The first day of session

‘Tis the first day of the 2010 Iowa legislative session and we have discovered, courtesy of Jack Kibbie, that Cyclone fans in the Iowa Senate are far more boisterous than Hawkeye fans.

Kibbie, a Democrat from Emmetsburg who is president of the Iowa Senate, was among the six legislative leaders who gave opening day speeches this morning.  Kibbie’s speech started shortly after 10 o’clock. 

“And by the way, how ’bout those Hawkeyes?” Kibbie said, to few feeble cheers and a little bit of applause that quickly died down.

Kibbie then added: “And Iowa State.”  At this point, the Cyclone fans screamed much louder and clapped more vigorously.  (You can listen to the speech here to make your own call on the cheering competition.)

“They made Iowans very proud, so let us do the same,” Kibbie said to conclude his speech.

The audio from the opening day speeches from all six legislative leaders is here on the bottom of this page.  Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley wins the award for giving the longest speech, by far, at more than 12 minutes.  The two floor leaders in the House — Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen & Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy — are sort of tied for the “most succinct” honor as each spoke for about four minutes. 

The opening day speeches in the House were delayed a bit by problems with the audio system.  Wonder if it will be functioning at 10 o’clock tomorrow when the governor delivers his “Condition of the State” message?

Senator Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale who is running for Iowa’s third district congressional seat, asked for a chance to speak this morning so he could recognize the Tea Party activists who have come to the capitol today.  One of Zaun’s Republican rivals — Dave Funk — has a lead Tea Party organizer working on his campaign.  Ryan Rhodes, the Iowa chairman of the National Tea Party movement, has been hired to work as political director for Funk’s campaign.