78 percent of Americans want 40 mpg legislation

78 percent of Americans want 40 mpg legislation

So Vilsack announces today. Uhhh... (embarrassed silence)

Maybe I'll say something later. At the moment on the second cup of coffee, I'm finding this more significant and interesting:

78 percent of Americans want the U.S. government to impose a 40 mile per gallon fuel-efficiency standard for vehicles sold in the United States...

40 mpg? Even my little go-kart only gets 30.

Every politico worth a shot of ethanol is talking up energy independence, but it'll take more than a technological miracle cure or a wave of the wand to make 40 mpg happen. Look at your high school physics: it takes x amount of energy to move y amount of mass at speed z, or to heat or cool things.

It's going to take mandates and very real, sacrificial life style changes. Which may mean no, you can't buy that giant penile surrogate monster truck or Hummer, or you can't commute 186 miles each way to work. But who is going to be honest enough to say so - politicians looking for that exurban vote?

Naah, we'll just leave that to us crazy bloggers.

Frist Isn't Running for President

Frist Isn't Running for President



Cats across the nation greet the news with meows of relief and naps.

Wesley Clark wants to avoid '04 mistake in '08

Wesley Clark wants to avoid '04 mistake in '08

Wesley Clark said Tuesday he wants to avoid waiting too late to make a decision on whether to run for president -- a mistake he made in his failed 2004 bid.

The late start led to the other big mistake: the Screw Iowa strategy that worked soooo well for Gore in `88 and McCain in `00.

This gives me an excuse to repeat my John Edwards Hard Luck theory from 2004. Clark stayed in the race after winning Oklahoma by about 100 votes. The next week he split the anti-Kerry vote almost evenly with Edwards, allowing Kerry to win Tennessee with under 50%. Clark then promptly quit. Had he lost Oklahoma and bailed a week earlier, Edwards would likely have won Tennessee and the whole dynamic of the contest would have changed - perhaps Edwards vs. Kerry would have continued all the way to the convention. (This theory also involves Howard Dean's Last Stand in Wisconsin, which screwed Edwards exactly the same way.)

In any case Clark's Iowa effort consisted of one stop at the Hamburg Inn immediately after his announcement - he had a previously scheduled speech at UIowa - and some self-starters who got a tiny handful of delegates.

Clark is on the extremely low end of my 2004 list. Not much he can do to persuade me; no matter what he's saying now I just don't trust a career military guy.

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Speaking of the military, a couple days back I linked to a list of top lies told by recruiters. Here's one more:

A new video game commissioned by the U.S. Army as a recruiting tool portrays the nation's military in 2015 as an invulnerable high-tech machine.

It's an impressive game, simulating weaponry the military is actually using or building, gamers say. But the gameplay is designed so it's hard to lose: The equipment holds up awfully well and the enemy doesn't learn from experience.

Nash is bothered by the fantasy the potential recruits may have that they'll end up the commander riding a joystick rather than understanding what military life means.

"You don't see the day-to-day boredom, you don't see broken legs and equipment failure," she says. "You don't see that the military is mostly grunts and only the grunts on the ground die."

Also just for fun: a list of countries without armed forces.

Leach Outsourced to Bangalore Tech Support?

Leach Outsourced to Bangalore Tech Support?:

Cityview Online: "Here’s the latest political rumor: Jim Leach is heading for. … not the University of Iowa, not the United Nations, but the embassy in India. That’s what a very high-ranking Republican in Washington told a guy who told Skinny…"

I think Moynihan had that job once.

While I'm at it, Krusty has a good GOP straw poll history.

Sales Tax Moves Forward

Sales Tax Moves Forward

So February 13 it is, putting Johnson County and Linn County on the same day for the school sales tax. Perhaps by that time we can go to the polls with a sense of what the new trifecta legislature will do with school funding.

Mike Gronstal will have a whole lot to say about that; The Overrated One pulls out the key quotes from a talk with Mike. No journalistic heavy lifting here, but a useful agenda outline.

Chris Woods does some extremely heavy lifting; I wish I had time to write at this length. It's titled “How Leonard Boswell was Saved by the Democratic Wave” and helps my case that Boswell should hang it up. Progressives need to get moving now so the seat is not taken over by an ambitious conservative Dem like Kevin McCarthy.

The only McCarthy I was concerned with last night was Mike McCarthy and the Packers; first chance I had to see a game in weeks and I jinxed Brett and the boys again. At least they had a few decent moments in the loss to the Seahawks.

Even Robocalls Hate Robocalls

Even Robocalls Hate Robocalls

Just got the Vilsack presidential announcement robocall; the second sentence begins "I'm sorry about this robocall."

Anyway, while I would cross the street for it, I'm not up for a morning off work and an hour each way so someone else can blog it.

Early bets on Obama

Early bets on Obama

Tom Beaumont, the Register's real political reporter, had an absolute must-read that the national sites picked up on yesterday while I was packing and driving back from vacation; several heavy hitters in Iowa seem to be lining up behind Obama `08. Of most interest locally:

Iowa City Democrat Dick Myers, the former minority leader in the Iowa House, has also agreed to serve as a caucus contact for Obama, should he decide to run, aides said.

That's a name that carries a huuuuuge amount of weight here in Johnson County. Dick Myers was a major figure for Gore in `99 and Dean in `03; in fact the first time I ever saw Dean was at Dick's house in the fall of `02.

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On the other side:

The Iowa Republican Party has selected Aug. 11, 2007, as the date for the Ames straw poll - a signature event for GOP presidential candidates running in the state's leadoff nominating caucuses.

Signature event? Try de facto first Republican primary:

In August 1999, a record 25,000 Republicans turned out for the straw poll...

Candidates were actually up on TV to compete in a straw poll at a paid admission banquet. Several people - Dan Quayle, Elizabeth Dole, Lamar! Alexander - were squeezed out of the race by poor showings five months before any actual votes were cast, and Pat Buchanan bolter the GOP for the remnants of the Reform Party soon thereafter. It even had a ripple effect on the Democratic race, with both Bradley and Gore stepping up their appearances to cash in on the old media's need for Objective Balance. With this year's wide open field you could see some Dems packing their tents around August as well.

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Office Space is allocated:

Braley will be in 1408 Longworth. Loebsack placed 15th in the lottery and grabbed 1513 Longworth, a corner office one floor above Braley's.

Both Braley and Loebsack will retain the telephone numbers that Iowans are accustomed to using to reach their district members.

For Braley, it will be (202) 225-2911, the current phone number for retiring Rep. Jim Nussle of the 1st District. For Loebsack, it will be (202) 225-6576, the current phone number for Rep. Jim Leach, whom Loebsack defeated in the 2nd District race. Hmm, might be some awkward moments there.

No word on whether Nussle and leach get to keep the red staplers.

50 State Senator Approval, Women Winning and Not Winning

50 State Senator Approval, Women Winning and Not Winning

Survey USA again; not surprisingly the bottom four were just defeated for re-election. the women of Maine an dthe men of North Dakota top the charts with Hillary Clinton a remarkably high number five.

MyDD looks at Democratic targets and defense:

Democratic Targets

1. Colorado: Wayne Allard, 44 approve - 43 disapprove
2. Texas: John Cornyn, 45 approve - 42 disapprove
3. Oklahoma: James Inhofe, 46 approve - 41 disapprove
4. New Hampshire: John Sununu, 47 approve - 44 disapprove
5. Minnesota: Norm Coleman, 48 approve - 43 disapprove
6. Kansas: Pat Roberts, 51 approve - 36 disapprove
7. North Carolina: Elizabeth Dole, 52 approve - 40 disapprove
8. Georgia: Saxby Chambliss, 52 approve - 36 disapprove
9. Tennessee: Lamar Alexander, 53 approve - 36 disapprove
10. Kentucky: Mitch McConnell, 54 approve 39 disapprove
11. Oregon: Gordon Smith, 54 approve - 37 disapprove

Republican Targets

1. New Jersey: Frank Lautenberg, 39 approve - 45 disapprove
2. Massachusetts: John Kerry, 48 approve - 50 disapprove
3. Illinois: Dick Durbin, 52 approve - 38 disapprove
4. Iowa: Tom Harkin, 53 approve - 40 disapprove
5. Michigan: Carl Levin, 54 approve - 36 disapprove
6. Louisiana: Mary Landrieu, 54 approve - 42 disapprove

Biggest opportunities I see here are Minnesota and New Hampshire. Coleman is a fluke - may you rest in peace Paul Wellstone - and New Hampshire is turning deep deep blue. On defense, Lautenberg is a place-holder and has already retired once; expected another ugly Jersey brawl. Kerry is up or out, probably out.

So look at Harkin on this list. Tom is always a polarizer, a Democrats the Republicans love to hate. But they need a candidate first.

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Another Theocrats Hate Romney story:

Mitt Romney (R) begins the 2008 campaign season in fourth place among those seeking the GOP Presidential nomination, trailing Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Condoleezza Rice. While many Republican insiders believe the Massachusetts Governor could become an attractive candidate to the party’s social conservatives, a Rasmussen Reports survey finds that Romney’s faith may initially be more of a hindrance than a help.

Half (53%) of all Evangelical Christians say that they would not consider voting for a Mormon candidate.

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Women Winning, Not In Iowa:

When the new elected officials take office, women's share of political offices in the U.S. will be:

Governors 18%

U.S. Senators 16%

House Members 16.3 % (pending two undecided races)

State Legislators 23%

The Dems' strong majority of women office-holders notwithstanding, the total figures are still less than impressive. The clear challenge for all national, state and local Democratic organizations is to recruit, train and support more women candidates.

In terms of statewide elective offices, women actually lost two seats nationwide (from 78 in '04 to 76 in '06).

One of those net losses is in Iowa where Sec of Ag went from a Democratic woman to a GOP man.

Some parliamentary systems have addresses the gender gap by using "women-only short lists" in which only female candidates are considered for certain seats. The parties are stronger in a parliamentary system and in an American political culture of wide-open primaries, it won't happen. What the Democratic Party does to achieve a gender-balanced end is electing men and women separately. State Central Committee, Male. National Delegate, Female. With some reconfiguration of districts, or a larger legislative body, this could be done nationally. Obviously, it would a gigantic change in the political culture.

Just pointing out that there are other ways to do things.

Rangel Feels a Draft, Leadership Says No, Who Knows?

Rangel Feels a Draft, Leadership Says No, Who Knows?

This was something we didn't need to be dealing with:

Key Democrats, including the incoming House speaker, House majority leader and chairmen of the House and Senate armed services committees, said they do not support a resumption of the draft. They predicted that the idea will gather little momentum in the 110th Congress, which convenes in January. Pentagon officials also restated their opposition to a draft.

Their comments came a day after Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), who will chair the Ways and Means Committee, said he would again introduce a bill calling for a return to the draft, saying it would force policymakers to deliberate more carefully before deciding to go to war...

Yeah, yeah, Charlie, we get the rich-man's-war-poor-man's fight point your're trying to make. But with W stil in the White House it's too damn risky to even be TALKING about a draft. Especially with the infrastructure still in place:

Rangel's insistent efforts to keep this issue in the body politic is allied to an underlying framework that provides for a rapid and extensive implementation of conscription, be it on the continent or within the 4th Reich of America in the form of Homeland Security Gestapo squads.

Though influential Democrats like Nancy Pelosi have publicly shot down any chance of the draft returning to America, everything is in place to activate it, absent a nuclear or biological attack on a U.S. city or geopolitical turmoil.

'The Selective Service System, an agency independent of the Defense Department, says it's ready to respond quickly to any crisis that would threaten to overwhelm the current all-volunteer military,' reports CNN, noting that the agency would be able to fully implement the draft in under a time period of seven months...

In the meantime we still don't have a draft, but we DO have the Top 10 Lies Told By Military Recruiters, the lowest form of life on the planet.

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Popular Progressive, new Iowa lefty blog.

Holiday News Hole and President Dollars

Holiday News Hole and President Dollars

There's no real news. It's Thanksgiving. Go listen to Alice's Restaurant.

Gives me an excuse to ramble about a minor but interesting and vaugely political item:

The United States Mint is planning a series of one-dollar coins to feature every deceased president, with the date stamped into the edge.

The first coin, displaying George Washington on one side and the Statue of Liberty on the other, will go into circulation in mid-February, in time for Presidents’ Day. After that, coins with John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison will be issued at three-month intervals.

So the William Henry Harrison dollar will be minted three times longer than his term of office.


Will the wingers be on edge?

Notice Something Missing From the New Dollar Coin? If you guessed “God,” then you guessed right. Don’t worry–it’s not missing, it’s just been relegated to the rim of the coin. Out of sight is out of mind. The timing of this announcement seems to indicate that the announcement was held up until after the November 2006 elections.

The announcement leads to various musings about the 35 year failure to persuade Americans to use dollar coins:

"As long as we have the paper currency out there, dollar coins will never be successful," Gillis said. "We're going to have to discard the $1 bill or mass produce so many of these coins so they'll be out there at retailers."

Sad stories of Susan B. and Sack o' Gawea abound. But no one mentions the 1971 Eisenhower dollar - the last non-commemoriative attempt to make a dollar coin in the size of the traditional, pre-1935 silver dollar.

But Ike will have his day again in 2015. And the wingers will finally get their wet dream of Reagan On Money the next year. Four quarters please.

Iowa earns bid to Alamo Bowl

Iowa earns bid to Alamo Bowl

"Earns" (sic). That's a veeeeery loose use of the word "earns":

The Hawkeyes (6-6, 2-6 Big Ten) will square off Dec. 30 against a Big 12 opponent that will be named early next month. Bowl executives acknowledged they favored the Hawkeyes over Minnesota, despite the teams' similar records, Iowa's three-game losing skid and the Gophers victory over the Hawkeyes in Saturday's season finale.

And despite ending the season on a 2-6 skid. You think maybe there are too many bowl games?

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Dave Loebsack had a much better fall than the Hawkeyes, and got the academic version of a rousing chorus of "We Are The Champions":

Professor-turned-politician David Loebsack returned to Cornell College on Monday for a reception in his honor.

Loebsack, along with his wife, were joined by about 100 students, faculty and supporters at the Mount Vernon school's student commons area.

"Dave's career is an American success story," said Cornell President Les Garner. "Thank you for spending a chapter of that story at Cornell College.

Addressing his colleagues, Loebsack thanked Garner, his wife and his political science department co-workers, "because not everyone in the department voted for me."

"Our department is a model department of civility," he added.

Loebsack also praised Leach, comparing his department to the positive campaign by both candidates.

"This was a civil campaign," he said. "I think people are sick and tired of this partisanship."

With his closing remarks, Loebsack vowed to continue to support the college, both in Iowa and in Washington, D.C.

"However Cornell and I work out," he said, "I'm not going to leave Cornell, and Cornell College is not going to leave me."

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Just for holiday fun, some help with the Number One On Your Birthday game. With UK and US options. My British chart topper is no problem - "I Want To Hold Your Hand" - but unfortunately my birth was just prior to Beatlemania in the US and I was born under the sign of the Singing Nun. (Independent research, however, verifies that "Louie Louie" was Number Two.)

Mid-Vacation Roundup

Mid-Vacation Roundup

My convoluted vacation plans have me at the John Deeth Blog News Center for a bit so I'll tie up some loose ends.

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The Overrated One The Overrated One looooves the Murphy-McCarthy axis:

While the party has an urban, left-of-center, base, the icing on their majority has been the recent election of rural Democrats from more conservative districts.

'We know we got the majority, and we won it in rural areas,' Murphy said.

It'll drive the liberals nuts, but it could keep the Democrats in power for years.

Oh, so that solid Democratic delegation from Johnson County - including that Senate seat we picked up - and that 17,000 vote Culver margin had nothing to do with it. Must not have, as Yepsen even skips the obligatory espresso-based beverage joke.

Once again, the Democrats play to their least supportive voters, while those of us who knocked the doors get the shaft. When are the Dems gonna dance with those of us who brung `em?

At least some sorts of taxes are on the table:

Shrinking state revenues available for fixing roads and rising highway construction costs could build pressure for Iowa lawmakers to consider the first gas tax hike since 1989 or other increase in licenses or fees

Urban liberal base here: Let's make the SUV drivers pay for some buses and bike trails.

Greg Giroux of CQPolitics rates the most interesting contests of the cycle:

Biggest surprise: Democrat David Loebsack, a college professor, upset 15-term Republican Rep. Jim Leach in Iowa’s 2nd District and broke the GOP moderate’s hold on a constituency that overall is Iowa’s most Democratic-leaning.

I had written before about Loebsack’s candidacy, the partisan nature of the southeastern Iowa district, and Leach’s aversion to the breakneck fundraising and smash-mouth tactics that many incumbents employ to ward off political opponents. But I just didn’t think that Leach would lose in the end.

Other thoughts from CQ writers Marie Horrigan and Rachel Kapochunas.

O.Kay watches Vilsack on CNN and notes the contrast to Harkin 1992:

"This time around, Vilsack suggested he wants other candidates to compete here to legitimize his candidacy. 'This is a much different situation and a much different time,' Vilsack said."

Very different: Harkin has his home state party locked up; Vilsack does not.

C-N-N anchor Wolf Blitzer directly asked Vilsack if he believes Hillary Clinton will come into Iowa to compete against him.

Vilsack did not directly answer:

'I don't think it's about challenging me, Wolf. I think it's about talking about the future of this country,' Vilsack said. 'You can't have deficits, you can't have a lack of discussion about health care and energy security, and a national and foreign policy that has essentially alienated most of our friends and somehow united most of our enemies. We need to have a debate about that in the state of Iowa and across the country and I welcome that debate. I look forward to that debate.'

Huh?

This plays straight into the Stalking Horse theory: The major players - Clinton, God forbid Gore - have nothing to gain by an Iowa win. Vilsack's betting they skip out. TV figures he stumbles to a 30 percent win, knocks out three or so legitimate contenders to the Not Hillary crown, and gains major points for Number Two or Prominent Cabinet Post to be named later.

Preserve some dignity, Governor. Let this fantasy go now. Do a cycle as state party chair then start running for Grassley's seat.

Russ Feingold had a shot, bit won't rule out #2 either says my old hometown paper the LaCrosse Tribune

ONALASKA, Wis. — U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold admitted Monday at a listening session in Onalaska City Hall he’d have to seriously think about it if asked to be a presidential running mate.

Love that dateline from my old home town - where I'm headed tomorrow.

New blog Political Fallout from the folks who gave us Nussle and Flow.

50 State Bush (Dis)approval

50 State Bush (Dis)approval

Bush supporters must be hiding out in the mountains; Survey USA reports net positives for W in only Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. That's 12 electoral votes, 13 if you spot him western Nebraska. Iowa's right in the middle of the pack at a net -22%.

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The Register looks at a meeting of Iowa's new Democratic majority congressional delegation of Harkin, Boswell, Braley and Loebsack.

Loebsack said he briefly talked about the war with the president.

"I did mention to him my desire to work with him," Loebsack said. "We didn't have much time to talk but I mentioned the war in Iraq." He said his wife, Terry, also told Bush about her son, a Marine captain and Naval Academy graduate who served in Iraq, and her daughter-in-law serving there now.

The last majority-Dem Iowa crew was Clark, Culver the elder, Smith, Harkin in the House, Bedell, and Blouin - back in `78. Ah, the regrets: Berkley Bedell was a winner in what's now Steve King territory but he got Lyme disease and retired in `86 when Gopher took the seat... Neal Smith lost the chairmanship he'd waited his whole career for and didn't have his heart in the race in `94... Dick Clark and John Culver got swamped by the waves of `78-`80 (as did Blouin) but were two of the best one term senators from any state ever.

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I'm vacationing these next nine (!) days and will be on and off the grid. Holiday weeks, in any case, tend to be slow on the political news front but you never know.

Stay on Offense: Challenge a quarter of their Caucus

Stay on Offense: Challenge a quarter of their Caucus

Looking waaaay ahead, Swing State Project lists targets for 2008. Paging Dr. Spencer, Code Blue in Iowa 4.

Chris Bowers at MyDD goes across the rotunda to look at the Senate. Harkin as usual is on the defense list, but the Republicans need a candidate first...

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Dave Loebsack stays on the national radar as one of the stars of 2006, appearing in a Time article debunking midterm myths:

MYTH: Democrats won because they carefully recruited more conservative candidates.
REALITY: Democrats won because their candidates were conservative about their message.

Moderate Democrats have celebrated the midterms as a victory for their brand of fiscal conservatism, foreign policy "realism" and a version of "traditional values." Certainly, Washington will see an influx of unorthodox Democrats: congressmen-elect Heath Shuler in North Carolina and Brad Ellsworth in Indiana are pro-life and pro-gun. But liberals won in some relatively conservative areas as well, and often after being largely ignored by national Democratic strategists. In the House, they include Kentucky's John Yarmuth (who supports universal health care and affirmative action), New Hampshire's Carol Shea-Porter (she was once escorted out of a Bush event for wearing an anti-Bush t-shirt) and Dave Loebsack (an anti-war liberal academic) in Iowa.

Since when is eastern Iowa a "conservative area"? And as Gannett checks in with Dave as orientation week winds down, his message doesn't sound the least conservative:

The former Cornell College professor said he hopes to land a seat on the House Education and Workforce Committee.

He said his top priority is a bill that would create a national health insurance system that has 77 co-sponsors in the House and might get more attention under the Democratic leadership. Loebsack also wants to reduce the costs of loans for all students and believes the new Congress will approve an increase in the minimum wage.

Other than the Loebsack love, the best feature of Time's article is the pictures up top: Joe Lieberman with Rove and Limbaugh in an unholy trinity.

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Onetime Lieberman leader in Iowa Kevin McCarthy wants everyone to know the Dems are going to be moderate, moderate, moderate in Des Moines, says the Underrated One, Mike Glover:

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, of Des Moines, was picked to be the House majority leader, giving the top leader team a distinctly moderate tone.

'We also know there are two ways to govern, one is from the mainstream and the other is from the extreme,' McCarthy said. 'We are going to be a party that governs from the mainstream. We are going to focus on bread and butter issues.'

Joining Murphy and McCarthy is Rep. Polly Bukta, D-Clinton, who was elected speaker pro tem.

Assistant majority leaders who were elected include Rep. Lisa Heddens, of Ames; Helen Miller, of Fort Dodge; Mike Reasoner, of Creston; and John Whitaker, of Hillsboro.

Register has more, some good, some not so much:

While Culver has expressed support for reinstatement of the death penalty in limited circumstances, Murphy ruled out House debate of the issue. Culver has also called for repeal of the state law making English the official language of Iowa. Murphy says that's not a priority.

Liberals shouldn't feel left out, Murphy said.

"When we talk about education or health care, I don't think it matters if you're a centrist or a liberal."

What about when it comes to making lifetime vows with your partner?

Maybe the Senate, with its relatively larger majority, will be a notch or two to the left of the House this session. In the big picture, after a decade plus of minority status, not such a bad problem to have. But it's my job, as a duly self-appointed representative of the People's Republic, to keep pushing.

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This contest in the London (UK) Times looks like fun:

I am looking for all contact - spotting in the street yesterday, autograph collected in your youth, meeting held with, picture taken with, gift received from, or whatever - with political figures.

Now famous is fine but semi-famous is even better, faintly ludicrous is best of all. Pictures are particularly welcome, especially if they show the semi-famous figure doing something prosaic. Bruce Babbitt shopping for a new television would be ideal.

Waaaay too easy for a caucus-going Iowan, though.

Where Were The Rednecks?

Where Were The Rednecks?



Now this is the kind of quote you don't see everyday:

“White rednecks” who “didn’t show up to vote for us” partly cost GOPers their cong. majorities, Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) told fellow Republicans today.

Examining the 2006 midterms, Putnam blamed the GOP defeat on “the independent vote, the women vote, the suburban vote.” He said that “heck, even the white rednecks who go to church on Sunday didn't come out to vote for us.”

Three Republicans in the room independently confirmed to the Hotline the substance and context of Putnam’s remarks. But Putnam’s chief of staff insists that the remarks were taken out of context.

Why do we make such a fuss when politicians talk the way regular folks talk? And yet we make fun of them when they talk in that PC Conehead speak that we all recognize as a distinct dialect of Bullshit? Like I keep saying, I wish politicians could or would communicate with the frank honesty of standup comics. And it gives me an excuse to link to this long list of Jeff Foxworthy punchlines.

If your state's got a new law that says when a couple get divorced, they are still legally brother and sister...

If you think Possum is "The Other White Meat"...

If you think the last words to The Star Spangled Banner are "Gentlemen, start your engines..."

In any case, Putnam bluntly captured the essence of the GOP base in two words, without offending said base which has embraced the term with perverse pride. (More substantive: his criticism of former Rep. J.C. Watts' leadership of the House Republican Conference.) And the GOP is making fast moves to recapture the white redneck vote, returning Trent Lott and his fond memories of the Dixiecrat `48 campaign to the Senate leadership.

Iowa House Dems make disappointing choice

Iowa House Dems make disappointing choice

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, is in line to become the new House majority leader. Selection of (Murphy and McCarthy) would put a relatively moderate face on the new Democratic majority in the House. Neither comes from the party's liberal wing and both are considered centrists.

McCarthy was far enough right that he was state director for Joe Lieberman back in 2003... which made him one of about seven Iowans who backed Joementum along with party switcher Doug Struyk. (Maybe that's where Joe got the idea?) So you combine that with an anti-choice Speaker... Lord, do I miss Dick Myers.

The biggest cloud in last week's silver lining election is that Joe Lieberman holds control of the US Senate in his traitorous hands. If it weren't for that "Harold Ford wants to sleep with white women" ad, we could have assigned Lieberman to the Bathroom Inspection and Toilet Scrubbing Committee where he belongs.

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Please. God. No.

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson said in Des Moines Wednesday that he hopes to run for president.

Is he timing this just to mock me, an expatriate cheesehead who's still lamenting the demise of the Feingold campaign?

The root of terror is clear

The root of terror is clear

The Brits, at least, are allowed to talk about the real problem:

"Afghanistan, the Balkans, Chechnya, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Kashmir and Lebanon are regularly cited by those who advocate terrorist violence as illustrating what they allege is western hostility to Islam." Code-crackers will note note that she goes way back before 9/11, so these "roots" go very deep.

And where, in any meaningful sense, can they be reckoned to start? The loose threads of this tapestry lead inescapably back to what she calls "Israel and Palestine". Maybe bringing peace to the Middle East after over half a century of vicious strife wouldn't bring total generation shift, the lessening of a fury, the erasure of hatred. But it would be a beginning, a symbol, a chance to start afresh...

We pretend that withdrawing from Afghanistan or Iraq will do the hearts-and-minds trick. We pretend (with America's triumphant Democrats as the worst offenders, alas) that Israel can somehow be set to one side while the al-Qaida terror debate rages.

But these are the malign thoughts of the new power kid on the block, Avigdor Lieberman, deputy prime minister of Israel and passionate advocate of ethnically cleansing his adopted land. Meanwhile, dozens more Palestinians die while the enfeebled government that needs Lieberman inside the tent shells Gaza day after day.

"None of this can be tackled by my service alone," says Dame Eliza. Others "must tackle the causes". And - coded or not - we damn well know where those causes lie.

Is Vilsack a Stalking Horse for Hillary?

Is Vilsack a Stalking Horse for Hillary?

So is TV really running for VP? Rolling Stone opines:

If you’re the DLC and you’ve got a great shot at another Clinton White House, why muck things up with a 1000-to-1 longshot bid like Vilsack? It makes little sense, unless Vilsack is a stalking horse for Hillary.

Iowa is hard to win. It requires time, and more time, and a degree of face-to-face human warmth and interaction to win. Politically interested people in Iowa expect to shake hands with the person they caucus for. Retail politics is not Hillary’s bag, to put it mildly.

If she can opt out of Iowa that allows her to plow her mass market media dolars into Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada (which is the number two race on the revamped primary schedule). If she takes the Silver State, she could roll into New Hampshire, where geography is already her friend, the prohibitive frontrunner.

Vilsack maybe raises his name recognition enough to be a viable veep candidate. Or at the very least sets himself up for a plum cabinet post in the second Clinton White House.

Sounds more plausible to me than President Vilsack. He boxed himself in with his self-term limit and now has nowhere else to go.

Way back in the bossed era of brokered conventions, candidates used to run as "favorite sons". The goal was to control the home state delegation and position yourself to Make The Deal. Maybe, just maybe, the convention would deadlock and lightning might strike...

Vilsack 08 is a glorified version of the old favorite son strategy. But odds are he won't even get to that "control the home state delegation" stage. Unlike Harkin in 1992, someone will take TV on in Iowa. People are excited about Obama and Edwards, waiting on Gore (Please God No), and checking out the others - the Bidens and the Bayhs. Kerry draws a crowd but the buzz is "had your chance." Hillary hovers over it all, probably with her solid 30 percent and no one's second choice.

I'm giving him Vilsack the same consideration I'm giving all the rest. The DLC thing is a big minus for me. Good governor, sure (I'm still pissed about English Only, though). But PRESIDENT? Not so much.

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Speaking of new employment for job hunting Iowans, more buzz on Leach for UN:

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Rep. James Walsh, R-N.Y., are developing a letter to other members proposing that Leach be named U.N. ambassador.

Although President Bush has resubmitted John Bolton’s nomination, it’s not clear there will be enough votes in the Senate to confirm him.

Aides to Leach said that he had no immediate comment on the proposal.

Jerome Armstrong at MyDD says "the suggestion that Jim Leach be the UN Ambassador is probably the best idea to come out of the Republican Party this decade." I thought it was Carol deProsse's idea, though.

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In that same post Jerome name-drops our House race:

Is part of the reason we won seats like IA 2nd just because the DCCC stayed out? It's worth thinking about, particularly having in mind that the '08 election for the DCCC will be about incumbent protection, that people-powered congressional campaigns should not count on the establishment, but instead to make it happen themselves.

E.J. Dionne at the Washington Post also mentions Our Man Dave, who seems to be rapidly emerging as one of the bright stars of the Class of `06:

The notion that this election produced a different kind of "conservative" majority is simply wrong. Yes, Democrats won in part by nominating moderate candidates in moderate areas. But every newly elected Democrat was, by any fair reckoning, somewhere to the left of the vanquished Republican, especially on Iraq and economic issues.

Moreover, voters on Tuesday sent to Congress a pack of unapologetic progressives, including Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the Senate, and such new House members as John Yarmuth of Kentucky, Carol Shea-Porter in New Hampshire and Dave Loebsack in Iowa, among many others.

Meanwhile Bruce Braley picks Hoyer over Murtha in the House Majority Leader race.

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Christopher rants:

Republicans lost both the House and Senate in last week's election, largely by losing a string of very tight elections where the huge effort Democrats put into absentee and early voting provided the margin of victory.

"We were 1,471 votes away from staying in the majority," Rants said.

State and national GOP strategists have dismissed the focus on absentee voting, preferring to focus on delivering voters to the polls on election day. The result, Rants said, was a shelling in the midterm election.

"I think they've got their head in the sand," Rants said of GOP strategists.

"Danny Carroll had 1,000 votes against him before the polls opened," Rants said. "Republicans have got to change strategies and it has to be a party-wide effort."

Since it's not my place to offer the Other Party advice, I'll confine my comments to Nyah Nyah, Nyah Nyah Nyah and Neener Neener Neener. See, bloggers are capable of sophisticated political discourse.

But Rants' rant is a reminder of how last weeks' victory didn't just happen, of all the hard work that went into it, and just how narrow the margins are. Get out the vote is about the margins - the best GOTV in history couldn't have saved us in `94. But for Landslide Rich Olive, it makes the difference.

The Grand Tour of Their New House - washingtonpost.com

The Grand Tour of Their New House

Professor Loebsack Goes To Washington; the Washington Post reports.

David Loebsack, 53, a political science professor from Iowa, is another improbable congressman. The Democrat who had never before won public office defeated 15-term Rep. Jim Leach (R). Yesterday, Loebsack was absorbing the notion that he would be making public policy instead of studying it.

"I grew up in poverty with a single mom who had mental illness," Loebsack said. "If anyone had told me I'd grow up to teach at Cornell College with a PhD, I would have thought they were crazy. If anyone had told me that I would get elected to Congress, I would have thought they were from another planet. I'm living proof of the American dream."

Yesterday evening, Loebsack and the other freshmen were invited to a reception at the White House, another moment he said he would cherish. "I didn't know we were going to the White House -- I just found out," he said.

Novelty Wearing Off Fast In Riverside

Novelty Wearing Off Fast In Riverside

The Gazette article isn't linkable, but this much tells the story:

The new Riverside casino saw its gaming revenue drop 13.6 percent and its attendance decline by 19.9 percent in October compared with its first full month of operation. Chief Executive Officer Dan Kehl of the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort said he expected the numbers to go down after the first month as the ``newness'' wore off. ``We're tracking about where we thought we'd be,'' he said. ``It may have been a little bit lighter (in October). There were a couple of days ... that knocked us a little bit off of our projections, but nothing we're concerned about.''

As I've said so many times: the gambling pie is only so big. Opening more casinos doesn't expand the pool of gamblers, it merely cuts the pie into thinner and thinner slices. There are people (like me) who wouldn't go to a casino if it were across the street. This isn't job growth, it's a temporary redistribution.

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Also on the local front, IC City council meets with legislators:

The Iowa City Council discussed changing the property tax system as a way to generate more money for city services.

Good point there: perhaps the new trifecta team of Culver, Gronstal and Murphy will look at that rather than regressive sales taxes.

Another topic, introduced by University of Iowa City Council liaison Austin Baeth, was protecting tenants from landlords who wrongfully retain deposit money.

Other legislative priorities listed by City Council include:

Advocating for increased funding for the Iowa State Housing Trust Fund to make affordable housing more available.

Maintaining control over local cable franchise to better endorse public television.

Giving city government the power to increase its hotel/motel tax.

Allowing home rule so local governments can determine their own public smoking regulation.

Eliminating the tax break for licenses on pickup trucks that originally was intended to benefit farmers.

Doesn't look like a sensible, enforcable, consistent drinking age of 18 was on the agenda.

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Quick and dirty links:

MyDD looks at the excessive credit given Rahm Emanuel for last week's win with the funniest post of the year.

Election Central has the rundown on 10 US House races still in the too close to call zone.

Old music in new packages from a couple of my obsessions: Neil Young finally starts to release the archives with a 1970 live set and Oasis does the greatest hits thing in odd fashion: two CDs running just 87 minutes and denying the existence of Be Here Now. No new songs but the upside is Noel Gallagher picked the tracks himself so you get a good sense of what he thinks is his best work.