Harkin event last night

Last night I attended a fundraiser for Tim Hoy, candidate for Iowa House in district 44 at the UAW Hall in Marshalltown. Tom Harkin was the featured speaker at the event. There were around 50 people in attendance including State Rep. Mark Smith and candidates for county races.

Tim Hoy spoke first and discussed the key issues in rural Iowa. He discussed the need for an increase in the minimum wage saying, "there aren't enough hours in a week for a worker who makes minimum wage to make a living." He touched on the need for an educated workforce. He supports traditional family farms. The main part of his speech was about renewable energy and creating jobs and keeping those profits in rural Iowa. Hoy knows a great deal about ethanol, but also spoke about biodiesel.

Hoy then introduced Sen. Harkin. Harkin opened up saying it is going to be a great year for Democrats. The best line of the night was when Harkin said, "Republicans are sinking like a rock, in fact they are sinking in Iraq."

He brought up the Connecticut primary saying that it has less to do with Lieberman than it does with Bush, saying that "Bush has mislead, misguided, and mismanaged our resources in Iraq and it is time to bring the troops home."

Harkin talked about how out of touch Republicans are. He stressed keeping our committment to our troops by not cutting veteran benefits like Bush has done. He used examples of gas prices, gloabal warming, stem cell research, and disbanding the CIA unit that was looking for bin Laden to show that Republicans do not understand the concerns of Americans.

He discussed a provision that he put into a bill 4 years ago that said government departments shall purchase biobased products if the price is competitive. He has gotten Johanns, the Agriculture Secretary, behind this. In September Harkin is sponsoring an event at the Pentagon where vendors of biobased products can pitch their products to the people at the Pentagon. He then said these biobased products will grow the economy in rural areas and create jobs in Iowa.

The most intersting part of the night was when Harkin said that this year isn't like 1994 when the Republicans took control of Congress, but it is more like 1974. The first oil shock was in 1973 and in 1974 we were stuck in an unpopular war. He said he rode the wave in 1974 to get elected and if Democrats work hard, raise the important issues then they will catch that wave this year.

He then made his pitch for electing Tim Hoy saying that nothing is more important that winning control of the Iowa House and Iowa Senate and that "we must make damn sure that Nussle guy isn't elected." By electing Chet Culver and with the help of a Democratic House and Senate, we can start build upon the foundation that Vilsack has built.

This was my first time hearing Sen. Harkin and Tim Hoy speak. Both did a great job and the crowd left excited about our chances in the fall election.