Iowa First?

A post on FiveThirtyEight by Tom Shaller reviews the discussion of changes in the primary/caucus system at a weekend forum.  The discussion was sponsored by the Brookings Institution, which wrote a press release in advance but does not have anything on their website about the event itself.  I did a quick search online and could find no other blog item about last Friday’s event (many links to the FiveThirtyEight post, though). 

The discussion centered around reform of the primary and caucus system, not so much the timing, but the awarding of delegates.  Those so-called “super delegates” were mentioned.  The “father” of the super delegates will be in Ames later this month to deliver a lecture.

AMBASSADOR MANATT TO PRESENT DEAL LECTURE AT ISU OCT.27

AMES, Iowa – Charles Manatt, former U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, will present the 2009 William K. Deal Endowed Leadership Lecture Oct. 27 at Iowa State University. 

Ambassador Manatt will present “Preparing Leaders to Meet Future Global Challenges” at 7 p.m. in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union on campus. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is organized by the Department of Agricultural Education and Studies in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. 

He was recently recognized by his peers as one of “The Best Lawyers in America 2010” in Corporate Law, Government Relations Law and International Trade/Finance Law. 

Ambassador Manatt founded First Los Angeles Bank and served as its chairman from 1973 to 1989. He was chair of the California Democratic Party before being elected chair of the Democratic National Committee in 1981. In 1992, he was co-chair of the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign, and in 1999 President Clinton appointed Ambassador Manatt as the U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic.

An attorney who earned his bachelor’s degree in rural sociology from Iowa State in 1958 and his J.D. from George Washington University in 1962, Ambassador Manatt is the founder of the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP.

William K. Deal, an ISU alum with a degree in agricultural education, established the lecture series to help prepare future leaders and innovators in agriculture.