Expanding the Majority: Hoy Creating an Environment That Encourages Young People to Call Iowa Home

One issue that I have blogged about extensively is Iowa's brain drain. Tim Hoy understands this issue and how it effects rural Iowa. He is running to create an environment that encourages our young generations to view Iowa as a place to call home.

To create an environment that encourages young Iowans to call Iowa home, something must be done about the amount of student loan debt our college graduates accumulate, there must high wage jobs, and there must be ample recreation opportunities in the state (which means we must have clean waterways).

If you want to create this kind of environment in Iowa, please donate to Tim Hoy's campaign.

The 2nd fundraising period ends on Tuesday, July 15th. We have a goal of 15 donors by the 15th and are currently at 10 donors. Since my post asking for donations last Thursday, we have raised $540, but are still short of our goal of 15 donors.

Please help expand the majority in the Iowa House by donating to Tim Hoy or these other great candidates we have featured in the past few months: Elesha Gayman, Eric Palmer, McKinley Bailey, Jerry Sullivan, and Nate Willems.

Counter Corporate Attacks and Donate to Iowa Democratic Blogger Approved Candidates

The end of the first fundraising quarter is Monday, March 31st and I thought I'd ask my readers to consider donating to one of the candidates on the Iowa Democratic Bloggers ActBlue page.

The candidates that I would like to ask you to consider donating to are Elesha Gayman, McKinley Bailey, and Eric Palmer. These three candidates have been targeted by a group funded by RJ Reynolds, Mid American Energy, and other corporations. Negative ads have been running throughout their districts on the issues of property tax relief and fair share.

These candidates are all serving in their first term in the Iowa House and are top targets by state Republicans. Please chip in to help these great candidates counter the corporate funded attacks and win re-election this November.

Click here to donate.

RJ Reynolds, Mid American Energy, and other Corporations Target Democrats

A group funded by RJ Reynolds, Mid American Energy, and other corporations is running TV and radio ads that target a handful of incumbent House Democrats that includes Elesha Gayman, Eric Palmer, McKinley Bailey, Bob Kressig, and Art Staed. The ads attack the candidates on the issues of property tax relief and fair share (which isn't even being debated this year).

The ads have run on cable TV and are paid for by the Iowa Leadership Council, a group organized under the Internal Revenue Code that allows it to raise unlimited contributions.

The council raised $214,550 in the last six months of 2007, according to IRS records, with the largest donors the Reynolds American tobacco company, which gave $40,000, and MidAmerican Energy Holdings, which donated $25,000.

These ads are applauded by Cyclone Conservative who goes searching for a slogan Republicans can spin in the election. He says that Republicans need to start the attacks now and repeat a slogan over and over again.

The slogan that he comes up with is that Democrats are against property tax relief and against keeping jobs in the state. This is absolutely ridiculous. He makes it sound like Democrats want all Iowans to be unemployed and want to force them to hand over all of their money in property taxes.

After running on slogans like "God, Gays, and Guns" for years now, Republicans should realize by now that they no longer are working. Republicans need to forget the slogans and focus on ideas. All of their ideas have run there course and now what is left, is an empty party that is only able to push wedge issues, while they attempt to come up with more meaningless slogans.

Iowa House Discusses Veterans Issues

Democrats in the Iowa House spent a lot of time discussing veterans issues during the first week of the legislative session.

On the first day of the session, Speaker of the House Murphy honored Rep. Ray Zirkelbach for his service in Iraq. Zirkelbach is the chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and has called for actions to help better care for Iowa's Veterans...

Zirkelbach said he wants to ensure that all returning military personnel have access to quality mental-health care — especially in rural Iowa.

Between 12 and 20 percent of Iraq war veterans will suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“Today I’m asking for your help and support to ensure that all Iowa veterans have access to medical and mental-health service, as well as educational and employment support that we deserve,” Zirkelbach told his colleagues.

On Tuesday, Rep. McKinley Bailey, who served in Iraq, introduced a bill (HF 2001) about military leaves of absence and reemployment.

Democrats in the Iowa House are leading the charge to ensure our Veterans have the benefits and care they need.

Who should run in the 4th District?

Last month, Selden Spencer surprised many when he announced that he would not run again in Iowa's 4th district. That left Democrats searching for a candidate to unseat Rep. Tom Latham, who votes with President Bush nearly 90% of the time. I know party leaders have been asking different people about a possible run, but with no luck.

William Myers from Humboldt is an Iraq Vet who is considering a run, but he is virtually an unknown among Democratic activists in the district. Also, I have rumors that Kevin Miskell, who is Vice President of the Iowa Farmer's Union, is considering a run.

I thought I would rank the possible candidates that could run in the 4th district. My criteria are experience and location within the district. One problem with Spencer's campaign was it was very Ames (Story Co. ) centered. The size of the district (28 counties) means the candidates must do well in Ft. Dodge (Webster Co.) and Mason City (Cerro Gordo Co.) and not just Story County to win. The candidate also needs a hook that would make them credible with rural voters.

Here are my rankings of possible candidates to run against Latham in Iowa's 4th District...

1. Daryl Beall- State Senator from Ft. Dodge. Would help win Webster County and probably has better name recognition throughout the northern parts of the district. Not up for reelection in 2008.

2. Jack Kibbie - One reason Democrats might be having a hard time recruiting a candidate is because it is the expected the 4th district will be redistricted out when Iowa loses a House seat in 2012. Running for Congress could cap off a long political career for Kibbie, who first served in the Iowa House in the 1960's and then later ran for the Iowa Senate in 1988. Kibbie currently is the Senate President and is up for reelection in 2008.

3. McKinley Bailey - Bailey was elected to the Iowa House in 2006 and is only 26 years old. However, his experience serving in Iraq would instantly make him credible on the top issue in the campaign. Bailey represents Webster County, an area Democrats must win to beat Latham.

4. Lisa Heddens - Heddens is currently an assistant Majority Leader in the Iowa House, where she has served since 2002. Iowa has never elected a woman to Congress or as Governor and Heddens would be a strong opponent. She is from Ames and would need to campaign hard in northern Iowa. If Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee and there is a large turnout among woman, Heddens could win.

5. Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald - Fitzgerald's brother, Michael, is the State Treasurer. Since he is up for reelection as County Sheriff, he'd be a longshot to run.

Others...

• State Rep. Mark Kuhn of Charles City
  
• State Rep. Mark Smith of Marshalltown
• State Sen. Amanda Ragan of Mason City
• State Rep. Marcella Frevert of Emmetsburg
  
• activist Sue Dinsdale
• John Norris, who ran against Latham in 2002
• A young activist from the Ames area - There are many from the area who have worked on campaigns the past few years that could step into the race.
  

Please chime in with your thoughts.

Rep. McKinley Bailey Endorses Biden

Rep. McKinley Bailey, an Iraq War Vet, will endorse Joe Biden. Bailey served 5 years in the United States Army. While McKinley was a paratrooper with the elite 82nd Airborne Division he led his Tactical Signals Intelligence Intercept Team on more than 120 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bailey released this statement about the endorsement...

After returning from serving in Iraq, I quickly grew frustrated by my impression that leaders in both political parties did not understand the fundamental challenges to ending the war in Iraq," Bailey says in a statement. "When I first learned of Sen. Biden's plan, I realized that was the ticket - a political solution, not a military one. I am endorsing him because from day one, our next president must make decisions on the direction in Iraq and I am convinced Senator Biden has the knowledge and experience to bring our troops home without leaving a situation that requires another generation of Americans to return in a decade.

Here's some video of Bailey discussing the endorsement.

Marc Ambinder thinks this might make Biden more viable among younger voters...
Iowa Democratic caucus goers skew older...and Mr. Biden's demographic is probably older than older, but young Mr. Bailey might open up a new vista: all those young Democrats that Barack Obama is trying to bring into the system.

**Update**
Iowa Progress is reporting that McKinley Bailey's father, who is a county supervisor, is not only supporting Barack Obama, but is on Obama's statewide leadership team.

Young Candidates Ready to Take Office

One topic that I have written a lot about is how to stop brain drain and keep young Iowans in Iowa. After the November elections, one answer might be to have them run for office. From the Gazette Online (which requires a subscription, so no link)...

Young freshman welcomed into Iowa Legislature: This year, voters elected eight state representatives who are 30 or younger. According to party officials, that includes Republicans Pat Grassley of New Hartford, Steve Lukan of New Vienna and Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley, and Democrats McKinley Bailey of Webster City, Andrew Wenthe of Hawkeye, Tyler Olson of Cedar Rapids, Elesha Gayman of Davenport and Ray Zirkelbach of Anamosa. Some of these young legislators left Iowa to pursue opportunities out of state, but returned because of the people and quality of life.

Congratulations on these 8 for winning and it is good to get some new perspectives out there.