came to falling stars, they mentioned former speaker of the house and now Republican Minority Leader in the House Christopher Rants. They’re speculating that he isn’t going to like not being in power (duh) and is basically falling on the sword for the House Republican election failures. They don’t expect him to be around much longer.

The other falling star was mentioned by Kay Henderson, and it was kind of a positive falling star for Democrats: Leonard Boswell. She seemed to think that since Boswell has kind of been a training ground for political success in Iowa and beyond that folks like John Norris, Patrick Dillon, and others who have worked with him can encourage him to retire and allow a new Democrat to come in and fill his spot, particularly since he’s older, won’t have a committee chairmanship, and has had health issues.

Anyway, I encourage you all to watch the video and leave your thoughts.

2008: Do any of the polls matter right now?

Published by

Chris Woods

December 29, 2006 in 2008 Elections, Bayh, Blogs, Caucuses, Daschle, Tom, Democrats, Edwards, Feingold, Fundraising, Gore, Iowa politics, Kerry, Media, Obama, Polls, Vilsack, Tom and Warner. 1 Comment

The short answer to the simple question is: No.

We’ve all seen the variety of different Caucus 2008 polls appearing now that the 2006 cycle has just barely gone by and pollsters are getting back to work so they can pay their bills. So far, there have been at least three Iowa-centric or specific polls that have been released since the November elections (and the one from this summer by the Register). The first was a poll taken in October by an environmental group and then released about two weeks ago. Last week, KCCI released a poll. And yesterday, the American Research Group (ARG) released another. What do they all say?

Not a whole hell of a lot. If anything, all you can do is break some of the candidates into tiers, at least in Iowa. The top tier candidates, using averages from all of the Iowa polls on 2008, are decided by being in double-digit numbers when the four polls are averaged. They are:

Hillary Clinton (2)
John Edwards (1)
Barack Obama (3)
Tom Vilsack (4)

That’s in alphabetical order, and the number in parentheses is their average over the four polls so far (and is essentially unscientific).

The second tier is any candidate who “averages” 5-9 percentage points. They are:

Al Gore
John Kerry
Undecided/Other

In this tier you see the inherent problem with trying to average polls over a 6 month period of time, particularly as certain candidates are added or subtracted from the polls.

The third tier is full of those with 4% or less support in Iowa. Coincidently enough, they also include the candidates who have decided not to run so far, as they have probably only been in one poll and/or recognized that this year wasn’t their year. They are:

Evan Bayh*
Joe Biden
Wesley Clark
Tom Daschle*
Chris Dodd
Russ Feingold*
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Bill Richardson
Mark Warner*

The *s mean the candidate has officially said they will not be seeking the 2008 Democratic nomination for president. If Biden, Dodd, or Richardson are really seriously considering getting into the race and wanting a legitimate shot at winning Iowa, they need to get in the race and declare quite soon. Otherwise, Iowa might be dominated early on by three or four candidates who are well-known — particularly two with significant financial advantages or means to raise more money.

However, even though I have gone through all the trouble of putting together tiers like this based on some kind of pseudo-analytical or scientific method of averages from polls, I think the tier system based simply on polls in Iowa are worthless this early. This summer and fall will be the hardcore campaigning days and Iowans are going to be inundated with presidential visits. In terms of activist support across the state, the clearly visible winner is John Edwards, with Tom Vilsack probably a good second. If Obama jumps into the race, I’d immediately expect him to surpass Vilsack but I don’t know if that will be a short-lived honeymoon with activists or a long-term commitment. Time will tell us on that one.

However, it is still early and it will take a lot for some of the newer candidates to establish themselves. The opportunities and communities for them to do so are out there, though, and they should begin to take advantage of them. The dynamics of this race are truly yet to be seen, no matter what the media prognosticators and pundits might tell you. The polls shouldn’t tell you a whole lot, either, as they are fluctuating so much right now, as Drew notes.

And if you need some really, really good reasons why to note that the caucuses are still wide open at this point, go read Chase’s post over Iowa Progress. The man says things a bit more eloquently than I do and more cohesively (as I think I might have written the different points he makes in a variety of different posts). His first, and I think, most important point is this:

“The caucuses are an expectations game above all else. Given two candidates with equal money, talent, charisma, etc., the candidate who is favored more heavily is actually in a weaker position right now than the candidate nobody is talking about. To “win” the caucuses, you have to beat expectations, not just the other candidates, and the job gets harder and harder as expectations get higher and higher.”

Word.

And don’t forget just how important money is to the survival game as well. Iowa might not be a bastion for fundraising (until the grassroots and netroots get tapped here for money like they do across the rest of the country) but right now to stay in the caucus game you have stay in the money. Since a month ago when Vilsack officially announced, he’s raised around a million dollars. In the 24-36 hours since Edwards has announced, he’s raised over $200,000 simply online. Talk amongst yourselves.

Yes, there were that many people there

Published by

Chris Woods

December 29, 2006 in 2008 Elections, Democrats, Des Moines and Iowa politics. 1 Comment

Contrary to Krusty’s denial that there were 1500 people at the Edwards event last night, I’m positive there were that many, as is Dave Price who thankfully comments on the post as well shutting people up. The fact he drew at least 800 people to his event in Portsmouth, NH, today with more waiting outside is quite the sign of interest and grassroots support. With so much support in these two states already, it’ll be interesting to see how many folks come out for him in Nevada.

By the way, you can watch video of last night’s town hall here.

Culver nominates replacement for Vonk at DNR

Published by

Chris Woods

December 29, 2006 in Agriculture, Culver, Chet, Democrats, Environment and Iowa politics. 3 Comments

I’m curious to gauge the reaction of folks to this decision by Governor-Elect Chet Culver:

“Gov.-elect Chet Culver has ousted Iowa’s top environmental official, Jeff Vonk and nominated the head of the nonprofit Iowa Environmental Council to replace him.

Rich Leopold, the environmental council chief, is also a former employee of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which Vonk has run the past six years. Leopold ran key water-quality efforts for the department before joining the council, a coalition of dozens of environmental groups and individuals.

The council is a policy organization that backs environmental protection work and improvements in environmental regulations. The council has made water quality — a chief focus of the incoming Culver administration — its prime focus for the past decade.

Vonk, one of the most visible and vocal of the state department heads, had hoped to retain the job. His tenure was marked by new efforts to clean Iowa’s waterways, to tighten regulations, and to control pollution amid record construction of hog confinements. He was hailed by environmentalists, but denounced by farm groups that found his aggressive regulatory actions bad for hallmark Iowa livestock industries.”

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement had been quite vocal and active in their effort to contact Culver and urge him to reappoint Vonk as head of the DNR — Common Iowan notes that here where he posts part of an email from ICCI that was forwarded on to the Rapid Response email list. Some of ICCI’s big issues were water quality and local control. At least on the issue of water quality, Leopold should be a solid leader.

Here’s his bio from the Iowa Environmental Council:

“Rich joined the Council staff full-time in May 2003 as Director of Communications and was named Executive Director in September 2003. He has held a variety of biologist, naturalist, and administrative positions within the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the Minnesota and Iowa Department of Natural Resources. From 1999-2002, Rich served as the coordinator for IOWATER, Iowa’s statewide volunteer water-quality monitoring program. He also helped develop a new citizen advocacy program termed the Iowa Conservation Advocates’ and Leaders’ Link (I-CALL) for the Iowa Environmental Council. Rich holds an M.S. in Animal Ecology from Iowa State University. He obtained his B.S. in biology from Minnesota State University and an associates degree in natural resources technology from Central Lakes College in Brainerd, Minnesota. Rich is active in many conservation organizations and is currently the chairperson of the Iowa Conservation Education Council and is a past recipient of the Izaak Walton League of America’s “National Honor Roll Award”.”

He seems quite qualified for the job. I’m not sure what prompted the removal of Vonk as DNR, though being able to bring in someone truly committed to your environmental agenda is quite important and Leopold probably provided that opportunity. Moreover, Leopold may not be such a hostile figure at the Department of Natural Resources, which certain folks in the agriculture community have accused him of being. The other possibility is that Leopold could be more of an overall leader of administration policy with regards to Iowa’s environment, agriculture, and natural resources considering that for the first time in eight years a Republican will be in control of the Secretary of Agriculture’s office and that might make it hard for a Democratic administration and legislature to get things done with regards to the environment.

For those of you more active on the Iowa environmental scene, what do you think?

2008: Biden rejects the McCain Doctrine

Published by

Chris Woods

December 29, 2006 in 2008 Elections, Caucuses, Democrats and Iraq. 3 Comments

The list of Democrats rejecting McCain’s crazy idea of increasing the amount of troops in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad, has grown. From an email I received today:

“Dear friends,

As President Bush prepares to announce a new strategy for Iraq, one idea has emerged as his leading option: to surge more troops into Baghdad in a last ditch effort to stabilize the city.

There is one big problem with that option: in the absence of a political settlement among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, it will not work. We’ve tried the military surge option before and it failed.

If we try it again, it will fail again.

And surging our forces in Baghdad risks terrible consequences: more American lives lost and more unbearable strain on our military for no strategic gain. If the President proposes escalation in Iraq, I will oppose him and so will many of my colleagues in Congress.

In January, I intend to hold a series of hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Iraq. I have already invited Secretary of State Rice to testify. It is my hope that these hearings will generate a bipartisan consensus around the best way to move forward in Iraq and convince the President that “surging” additional forces into Baghdad is not the answer.

I will send further updates about these hearings and the situation in Iraq soon. Until then, I wish you a safe and happy New Year.

Sincerely,

Joe Biden”

So far, Tom Vilsack, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden fill the list of confirmed or potential 2008 candidates who have flat out rejected the idea of a troop surge. Sanity is already proving itself this early into the caucus/primary season. Hopefully it won’t make me too optimistic too early.

2008: Draft Obama ad to air in Iowa

Published by

Chris Woods

December 29, 2006 in 2008 Elections, Caucuses, Democrats, Iowa politics, Obama and TV. 1 Comment

Common Iowan has the news from the Cedar Rapids Gazette and has the ad as well. Pretty powerful stuff from a grassroots organization. I’m sure Iowa for Obama will have the release and other comments up soon, so check it out.

Edwards calls for national sense of responsibility and action

Published by

Chris Woods

December 28, 2006 in 2008 Elections, Blogs, Caucuses, Democrats, Des Moines, Edwards, Fallon, Ed and Iowa politics. 11 Comments

The first thing that struck me when I walked through the doors to the State Historical Building was Ed Fallon volunteering at the door taking sign-up slips of supporters while wearing his One Corps t-shirt and John Edwards for President pin (an unofficial one, not a campaign one). Things change in the few quick months from the primary to the present where he is just a volunteer and activist again, instead of being the familiar face with the candidates. Another former Fallon staffer, Lynn Heuss, was volunteering as well with folks from across the area including Karen Miller and other ladies from the Dallas County Democrats.

In terms of press, it was mostly locals, including Mike Glover and Dave Price. No David Yepsen, oddly enough. Lots of labor folks were here, including health care workers, UFCW, Carpenters Local 106, and Laborers Local 177. I think I saw an AFSCME pin on someone as well.

From there I headed upstairs to the Administration Offices where I met up with other bloggers including Josh Brown from Iowa for Edwards and Patrick from Common Iowan. I had the privilege of meeting a few other political and non-political bloggers as well, including Robert Scoble and Jake Ludington. During that time, Anita Walker, Director of the Department of Cultural Affairs, came and spoke to some of us about the Caucus Iowa project that the State Historical Museum is currently working on and wanted our insight on blogs and how they affect the process currently. She got my email address and I hope she contacts me for communication on the new avenues of political communication online — it would make for a great avenue of exploration in the exhibit.

From there, Senator Edwards stepped out and talked with us for about 10 minutes. I asked him how competitive he will be with Governor Vilsack running here in Iowa as well. He said he was certain that Governor Vilsack had a strong following here in the state, but that it was his “responsibility to make it clear what we stand for to the caucus-goers.” He added, “I think I know the caucus-goers pretty well,” to which we all responded with a chuckle.

The next question was about Russia and it was clear that he knew his foreign affairs and that there were issues coming with Russia and its democracy in the future. The following question was concerning poverty and the economy and Edwards listed off a litany of ideas/issues including: raising the minimum wage, organizing more and stronger unions, encourage families to save, change the US housing policies and offer a million new housing vouchers, college affordability, and examine the societal/structural issues surrounding the nature of poverty in America.

From there, the meeting ended pretty quickly and I hustled downstairs to get a decent spot to watch the launching of the town hall gathering. When I got down there, the crowd had more than doubled in size and people were crowding on the spiral stair well in the building to get a good spot to see the Senator. It was a very enthusiastic crowd as well. I saw the Vice President of the Polk County Dems in attendance as well as the Secretary. Activist Chet Guinn and his wife were also there, along with ISEA President Linda Nelson and former Secretary of Agriculture candidate Denise O’Brien. Rob Tully showed up about halfway through the event, looking like he’d a long day at work.

Edwards took the stage to the tune of the Foo Fighters, I believe, but I’m not sure which song (maybe “Times Like These” — the lyrics are pretty fitting). It was pretty energetic and was a good choice. He immediately takes off his sports coat noting how hot it is up on stage thanks to all of the people there. He then goes into his stump speech and talks about the issues he’ll be running on. You can definitely tell he’s trying to be the progressive candidate for 2008 and can build on that with his continued emphasis on poverty issues, universal health care, and for an immediate 40-50k removal of troops from Iraq and rejection of the so-called “McCain Doctrine” of troop surges.

I won’t go through all of the details of describing the speech since I’m sure the video, or at least highlights of it, will be up on JohnEdwards.com sometime soon. Let’s just say that by making it an interactive event with the live audience and the audience online, it is clear that Edwards is carrying on the populist momentum of 2006 and is trying to be a transformational candidate.

I was impressed with the set up, the demeanor, his genuine compassion, and his calls for national responsibility. There is a reason he is considered one of the frontrunners and after seeing the Iowa reaction to him today, he’s going to continue to be strong in Iowa, but for our sake let’s hope he hasn’t reached his high point a year out from when he really needs it.

Others reporting: Common Iowan, Robert Scoble, Kay Henderson (here and here), Jake Ludington (with video!), Josh Brown (with video!), and Ezra Klein (who I am sorry I didn’t get to meet).

On my way to the Edwards town hall forum

Published by

Chris Woods

December 28, 2006 in 2008 Elections, Democrats, Des Moines, Edwards, Iowa politics and Technology. 1 Comment

I’m headed downtown to the State Historical Building for the Town Hall event being held by Senator Edwards. I might try and do a little live-blogging via my Blackberry, but to the best of my knowledge there isn’t free wifi at the complex (at least there wasn’t any about a year ago at this time). You can watch the event live online at JohnEdwards.com starting at 5 PM Central time.

CIETC indictments on the way?

Published by

Chris Woods

December 28, 2006 in Blouin, Mike, CIETC Scandal, Culver, Chet, Democrats, Des Moines and Iowa politics. 1 Comment

This week’s political/news gossip from Cityview’s Civic Skinny:

“Politicians are waiting — some eagerly, some nervously — to see whom the grand jury indicts in the CIETC scandal, with most believing there will be at least three indictments, maybe more. Now that the election is over, most politicians are viewing CIETC with curiosity rather than fear, but indictments of their friends or former employees could still scar some politicians. No one is sure when the grand jury will act, but it could be soon.”

Essentially, it looks like it is a slow news time for the Skinny crew, as one would expect during the holiday season. While the hype may be the fact that indictments might be coming ’soon,’ the key kicker is “no one is sure when the grand jury will act.” And that’s usually the case with grand juries, since they’re supposed to remain secret.

Sometimes the Skinny is right on with some news. Many times they’re just super-speculative. That appears to be the case here.

In other news, they report that Blouin might hang on to his DED Director’s job in the Culver administration, while Kevin Techau (Department of Public Safety) is on his way out. At least we know for a fact that we’ll know the results of these choices soon.

2008: Grassroots support blogs

Published by

Chris Woods

December 28, 2006 in 2008 Elections, Blogs, Democrats, Iowa politics, Republicans and Technology. 5 Comments

On both sides of the aisle, grassroots blogs encouraging candidates to get involved in the 2008 presidential race are emerging and could be the new wave of interconnected grassroots organizing in early caucus and primary states. Here is just a quick list that I was able to pull together of Iowa blogs that could be considered grassroots support blogs or draft so-and-so blogs:

Iowa for Feingold: this was the first grassroots blog that I noticed in Iowa and it led to noneed4thneed to expand his blogging over to Century of the Common Iowan as well. The blog started in January of 2006.
Iowans For Romney: Jeff Fuller’s work on the site and the movement in Iowa led him to become a member of the state advisory committee for Romney’s Commonwealth PAC in Iowa. The blog started in May 2006.
Straight Talk Iowa Style: This McCain in 2008 blog began with a title that was part of Senator John McCain’s PAC, Straight Talk America. The blog began in July 2006 and, to my knowledge, the author remains anonymous.
Iowa for Obama: So far, my list has been in chronological order of my discovery of the sites and continues to be that way. Friend, classmate, and former co-worker Jordan Oster is the man behind the movement in Iowa, as Dave Price notes here. The blog has just begun, but expect some good stuff from it.
Iowa for Edwards: Chronologically, this is the latest grassroots blog I have found but it has been around since December 1st, just a few days before the Iowa for Obama blog. Joshua Brown is the leader of the Iowa for Edwards movement, which besides a blog has its own Iowa for Edwards website which has a lot of great information.

Now, I’m sure I might be missing some, so if I am please leave me a comment and a link and I’ll update this post.

It is interesting to see how influential these grassroots sites have been. For example, noneed4thneed was in contact with Feingold’s Progressive Patriots fund and helped them reach out to other Iowa bloggers and had the chance to meet him and get involved with the community. Jeff Fuller’s grassroots work has been helpful for Romney in Iowa. Jordan Oster has been in contact with the Draft Obama people and is their Iowa Director for the movement in the state. I’m not sure about the McCain or Edwards blogs, but I’m guessing that their authors and supporters have been in contact with the campaigns or exploratory committees that now exist. I remember talk of an Iowa for Warner website back over the summer, but I can’t find a link to it now.

What seems to be clear is that front-runners or base favorites seem to have a lot of netroots support on both sides of the political spectrum. In Iowa, that becomes critical as an online base can help in solidifying efforts to create a manpower base in reality that talks to friends and sets up events to get others interested in the candidates and the caucuses. I think in the future, it will be interesting to judge which candidates use the grassroots and draft movements on the web to engage that constituency and recognize them, or the candidates who will use them as an overt political means to an end. It all goes back to the transformational candidate idea that Joe Trippi talked about and I think it is clear that those kinds of candidates exist more on the Democratic side than on the Republican side, at least in Iowa, as I know that Feingold, Warner, Bayh, Edwards, Vilsack, Richardson, and Clark have all reached out to the Iowa netroots to talk with us about issues and their campaigns and how they want the online community to be involved. On the Republican side, you haven’t seen this kind of activity.

I think part of the reason why you don’t see Republican interaction on the conservative Iowa blogs is because of the huge amount of anonymity that exists. Krusty Konservative is anonymous, Mainstream Iowan is anonymous, the folks at the Caucus Cooler are anonymous, and the folks behind Straight Talk Iowa Style are anonymous. The most prominent conservative Iowa bloggers that I know of who aren’t anonymous are Brian of Iowa Voice; Ted Sporer of The Real Sporer; and Jeremie, Darren, and Kevin of the Corn Beltway Boys. On the lefty side of the equation, most of us know each other and aren’t anonymous. Kyle is open about who he is, noneed4thneed is known by those who need to know, the folks at Iowa Progress post under their own names, just like Drew and I do, as do Gordon Fischer and John Deeth. For the most part, I have met or regularly speak with just about every well-trafficked liberal blog in Iowa and I’m proud of that. So, while anonymity may allow for greater breadth of critical comment, I think simply being who you are offers a lot more.

Culver-Judge administration appointments

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Chris Woods

December 28, 2006 in 2006 Elections, Blouin, Mike, Culver, Chet, Democrats, Des Moines and Iowa politics. 0 Comments

Let’s get away from 2008 for a few minutes and talk about the new Democratic administration in the Statehouse. Over the past few weeks, Governor-Elect Chet Culver has made several staff and department appointments and I thought I’d fill you in on them. In that they were released:

Chief of Staff: Patrick Dillon (former Campaign Manager)
Director of Iowa Department of Management: Charles Krogmeier (currently Transition Director and past First Deputy Secretary of State)
Director of Iowa Department of Human Services: Kevin Concannon (a holdover from the Vilsack Administration)
Director of Iowa Department of Education: Judy Jeffrey (another holdover from the Vilsack years)
Director of Iowa Department of Human Rights: Walter Reed, Jr. (a Vilsack holdover)
Director of Iowa Department of Revenue: Mark Schuling (a Vilsack holdover)
Director of Iowa Department of Administrative Services: Mollie Anderson (another holdover)
Director of Iowa Department of Transportation: Nancy Richardson (holdover)
Commandant of the Iowa Veterans Home: Daniel Steen (holdover)
Communications Director: Brad Anderson (campaign and transition communications director)

By carrying over a lot of Vilsack Administration appointees, Culver makes it easier to construct a quick budget for many areas of government and policy with department directors who have experience in their positions and can be ready to build on the Vilsack legacy, just as he promised he would in the campaign. Once Culver is sworn in, he has very little time to put together a cohesive budget that is uniquely his own, so by carrying over appointees and providing them with his policy ideas and priorities, a more solid and more Culver Administration-specific budget can come about — and that’s a good thing.

There are, however, still two interesting/controversial departments without new directors and those are the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Economic Development. The DNR is headed by Jeff Vonk and the DED is headed by Mike Blouin, former Democratic primary opponent for Culver in the race for governor. Kay Henderson asked about those two appointments last week but it looks like a decision won’t be made anytime soon.