Turkey Week Tidbits

Thanksgiving 2010 has come and gone.  A quick review of the week’s political highlights:

• Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin made a stop in West Des Moines Saturday, part of a nationwide tour promoting her new book.  Hundreds waited in line, including her first boss.  Palin will be at the Walmart in Spirit Lake, Iowa, on December 2 for another book signing event.
• Iowa Governor-elect Terry Branstad is neutral, for now, on the 2012 presidential race.  He endorsed Bob Dole in 1996, but was neutral in the ’88 race which was during Branstad’s second term as governor.
• One political party has chosen its nominee for the special election in state senate district 48 — to replace Kim Reynolds of Osceola.  (Reynolds is the lieutenant governor-elect of Iowa.)  Republican Joni Ernst of Red Oak, the Montgomery County Auditor, was selected at a nominating convention.   Democrats in the district will hold a nominating convention on December 1.   Senate District 48 includes Montgomery, Adams, Union, Clarke, Taylor, Ringgold, and Decatur Counties.
• Chuck Grassley’s Twitter account is becoming a ticker for UNI scores. 
• John Bolten’s 2008 visit with Iowa delegates at the Republican National Convention wasn’t a fluke.  The former United Nations ambassador says he’s mulling a bid for the presidency.  Fred Karger, a retired political consultant who is gay, wants to be the first gay presidential candidate.  Karger spent $1000 to run an ad on FOX News Channel on 7 Iowa cable systems this past week.   The 90-second spot probably aired 10 times, total, based on that buy.  (Karger pronounces his name KAR-ger — a hard G sound.)
• Gentry Collins, a political operative with a lot of Iowa on his resume, wants to become the Republican National Committee’s chairman.
• Iowa First Lady Mari Culver hints her husband’s job search may be outside of Iowa.
• Although this was posted on November 18 — before Thanksgiving week) — and it really has nothing to do with politics, you should still read what Cedar Rapids Gazette columnist Todd Dorman wrote about the demise of the phone book.  In my childhood home we kept our phone book tucked behind the potted plant on the kitchen counter that was to the left of the refrigerator.  In my current home, the yellow pages are on a shelf in a kitchen cupboard that’s to the left of the refrigerator.