Former Sioux City School Board member Ron Jorgensen this morning has announced he’ll run for the Iowa House District 54 seat that fellow Republican Chris Rants is vacating in his bid to win the 2010 governor position. I’ve heard for weeks that several city Republicans are eyeing the District 54 [...]
Several pieces of the health care reform effort in Congress to share this morning:
(1) The day began with the American Cancer Society making an early delivery to the Sioux City office of U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. The society used the present delivery as a [...]
For much of the afternoon I’d wavered back and forth on whether I’d write a post about the push to get to 60 Senate votes on health care reform and the pressure put on U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., or rather to [...]
Had my first chance to observe former Gov. Terry Branstad in a public appearance since it become crystal clear that he’ll run for governor in 2010. Likely candidate Branstad has been leading the way among Republicans in 2009 polls pitting GOP guys vs. Democratic Gov. Chet Culver, [...]
Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad will be in Sioux City Monday for his first public appearance since making it clear he’s running for governor next year, even though he technically won’t take the “exploratory” label off until 2010. Branstad will speak at noon to the Downtown Rotary Club, a group [...]
Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King couldn’t believe what he saw Monday during the annual White House Christmas party. Republican King has been a big critic in trying to get the federal government to rein in the activities of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, [...]
The eyes of the world are on Oslo and Copenhagen at the end of this week. President Barack Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize this morning in Oslo, which was applauded by the president’s fans and derided by critics who say Obama hasn’t been [...]
We’re seeing a period where candidates are settling on decisions to run for the Iowa Legislature in 2010. A few days ago it was Sioux City Democrat Rick Mullin announcing he’d run for the position to be vacated when fellow city Dem Wes Whitead doesn’t seek re-election in Iowa House [...]
Today two governors in the tri-state area were talking budget matters. South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, a Republican who has one year left in the post before he’ll be term-limited out, said the current year budget has a $16 million shortfall, which will be handled via a one-time transfer of [...]
The press office of Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King has let us know the Republican has returned to D.C. this morning after a swing through Afghanistan. King took part in a four-day, fact-finding trip to learn more about the state of military efforts in beating back terrorists. King has [...]
We know 625 people got signatures from Sarah Palin at her Sioux City stop yesterday, then later in the day virtually that same number obtained autographs from Palin in Sioux Falls. Certainly the [...]
I just saw the huge blue Going Rogue tour bus leave Sioux City, bound for South Dakota up Interstate 29. The appearance by 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is over, it took roughly 85 minutes for Palin to [...]
On Monday we learned State Rep. Wes Whitead, D-Sioux City, will not run for re-election in November 2010 to Iowa House District 1, and that city longtime Democratic activist Rick Mullin will look to follow Whitead in the position. [...]
Final preparations are being made for Sunday’s appearance by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at the Sioux City Barnes & Noble Booksellers store (pictured above). Myself, I’m wrapping a preview piece for Sunday morning that could be read by those standing in line for the booksigning event. [...]
I’m about to wrap up interviewing for a preview of the Sarah Palin stop in Sioux City Sunday. Talking to Republicans has shown some reluctance to tap her as the best GOP presidential candidate for 2012. South Dakota State Rep. Dan Lederman of Dakota Dunes said [...]
The New York State Senate this afternoon defeated a bill that would legalize gay marriage. Gay marriage advocates have seen some success in 2009, after Iowa in April became a state where same-sex marriage was legalized via a state supreme court ruling. But [...]
Just had another chat with Alisha Karr of Barnes & Noble Booksellers, who is riding herd on the process of getting set for Sunday’s appearance by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to sign copies of her best-selling “Going Rogue: An American Life.” Karr laid out [...]
One of the first people to enter the race for the Republican Party nomination for the 2010 Iowa gubernatorial position was Cedar Rapids insurance executive Christian Fong, who hails from Underwood in western Iowa. Fong was the only thirtysomething in the field and he made his [...]
Just had a phone chat with State Rep. Wes Whitead, D-Sioux City, who said he won’t run for re-election in 2010 for House District 1. Whitead said six terms is enough — he’ll be 77 when this term' [...]
We have word late this morning that the Dec. 6 booksigning event for 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been moved up an hour to a noon start. That means the opening to receive a wristband to get lined up for a copy of [...]
An NFL Thanksgiving feature that didn’t involve messages home from overseas troops and the long played-out theme of handing out a turkey leg to the game MVP showed how the league is encouraging American kids to get 60 minutes of exercise daily. As part of that, Cowboy DeMarcus Ware got [...]
Many Siouxlanders recall the time when Greg Lund was the popular KCAU-TV evening anchor. Lund’s two-decade Channel 9 stint ended when he left in 1997 to work for Gateway computers, where he eventually became senior manager of corporate communications.
Lund’s son Andrew Lund is pushing Republican Party ideals, [...]
It’s not surprising that some in the Republican Party want to make sure candidates who run under the party banner align well with party principles. In a time when the New York Congressional candidate for a special election was seen as too moderate and the longtime GOP seat was lost, [...]
Crunching some numbers as we await the arrival of Sarah Palin and her “Going Rogue: An American Life” book tour on Dec. 6 at the Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Sioux City. POLITICO reports former Alaska Gov. Palin has been signing books for [...]
The Des Moines Register this evening has released additional details from a poll done on high-profile political figures. The one that Tom Beaumont has just dropped on his blog shows 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is in strong favor among Iowa Republicans. [...]
The perceived wariness of a few U.S. Senate moderate Democrats on moving forward the health reform bill cobbled together by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid dissipated yesterday. All 58 Democrats and the two independents who typically vote with the majority party Dems held together and passed the bill (with an [...]
An important vote on health care reform comes off tomorrow, when the U.S. Senate will undertake a procedural vote on the recently introduced Patient Protection and Affordability Act. It is not a vote to pass the bill out of the Senate, but to move full consideration of [...]
A report Tuesday showed the obesity rate for Americans hanging (like a gut) again in the low-30s percent, while pointing to the rate climbing to 43 percent by 2018. Obesity is measured at 30 pounds above a healthy weight, and if it rises [...]
The even-year November elections have been very interesting in South Dakota lately, and will be again in 2010. Word today is that the new state smoking ban will be referred to voters in November 2010 after bar and [...]
Just got word that western Iowans will finally be able to see Terry Branstad in a public event. Branstad still remains in the coy “exploratory” candidate committee phase even while having hired campaign staff, so we know he’s running for the 2010 governor position sought by five other Republicans as [...]
Word that the federal government may buy the empty Thomson Correctional Center in western Illinois to house suspected terrorists now housed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has stirred concern among Americans. Some are also chapped at the fact that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder also plans civilian court trials for the [...]
Yesterday, in writing the fourth blog post in nine days concerning Sarah Palin, her autobiography and her upcoming book tour stop in Sioux City, I thought of issuing an opening disclaimer that I’m not purposely trying to [...]
The Sarah Palin autobiography “Going Rogue: An American Life” is officially out today, 54 weeks after she and John McCain came out on the short end of the stick in the 2008 presidential race. The release is of note here, of course, since Palin will bring [...]
We’re in a heightened period of interest regarding 2008 Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whose book “Going Rogue: An American Life” will be released Tuesday. Palin also has taped an appearance on Oprah Winfrey that will air Monday, and on Wednesday from Michigan she launches a [...]
Got a tip (thanks, Cliff Tufty) of a Sioux City native running for major political office, as 1965 Central High graduate John Munger is running for governor in Arizona. Munger has firm roots in Republican Party politics, as his father, [...]
Blasted John Deeth, beating me to the punch with a post of plentious sagacity. Iowa City-based Deeth not only has his original JohnDeethBlog site, but lately he’s moved onto periodic posts for The Des Moines Register. Two nights ago in handling what I’m hoping (please!) is my [...]
U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is a guy some Republicans want to see a run for president. After his bruising 2004 win that knocked Democratic heavyweight Tom Daschle out of a seat, Thune can be forgiven if he takes his 2010 re-election bid with less concern and [...]
I’ve just wrapped a second-day piece on the announcement that 2008 Republican Party vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will bring her “Going Rogue” booksigning tour to Sioux City. It will be her only Iowa appearance, so many Siouxlanders are pumped to see Palin. I spoke [...]
Steve King looks at the health-care proposal.
You may have seen the big feature in The Journal today concerning health care reform and Steve King. It was something of a shocker that has people talking — Republican King is so opposed to [...]
The Sarah Palin autobiography recapping her journey from basketball player to Alaska governor to 2008 vice presidential candidate drops next week. Palin kicks off her “Going Rogue: An American Life” book tour in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 18, and she has one Iowa stop slated — [...]
The three-day gap in posts here is due to a long weekend in Cedar Falls. Had a good time — and had a political connection when watching University of Northern Iowa Panther volleyball. In walked U. S. Sen. Charles Grassley, who goes to a lot of volleyball, in part to [...]
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Federal health care reform talks have achieved critical mass, as the end of this week will be a key time to see whether reform moves forward. The U.S. House could vote on a measure Saturday, and today some local chapters of the [...]
The results of the Sioux City Council race yesterday demonstrated how incumbents have had a rough go of it in the 2000s, as the sole councilman seeking re-election placed fourth, not in the money for the three seats that were set. Jim [...]
A year ago tonight, the votes were counted and Barack Obama won the presidency and Democrats strengthened their holds in the two federal chambers. Republicans nationally and in Iowa licked their wounds, then looked ahead.
State Rep. Chris Rants, R-Sioux City, showing me a host of vote totals from various statehouse [...]
Just had a chance to look at a piece from yesterday in Columbia Journalism Review. You know that 24/7 coverage from the national press on the New York Congressional District 23 race? The political press has to cover something, I guess, but the [...]
Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill traditionally has two benchmarks to gauge voter turnout — he has the polling places call in totals at 11 a.m. and then 4 p.m. Gill just got the latter time results, and said voter turnout is tracking at less than 10 percent. He said typically [...]
Just about the time polls close in Iowa tonight, a prime political event in the neighborhood will be wrapping as well. A forum for GOP gubernatorial candidates will be held about five miles southeast of Ida Grove, where the Ida and Crawford County Republican Parties will be cooperating to host [...]
I’ll never forget the first time I heard a person pitch Steve King for president in 2012. Mere weeks after the 2008 election in which Barack Obama was selected as president, we at The Journal took a look at what names Northwest Iowans might see in [...]
When we get missives from the press office of the Terry Branstad for Governor campaign (yes, still technically in ‘exploratory’ status), they’ll be the product of an area native. Ida Grove’s Tim Albrecht this morning has been announced as Branstad’s communications team director, and he’s on the job this very [...]
The race for three Sioux City Council seats will be decided two nights from now. The five candidates include the sole incumbent, Jim Rixner, former councilman and mayor Tom Padgett, 2002 and 2004 statehouse (Republican) candidate Keith Radig, developer John Fitch and political newcomer Ian Rappolt, who works at Boys [...]
Will he run for the 2010 governor spot? Certainly.
Here’s the key quote made late yesterday by former Gov. Terry Branstad, after journeying from Iowa City (after the Hawkeyes defeated Indiana) to Wilton to speak at a fundraiser for Republican State Rep. Jeff Kaufmann: “This is a Saturday we’ll always remember [...]
We have definitive word that 2008 Republican Party vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin won’t be coming to Iowa on Nov. 21, so the Family Policy Council Action event will be less splashy than organizers hoped. Just now after noon, IFPC spokesman [...]
At the end of this morning’s conference call with U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, all the national topics — health care reform, climate change, unemployment benefits — had been picked over via questions from about 10 reporters. I couldn’t resist [...]
Two days, two U.S. Senators from Iowa, two different outlooks on the value of including a public option to access the federal employees health plan. Yesterday U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said a public option isn’t defensible as part of federal health' [...]
There’s very entertaining reading today as a perfect storm of politics, sports, news media moguls and pop culture came to a head in the words of Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King. You want Rush Limbaugh calling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a weasel? It’s here. I never thought I’d hear [...]
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, isn’t looking with humor at the back-and-forth on whether Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has lined up 60 votes for a public option in federal health care reform. Reid announced two days ago that [...]
Jason (left) and Chuck Swaggerty-Morgan with their children.
The Journal this morning took an expansive look at same-sex marriage at the six-month mark of existence, following an April Iowa Supreme Court ruling. We looked at marriage licenses in 14 Northwest Iowa [...]
Woodbury County Republican Party Chairman Brian Rosener this morning confirmed State Sen. Jerry Behn of Boone can’t work around some conflicts and won’t be present tonight in the county party gubernatorial debate at the Sioux City Convention Center. Former Gov. Terry Branstad also is saving up his first appearance with [...]
Just after 2 this afternoon, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, who heads the Senate Democratic caucus, sent out the following tweet of note: Just announced that the merged health care bill will include a public option for ins coverage w/ a state opt-out clause [...]
The speculation over which Iowa Democrats will pursue the U.S. Senate seat in 2010 may have reached an end-game this morning, as Tom Beaumont of the Des Moines Register breaks news that former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack won’t be in the field.' [...]
Two men beloved by South Dakota Democrats will be in Vermillion tomorrow to review political highlights over the last half century and stump for 2010 gubernatorial Scott Heidepriem of Sioux Falls. Former U.S. Senators George McGovern and Jim Abourezk will stop at the Buffalo Run Winery in an attempt to [...]
Considerable tweeted, blogged and phoned-in criticism over Gov. Chet Culver’s offer to cut his own pay by 10 percent has resulted in a midday recalculation. Democrat Culver earlier this month announced he was ordering a mid-fiscal year cut in the state budget by 10 percent, and said he [...]
South Dakota Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin won’t accept the National Republican Congressional Committee derogatorially labeling Democrats who are open to a public option as part of health care reform. In the weekly conference call with reporters, Democrat Herseth Sandlin laid [...]
Had my first conversation with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., a political kindred spirit with Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King. She’ll be part of an upcoming political feature, and Waterloo, Iowa, native Bachmann was fine with going off-topic for a few stray questions at [...]
Next week will be an important period for candidate forums. More short-term focused will be the Oct. 29 evening forum at city hall for the five Sioux City Council candidates, John Fitch, Tom Padgett, Ian Rappolt and councilman Jim Rixner. That session should provide fodder for making candidate voting decisions [...]
I should have been more up on this, after hearing much in recent weeks on Randy Ray Renshaw’s “Open Line” KSCJ 1360AM show. There is a growing number of people who think it isn’t constitutional for the government to enact federal health reform, since it would violate the 10th Amendment. [...]
Just got out of matinee showing of “Capitalism: A Love Story,” which arrived in Sioux City yesterday. We knew going in the latest film from Michael Moore was no love story, but his dissection showing the flaws of capitalism. There were about 20 people at the film, and I didn’t [...]
Democrat Mike Denklau of Council Bluffs this morning launched his 2010 Iowa 5th District congressional candidacy here in Sioux City, on way to stops in Council Bluffs and Des Moines. He drew a dozen people, including Woodbury County Democratic Party [...]
Just before yesterday’s candidate forum for the men seeking three Sioux City Council positions, David Wantland announced he’s bowing out of the race. Further, Wantland announced he wants supporters to move to back Keith Radig. Wantland said the two are fiscal conservatives who won’t [...]
Just before 4 p.m. today, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said he’ll be share part of the pain of state agencies working through a 10 percent across-the-board budget cut. With news of state revenues continuing to majorly flag in the recessionary economy, Culver on Oct 8. took the step many predicted [...]
Dave Price of WHO-TV in central Iowa has the goods, leading the reporting pack in learning that former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad on Friday will announce he’ll seek the governorship again in 2010. The foregone conclusion is now at hand.
Finally, we can move past [...]
Imagine my surprise this morning during the hourlong Woodbury County Board of Supervisors meeting with seven agenda items. During a discussion on county workers moving to a new payroll documentation system, at 10:23 a.m., the door swung open and Doug Gross walked in. Yes, Doug Gross — Des Moines attorney, [...]
There is virtually no doubt former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad will run for governor again. After a summer of talk that he would return to politics, Branstad formed an exploratory candidate committee last week, which is tantamount to running. Then this morning we settle in with news that Republican Party [...]
Two 2010 political candidates will be in the area this week, one Republican, one Democrat, with the officeseeker options spanning two states. First will be State Sen. Tony Fulton of Lincoln, who is running for the Nebraska state treasurer position as a Republican. Fulton tomorrow [...]
State Rep. Chris Rants of Sioux City isn’t shy about taking control of political openings, and that apparently is true in some personal interactions too. Rants is still smiling tonight, the day after Tim Albrecht, his good friend and former spokesman when Rants was the Iowa [...]
Next week it will become official, but a Democrat has decided to launch a campaign to unseat Republican four-term Congressman Steve King in Iowa’s 5th District. Mike Denklau has eyed the possibility of running in the strong Republican district since early 2009, and after traveling western Iowa recently he [...]
Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King this morning said Republicans like himself need to beat back health care reform efforts led by majority party Democrats. King said “it is not a stretch to say they are for socialized medicine,” and chortled over Dems who deride Republican for “obstructing” health care. [...]
Had a lengthy chat with Iowa Congressman 5th District Steve King on a host of topics, including the status of health reform, energy legislation dubbed “cap and trade” and his leadership of the Conservative Opportunity Society. I also queried him on politics back in Iowa, including the gubernatorial position that [...]
That didn’t take long. The Iowa Democratic Party has a video posted on YouTube poking fun at news this morning that Terry Branstad has formed an exploratory governor committee. Undoubtedly the IDP had the piece in the pipeline for weeks, as Republican Branstad did nothing to squelch the summerlong speculation [...]
The field of 11 Sioux City Council candidates has been winnowed, with James Gengler, Douglas Van Der Voort, David Hays, Tom Venesky and Victor Vara falling by the wayside, and Tom Padgett (22 percent), John Fitch (18 %), councilman Jim Rixner (15%), Ian Rappolt (11%), [...]
Yesterday morning I sat at the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors meeting and spoke with a political junkie about Iowa Gov. Chet Culver’s September/October woes and when former Gov. Terry Branstad would make his decision on whether to run for governor in 2010. We both agreed Branstad [...]
The fundraiser tonight by the Monona County Republican Party in Mapleton will draw a crew of 2010 governor candidates. Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats is overseas visiting his eldest son at Oxford University, but three other candidates will be on hand — State Reps. Chris Rants of Sioux City [...]
This afternoon, South Dakota Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard brings his two-day swing announcing his 2010 governor candidacy to an end in our neighborhood in Yankton. I had a pre-event chat with Daugaard, who has the backing of Gov. Mike Rounds after the two worked closely over [...]
When Republican governor candidate Christian Fong holds his Sioux City meeting tonight, it will be open to the public but closed to the press. I’m not sure how the press isn’t part of the public, but we complied and so I did a personal [...]
We in Siouxland have the opportunity to see two Republican governor candidates through tomorrow, with the tours by Iowan Christian Fong and South Dakotan Dennis Daugaard. Cedar Rapids businessman Fong has an event now in Spencer, then he’ll journey to Sioux City for a 7 [...]
Ari Fleischer, the spokesman for President George W. Bush in his first term, spoke yesterday about a range of topics, from his role of advice following the 9-11 terrorist attacks to Fleischer’s belief that U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is an [...]
(To begin, big news — this is the 1,000th blog post of Politically Speaking since a 2006 launch. Yawn away, if you must. I swear a good 200 of them have been worth reading.)
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, (above, right with Sen. Kent Conrad, [...]
On Tuesday night we’ll know which six Sioux City Council candidates moved out of the city primary and onto the ballot for the Nov. 3 election. Eleven Sioux Cityans are vying in the primary, which is starting to take on some immediacy, as more campaign signs [...]
Two high profile Obama administration officials will make appearances in Iowa and South Dakota in the near future, as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Vice President Joe Biden will stop by. Former Iowa governor Vilsack will make the first appearance on [...]
It’s been 12 days since the flawed functioning of the Iowa film tax credit story broke. In my first post on the topic, I debated whether to use the word scandal to describe some questionable use of the [...]
I’m still thinking about my interview of last week with Sioux City native Zach Lahn, the East High grad now attending the University of Colorado and majoring in poli sci. Lahn called out President Obama on health care reform during an August town hall meeting, so we profiled Lahn and [...]
Derek Eadon had a hand in presidential candidate Barack Obama’s first campaign event in Iowa back in 2007 at Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School. Now he’s back in Iowa, heading the offshoot Organizing For America group in pushing [...]
In the midst of a weeklong news cycle over mismanagement of the Iowa film tax credit, a poll of 500 likely Iowa voters indicated vulnerability for Gov. Chet Culver (pictured above). A new Rasmussen Poll shows Culver trails a few Republicans [...]
Driving to the office on U.S. Highway 20, I was passed by a Chevrolet with Woodbury County plates with a bumper sticker I’d never seen. I guess to make sure people got a long look as the car moved by, the sticker was affixed midway up on a passenger-side door: [...]
The Draft (Terry) Branstad Political Action Committee has operated for a few weeks with the goal of pushing the former Republican governor to seek a fourth fifth term (thanks for catching the error, Rock24) after two Democratic governors have held the post since Branstad departed. [...]
Christian Fong will make his first swing through Northwest Iowa as a Republican 2010 gubernatorial candidate in a couple weeks. We’ve had numerous opportunities to see Bob Vander Plaats and Chris Rants, both Sioux Cityans, in a host of venues. State lawmakers Rod Roberts of Carroll and Paul McKinley of [...]
First-year U.S. senator Mike Johanns, R-Neb., did other things this week, but his prime focus was working to get federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now blocked. Johanns advanced two amendments to prevent any ACORN funding, amid furor over videos showing two Baltimore office [...]
The South Dakota Republican Party this morning is announcing landing Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to keynote the annual state dinner to be held Oct. 2. Pawlenty, who was in mix of vice presidential options [...]
There’s another western Iowan in the Iowa House Republican leadership team, as Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley is now an assisant minority leader. Windschitl, who represents House District 56 encompassing Monona, Harrison and Pottawattamie counties, was elevated along with Dave Deyoe of Nevada. Windschitl joins Rod Roberts of Carroll (who [...]
Lately I’ve heard the conservative talk radio (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity) lament that critics of Obama administration policies felt hamstrung, that they ran the risk of being called racist for their positions. That topic reached a fever point today, after former President Jimmy Carter said [...]
