Dems BBQ Roundup

Dems BBQ Roundup

JCDems gathered Saturday for the annual barbecue. Better attendance than I expected - seems the candidates for governor, at least en masse, are a good draw. Nothing like `03 when we got Dean, Kerry, and TED FREAKIN' KENNEDY, but still good.

Mini-reviews:

Culver: Clearly Chet's been getting some speech coaching, and he didn't mention his father once. His shots at the other candidates were subtle, sometimes so subtle only a true insider would catch them (I thought I detected a bank shot at Fallon?). But those also seemed to be the main points of substance. More emphasis on "I can beat Nussle" than "what I will do."

Blouin: Clearly he was on hostile territory in Johnson County. He addressed the Issue That Must Not Be Named in the breach as the "elephant, in the room, though I shouldn't say elephant." The rationalization: he noted his Senate endorsers "don't agree with me on every issue" thus attempting to rhetorically reduce choice to "just one issue." It should be noted that each of his opponents mentioned choice and got their biggest applause line with it.

Had a nice brief conversation with Blouin in which I told him anti-choice was a deal killer for me. He was polite but stuck to his guns. I'll give him credit for that, but not a vote (the word "Green" crossed my lips). A lot of people feel like I do - but most are too deferential to say it to his face. One of the advantages to being one of the "crazies."

Fallon: Seems to be attempting to play in the big leagues: he even sported a TIE early in the day though he doffed it before his speech. It was a nice, firey liberal speech with solid stands for choice and against death penalty, and got a nice reaction. But the rousing chorus of "This Land Is Your Land" undercut the image change and even prompted a Dennis Kucinich reference.

Mohamed: The audience was polite but used the speech as a chance to grab seconds on dessert or bid on auction items.

Judge: She was on really friendly ground as the theme of the event was a tribute to the late great Minnette Doderer, godmother of Iowa politics. I honestly can't recall a mention of death penalty, but the choice section was lengthy, moving (the former nurse implied, without gory details, the coathanger horrors of pre-Roe), and unequivocal. And she rattled off a long and impressive resume. Unfortunately, she suffered from being the last speaker as the crowd thinned and the attention spans waned; some folks thought she had left without speaking and thus departed themselves during Mohamed's speech.

Johnson County's influence in state primaries is a bit disproportionate. Turnout is always high since the June primary tends to be the de facto election for the courthouse offices (last Republican to win a county race was in 1984). That's diluted a little by Republican crossover but a lot of those folks leave the statewide offices blank. Case in point: The last really hot statewide primary was in 1998 and saw Mark McCormick beating Vilsack by 10 votes in Johnson County - but with a thousand more votes for county recorder than for governor ("who cares, I'm voting for Lightfoot anyway.") Next year the governor's race will be overshadowed locally by the first open contest for county attorney in three decades.

In any case the prevailing attitude toward the four main contenders for governor seems to be "wait and see." I have a favorite but ultimately my decision will be based on who is best positioned to stop Blouin.

NOTE to whoever at the Iowa Democratic Party reads me on a daily basis: Please say Hi sometime.

More coverage at the DI.