Semi-official Blog of Radio Iowa
During a Q&A session with reporters this afternoon, Seema Mehta of The LA Times asked Gingrich about his fundraising for the quarter.
Mehta: “With the fundraising quarter coming to a close, what…”
Gingrich: “See, I knew you couldn’t resist. I’m not going to answer you. I think you should, you should really go home and think about why you would even ask that today.”
AUDIO: Q & A with reporters
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has unveiled his 21st Century Contract with America. Bullet point number one is repeal of “ObamaCare” and it also calls for a balanced federal budget as well as maximizing the speed and impact of medical breakthroughs. (Read the Radio Iowa story about this event and listen to the speech as well as the Q&A with reporters afterwards here.)
Gingrich’s daughter has a copy of the original “Contract with America” — a poster used when it was unveiled in 1994. There looks to be a water stain on the bottom, which she jokingly suggested was a champagne stain from the celebrating after Republicans won the House in ’94.
Gingrich’s unveiling of his 21st century Contract took place at the Principal Financial Group in downtown Des Moines, in the company’s auditorium which has a visiting point for presidential candidates of the past few cycles. Principal employees began filing in at about 12:15 p.m. The place has about 450 seats and most of them were full by 12:30 p.m, when the thing should have started (Gingrich was fashionably late). Former Congressman Greg Ganske, a Des Moines plastic surgeon, is in the house. He won his first term in 1994, the year of the original Contract with America.
A host from the company began speaking at 12:40 p.m., saying Gingrich’s visit would be the first in a series of presidential candidate visits. Ganske then introduced Gingrich — after telling the crowd former Iowa Governor Robert Ray and his wife, Billie, were in the audience. The crowd applauded the Rays.
Ganske brought out the Contract as a prop for his introduction. “Remember those days? it was a lot of hard work, but it was a lot of fun and we made a lot of progress,” Ganske said, then he explained why he’s backing Gingrich for president. “…I think that we need somebody who has great ideas, who has a global understanding of these problems, who isn’t just a tactician…but can strategize on the big picture.”
Gingrich’s microphone wasn’t on at the beginning, but he got it turned on and began explaining the new Contract. “It’s an effort to lay out for people what we need to do in a way we can all understand as citizens,” Gingrich said, “and we can put it together.”
Senator Bill Dix, a Republican from Shell Rock, has cancelled the meeting he called for this morning at the statehouse. The Iowa Republican reports Dix failed to secure the 13 votes among the 24 he needed to wrest the role of Senate Minority Leader from Paul McKinley. I am in the Iowa Senate as I type and the only senator who is here is a Democrat — Jack Hatch.
Background on what Dix had planned here.
OOPS! Typed too soon. Senator James Seymour, a Republican from Woodbine, is here. He didn’t get the message that the meeting had been canceled.
CNN is reporting Florida officials intend to hold that state’s primary on January 31, 2012. I just talked with Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn about this latest development.
Henderson: “Is this fruit basket upset now?”
Strawn: “We’ll wait to see what Florida ultimately does on Friday, but the one thing that Iowans need to know is that we will be first. The only open question is the date on which we hold our first-in-the-nation caucuses and, ironically, in attempting to assert increased relevance in the process, Florida’s move only elevates the importance of Iowa and the other early states because a compressed calendar makes doing well in Iowa a necessity for a Republican candidate who wants to secure the nomination, so I hope we don’t have to move up to the beginning of the year. If we do, we will, but this also just elevates the importance of doing well in Iowa for the Republican candidates.”
Henderson: “Is it out of the realm of possibility that the Iowa Caucuses might be held in 2011?”
Strawn: “I hope we can avoid that scenario. I don’t think any candidate nor Iowan wants to caucus before the holiday season, so I’m still cautiously optimistic we can avoid that, but we are going to do what’s necessary to make sure that Iowa retains that first-in-the-nation status.”
Henderson: “re you constantly texting, phoning the people in New Hampshire? What is the alliance here and how is it working these days?”
Strawn: “I have been in close contact with my colleagues in all four of the early states which the RNC exempted from the rules and we’re all going to do what’s necessary to maintain the integrity of the RNC rules that were passed by 2/3rds of the RNC that say it should be Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina and we’re monitoring the situation in Florida very closely, working with the RNC, and really trying to avoid that compressed schedule that both the candidates, the majority of the RNC and, really, most voters don’t favor.”
UPDATE: Here’s the Radio Iowa story on this development, with background on party rules, etc.
The Family Leader folks announced today that five GOP presidential candidates have agreed to appear at the group’s event in November. Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Paul & Santorum have RSVP’d yes. The group says Rick Perry and Mitt Romney have been “invited” but haven’t said yes or no yet. Information from the group’s news release is copied below.
Saturday, November 19
4:00-6:00 PM
First Federated Church, Des Moines
The Thanksgiving Family Forum will not be your typical “debate”. Instead, it will be a family discussion with the Republican Presidential candidates. The candidates will be seated around a table in a family-friendly setting designed to learn not only what the candidates think about family issues, but also why they think what they think.
We were intentional about selecting the weekend before Thanksgiving in the hope of giving Iowans something to discuss at the Thanksgiving dinner table.
Candidates:
Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum (confirmed); Rick Perry and Mitt Romney (invited)
Co-Sponsors:
CitizenLink (A Focus on the Family Affiliate)
National Organization for Marriage
Location: First Federated Church, 4801 Franklin Ave., Des Moines, IA
Time: 4:00-6:00 PM
Ticket Price: $40
Family Pack: 4 Tickets for $125
Note: All solicitation of funds in connection with this event are by The FAMiLY LEADER and not by any candidate. Paid for by The FAMiLY LEADER and not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.
Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann talked with me by phone this morning as she made her way to the airport in Florida after speaking to a gathering of conservatives there this morning. I asked a couple of questions based on what happened in last night’s debate.
During the debate, Rick Perry said this about Bachmann, Romney & Santorum when it comes to the immigration issue: “I do not think you have a heart.” I asked Bachmann to respond directly to that assertion.
“When it comes to the issue of immigration I think that Iowans have a very strong, decided opinion about that. I believe firmly that the federal government has let down the American people by not securing the border. I would build a fence. I wouldn’t call building a fence idiocy. That’s what Governor Perry had said. Beyond building the fence, I also believe that we ned to have strong border security. I also believe that we should not be offering taxpayer-subsidized benefits for people who break our laws and come into the United States illegally. I would not offer taxpayer-subsidized benefits for illegal aliens or their children,” Bachmann said. “And I think it’s a point well taken last evening when Governor Perry continued to defend his position to offer taxpayer-subsidized benefits for illegal aliens that that was not well received by people that were in arena. But I can attest to that all across America and, particularly, all across Iowa because I’ve been in all four corners of Iowa and in between. People are very tired of supporting illegal aliens with their taxes.”
I also asked Bachmann about the HPV vaccine issue, which was again discussed last night. Specifically, I asked Bachmann this: “Do you believe this particular vaccine is unsafe. There was a move in Iowa by a group of folks who were concerned about the safety of vaccines about six years and they sought to forbid the use of a particular preservative, a mercury-based preservative in vaccines. Do you think vaccines are safe or unsafe, in general, and what about this particular vaccine, specifically?”
Bachmann: “Well, of course, the remarks that I gave were simply relating a story by a mother who came up to me after, not at this debate, but at the previous debate, about what happened to her daughter. And that’s all I was doing was relating the story. The real issue and the real point of my remarks was that fact that Governor Perry unilaterally made a decision forcing 12-year-old girls to have a shot because he said so.”
She didn’t respond directly to the safety element of the question. Bachmann recounted her attack on Perry for the HPV executive order and then seemed to widen it a bit to include Romney. While she specifically said Perry’s name during her response, she didn’t invoke Romney’s name when she said: “We need to have a nominee who will run against President Obama who is not compromised on the issue of mandates and health care…I am the candidate on that stage who introduced the bill to repeal ObamaCare and I will not rest until we do.”
Bachmann soon added that she is the only “proven, consistent, constitutional conservative” in the race, “with a core set of convictions.”
Bachmann again cited immigration, health care and crony capitalism as key issues in rating a candidate’s conservative credentials. “This is an election when we shouldn’t settle for a candidate,” Bachmann said. “And every four years conservatives are told they need to settle and they need to step back for a candidate who is moderate or perhaps a compromise candidate. In this election, of all elections, we need to have a bold, clear distinction with our candidate.”
Bachmann will be in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Monday. Bachmann says she left a voice mail message for Cindy Golding, the GOP’s candidate in a special election in the area to fill an open state senate seat. “I’ll be happy to be raising money for her and campaigning for her,” Bachmann said. “And we’re hoping that she’ll win and we want to see the senate have another Republican.” Background on the race here. Bachmann’s Iowa campaign manager is Kent Sorenson, one of the 24 Republicans who currently serve in the Iowa Senate.
Linn County Republicans have chosen their co-chair, Cindy Golding, to run for the open state senate seat in a race that’s garnering national attention, as a GOP win would tip the Iowa Senate into a 25-25 tie. Golding is a former candidate for the Iiowa House, having run in a 2002 primary against Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha, who is currently the speaker of the House. Golding won on the first ballot tonight, with 51 percent support. She defeated Mary Rathje, rumored to be Governor Branstad’s pick for the race, and former U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth. Craig Robinson from The Iowa Republican did a live chat of the evening. Here’s the full Radio Iowa story.
A woman who worked in the Iowa Workforce Development office in Denison until the Branstad Administration closed the office (and 36 others) down is going for a new job, as a state legislator. Kasey Friedrichsen would face state Representative Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, who is the incumbent in the new district – if she wins the Democratic nomination in House District 18. Schultz has endorsed Ron Paul’s bid for the GOP’s presidential nomination, so a Ron Paul “money bomb” of some sort for Schultz may be part of the dynamic in this race. Paul helped several state legislative candidates raise money for 2010 races, including a fundraiser for Kent Sorenson, the state senator who is now managing Michele Bachmann’s Iowa campaign.)
Iowa House District 18 has a GOP voter registration edge of just over 1300. Denison is the largest city in the district. Read the news release below.
Denison, Iowa – Denison native Kasey Friedrichsen announced today that she will run for state representative in District 18, which includes Shelby County and parts of Crawford and Harrison Counties.
“This district needs a state representative who listens to people, puts politics aside and does what’s best for us,” said Friedrichsen, who grew up in the Denison-Schleswig area. “I’ve worked with hundreds of citizens in our community who are looking for work or need to upgrade their skills to land a good-paying job. In these tough economic times, we must do all we can to create jobs, put Iowans back to work, and help our community thrive and grow.” [Read more...]
Here’s the Radio Iowa story about when the two parties will hold nominating conventions (quick version: GOP on 9.22/Dems on 9.28) and about who the potential candidates are for the open state senate seat in the Linn County area. Liz Mathis, a former TV anchor in the area, wants to run, as a Democrat. Former US Attorney Matt Dummermuth, a Republican, wants to run in the district, too. Read about him below.
ROBINS – Former United States Attorney and current small businessman Matt Dummermuth today announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Iowa Senate District 18. The seat is open as a result of the recent resignation of Senator Swati Dandekar. Her remaining one-year term will be filled in a special election on November 8. [Read more...]
Democrats today revealed former TV anchor Liz Mathis, a well-known name in eastern Iowa, is hoping to run in the special election to replace State Senator Swati Dandekar, a Democrat from Marion who resigned so Governor Brasntad could appoint her to the Iowa Utilities Board. The resignation set up a high-stakes battle between the parties, as a Republican victory in the district would pitch the Iowa Senate into a 25-25 split. Republicans and Democrats in the Marion area will soon hold nominating convention to select the two nominees who will face off in the November 8 special election.
Read Mathis’ news release below:
Liz Mathis announced today that she will seek the Democratic nomination for Iowa Senate District 18 in the upcoming special election to fill the seat vacated by Sen. Swati Dandekar of Marion.
“People all over are trying to get back on their feet from this lingering national recession,” Mathis said. “They need jobs and they need stability for their families, and all we’re getting from our government is gridlock. It must change. I pledge to work with Democratic and Republican legislators and Governor Branstad to make a difference for the people in District 18.” [Read more...]
Politics & Government
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award. More »
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