More Afterthoughts

More Afterthoughts

Props to Sue Dvorsky and the Iowa Democratic Party field staff. Marc Ambinder: "The Three Iowa judges who ruled that same-sex marriage was legal were all roundly defeated, thanks to a blizzard of ads and heavily conservative turnout. But every vulnerable Democratic member of Congress was re-elected, thanks to a stellar, caucus-honed Democratic ground game. Once again, Iowa is an exception. "

The Dems firewall is Mike Gronstal:

Gronstal believes the right thing means protecting the civil rights of gays and lesbians. He reaffirmed Wednesday that he won't bow to pressure, no matter how nasty it gets.

"The easy political thing for me to do years ago would have been to say, 'Oh, let's let this thing go. It's just too political and too messy,' " Gronstal said. "What's ugly is giving up what you believe in, that everybody has the same rights. Giving up on that? That's ugly."

The two scorpions in a bottle to watch: Terry Branstad and Bob Vander Plaats. Branstad cares more about doing bid-ness than about the social conservative stuff, as opposed to the look of joyful hate on BVP's face at the No Judges victory party. This could be like watching Culver and Fallon.

Does anyone really expect to see Branstad seek a SIXTH term in 2014? Watch Matt Schultz in the stepping stone office.

We really are different here: Not only was Johnson County the only county Roxanne Conlin won, we were also Culver's best county in the state... the best by TEN POINTS.