The Register actually runs a story noting Saturday's voter registration deadline. It's amazing how little attention this gets. I wish it were the top story on every newscast and above the fold on every front page for a solid week before the deadline:
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I'm really sorry about that BLINK tag. But drastic measures are required and Robot should DEFINITELY be the spokesperson, or spokes-robot. The Red Alert sound from Classic Star Trek should also be used.
That's what it would take to make it sink in - a massive coordinated all-media effort. (For all the talk of new technology, and all the microcasting capability of cable, the local 6:00 newscast is what sinks in on the real, non-political person level.)
Actually, while I'm making wishes I'll wish for the election day registration I grew up with in Wisconsin.
Either way, next week I get to start telling folks "I'm sorry, you missed the deadline, you can't vote." My absolute least favorite work task. So make my job easier, get folks registered.
Early voting today at the IMU, and Chet's in town mid-day.
In today's endorsements the Press-Citizen looks at state rep races. The Dems get two out of three. They give Clara Oleson a thumbs down:
Oleson's attack on Kaufmann seems to be myopic nitpicking rather than a substantial critique. After all, groups like the Iowa State Education Association and the Iowa Bar Association have moved across the expected ideological and occupational divide to endorse Kaufmann.
Ro Foege gets the nod for another term:
Foege has proven himself a key player in many of the social-service issues that we care about on the state level -- issues that don't always lend themselves to a high amount of media attention.
Here's the nice surprise:
Mark Nolte's ideas come after years of experience working with disadvantaged populations through programs with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor and the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Raised in small-town Iowa, Nolte knows the agricultural economy as well. He told the editorial board that he "probably knows the ag issues better than the regents issues," but that statement places the bar high because we found him well-versed in the UI community's coverns with having its needs made known to state legislators.
Although we commend Greiner's recent work on restructuring how farmers store their grain in order to facilitate the alternative energy revolution that other politicians dream about, we don't think that she fully grasps the public-sector concerns facing her state and her district. We thank Greiner for her years of service, but we find that Nolte offers the right mix of experience for District 89 residents.
Congrats to Mark and Ro.
Rekha Basu picks up on recent remarks by Bob Vander Plaats:
The Ames Daily Tribune quoted Vander Plaats, a former school teacher and principal, as telling Iowa State University students in a meeting earlier this month: 'If we are going to teach evolution, there is another viewpoint and one that holds pretty good too in regards to creation. I think that is something that I would want to visit further along with Jim Nussle in regards to 'Where are you at on that?' But my viewpoint is I would like to give both of these (time in the classroom).'
If it weren't crazy season I would have considered a writeup of Cindy Sheehan's speech last night, but right now I'm having trouble figuring out when I'm going to get the laundry done. So here's the links:
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