You May Have Missed

Spent my Inauguration Day watching the pageantry , since I didn't think I could add anything original to an event that was already being covered by every journalist on the planet. We local Dems didn't have a get together like we did four years ago, but we have something planned for Friday:

Reception/Thank You for OFA volunteers
Friday, Jan. 25 from 5-7 p.m.
Gus' (in Coralville, off HW 965)
You are cordially invited to a reception/thank you for OFA volunteers.
The Central Committee (or if you wish to help) and local elected representatives
are hosts.  Refreshments and snacks will be provided.
The response from OFA volunteers has been very positive.
There will be brief remarks at 6:00 p.m.

Late in the evening as I struggled in vain to catch up on the Twitter feed I found a few gems:

While Sue Dvorsky led the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, State Rep. Tyler Olson told Radio Iowa he's got the votes lined up to take Sue's place as Iowa Democratic Party chair. (Of course, only one vote REALLY matters in a Tom Harkin re-elect year.) One of Olson's jobs will be to defend First In The Nation, and it won't be easy: Arizona is pushing legislation to set its primary ON caucus day. Ever worse: Cracked just ran an article on 5 States That Secretly Control the Rest of America that fails to even MENTION the caucuses.

Obama won his big day the Iowa way: lots and lots and lots of hard work in the field. The weekend saw the relaunch of Obama For America as Organizing For Action. We also saw the detailed post mortem at the "Obama Campaign Legacy Conference." There's a full report (97 page pdf) or Patrick Ruffini tweeted a LOT of highlights for the Cliff Notes version.

It's the high-tech version of what we've been doing for ages locally, and that's actually how I spent my day, getting into the hyperfocus zone of several hours of political data work, losing track of time and surroundings.

The Boswell-Fallon grudge match won't play out in court, as the EX-congressman dropped his defamation lawsuit against Fallon. Fallon claimed a Boz staffer offered him a job-to-drop out deal. Best part is this Boswell quote: " I will not be seeking elected office in the future."

News you were supposed to miss: In an Inauguration Day news dump, House GOP announces they will vote to raise the debt ceiling Wednesday.

And Mike Gronstal, take note: The Virginia Senate is tied 20-20. So when one Democrat took the day off to attend the inauguration... Republicans shoved through a re-redistricting map.