Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet...Vote Nussle

My Halloween costume this year was Jim Nussle trying to trick Iowans to vote for him.


And here's a little song to go with it.

"Trick or treat, smell my feet.
Vote for me, I’m a cheat.
If you don't, I won't be sad.
But W, Dick, and Karl will sure be mad!"

It was a greedy Republican named Nussle
Wearing a paper bag and a fancy sport coat
I said, "With those Washington ethics,
you’ll never get my vote."

I slammed the door, checking all the locks.
Then grabbed the remote, flipped on the TV.
I was startled to discover Mr. Nussle
Screaming about nothing. "Please let me be."

"Trick or treat, smell my feet.
Vote for me, I’m a cheat.
If you don't, I won't be sad.
But W, Dick, and Karl will sure be mad!"

Who was this guy in the paper bag?
A little digging unveiled a messy divorce.
Nussle cried "Terror!" and ran looking for Newt.
Huge budget deficit? Mr. Nussle was the source.

He kept popping up in the least likely places.
Pandering to the Rightwing Christians.
His crooked little grin was driving me crazy,
if they only knew greed and divorce was his mission.

"Trick or treat, smell my feet.
Vote for me, I’m a cheat.
If you don't, I won't be sad.
But W, Dick, and Karl will sure be mad!"

Finally I did the only thing that I could think of.
I voted for Chet in the booth.
That night Nussle was bemoaning
like a little baby with a tooth loose.

Nussle tucked his tail in between his legs,
then he was headed back to Washington.
Hopefully he will never come back,
With Governor Chet, it will be the best its ever been!

Nussle Values the Sanctity of Marriage

When I got home from work on Thursday, I had a message on my answering machine from Karen Nussle telling me that I should vote for her "loving husband" on November 7th. I laughed at it and was glad they were wasting their money calling my house.

Later that night I saw that earlier in the day, Jim Nussle announced that marriage was between 1 man and 1 woman at a campaign stop in Des Moines. Then WHO-TV out of Des Moines ran a profile of Karen Nussle. Here is part of the story...

Karen worked there, then on Capitol Hill and finally at a public relations firm. A congresswoman who knew both Karen and Jim Nussle thought they'd make a perfect couple. "Basically decided she was going to play matchmaker and bugged him until he asked me out."

WHO forgot to mention that Jim Nussle had a wife and 2 young children back in Manchester, IA at this time. You know, no one cares about little insignificant details like a wedding ring and 2 kids.

I guess the sanctity of marriage doesn't apply to Congressman. You can't blame a Congressman for finding a mistress while they are on the road. It is a longway from Manchester, IA, where their wife and 2 young children live, all the way to Washington DC. Then when they decide to leave their family and marry their mistress the media should just pretend that it is a storybook tale.

Does that sound like a loving husband to you?

**Update**
Now, if Nussle does win this race, would Karen Nussle be the called the 2nd Lady?

Nussle is Suddenly Concerned with Oversight

Nussle recently made a campaign stop in Marshalltown and discussed CIETEC. Doesn't Nussle know that was so last summer?

At the top of the ticket is Jim Nussle, a congressman that has said one of the biggest challenges facing Iowa is mismanagement of state government agencies. Nussle said that one thing his opponent has stressed is that he has leadership after serving for eight years on the governor’s executive committee as secretary of state.

Nussle charged that is exactly where oversight for agencies such as CIETC (Central Iowa Employment Training Consortium) should have come from.

Nussle talking about oversight? What about the $9 billion missing in Iraq?

Hostile Takeover...Pensions and Nussle is a Hack

From Chapter 5 of Hostile Takeover on Pensions...

Consider this fact: corporations are not required to set aside adequate money to actually pay the pensions they've promised to their workers. Let's repeat this because, really, it is so appallingly hard to believe, it needs to be said twice: though your employer mayb be promising you a nice pension, federal laws actually permit companies to pocket the retirement money that they should be putting aside to follow on those promises. And boy are they abusing these loopholes to the extreme.

At the end of 2004, the nations 1,108 weakest private pension plans were underfunded by a total of more than $350 billion. In other words, companies had set aside $350 billion less in pension money than they had promised their workers. In just the five years between 1999 and 2004, the number of companies whose pensions were underfunded by $50 million or more grew by 600 percent.

And now on to Nussle. In each chapter, Sirota names a couples hacks, who have been rather awful on the issue being discussed (He sometimes also names heros, who have fought against the hostile takeover by big money.). In the chapter on pensions, Jim Nussle is named as a hack for his work trying to privative social security.

Hack: Jim Nussle, Iowa Congressman
Using Chairmanship to spread fearmongering lies about Social Security.

Iowa representative Jim Nussle (R) is chairman of the US House Budget committee, and in that role he is supposed to speak credibly about fiscal issues. Yet in 2005 he said that "by the year 2042, the entire (Social Security) system, in fact, by most people's definiton of the word bankrupt, would be bankrupt." It was a lie designed to scare people into supporting a Social Security privatization scheme that would give away billions of taxpayer dollars to Wall Street. But the lie was surprising, considering Nussle had taken more than $180,000 from the financial services industry during his political career. The truth is that the system will be very far from bankrupt in 2042. According to Social Security's own actuaries, if Congress does absolutely nothing, Social Security will still be able to pay 74 percent of its full benefits after 2041 - far from "bankrupt". Robert Ball, Social Security commissioner under both Democratic and Republican presidents, told the New York Times in 2005 what's really going on: "What they're saigint is not true. The program is not going bankrupt."

Read more from Hostile Takeover...
Introduction
Jobs
Wages
Debt

Governor's race tied at 42%

A new Rasmussen poll is out and Culver and Nussle are tied at 42%. Here is how the numbers break down...

It seems voters are more eager to avoid Nussle than Culver. Seventy-one percent (71%) of Nussle supporters consider their vote to be "for Nussle" rather than "against Culver" (22%). By contrast, just 50% of the Culver vote is "for Culver"; 38% is "against Nussle."

Nussle has higher favorables overall, and he is viewed "very favorably" by 22%, while Culver is viewed so favorably by only 15%. On the other hand, Nussle's "very unfavorable" number is also higher, 18% to Culver's 13%.

So Nussle Says he is a Special Parent

The Des Moines Register ran a story that discusses the role of faith in the lives of the candidates for Governor. These quote from Nussle caught my eye...

My relationship with Jesus Christ was cemented with the birth of my oldest child, who was born with Down syndrome and who is a constant source of challenge and joy. The day after she was born I was told by my friend and minister that God gives special children to special parents and that I will need to spend a lifetime trying to earn that title with God’s help. He was right, and with God’s grace and guidance, I am still working to be a good parent.

So if Nussle is such a special parent then why did he leave his wife and daughter and marry his mistress right after he ran a campaign promoting family values? You are right Jim, you still need a lot of work on being that special parent.

Who do you trust with your financial security? Not Nussle.

I just saw a TV ad by Nussle attacking Culver that says that you can't trust Culver with your financial security. When the ad was over, I had to head to my kitchen and make sure that Nussle didn't sneak in and steal my kitchen sink.

What is Nussle thinking? When he took over as House Budget Chair we had record surplusses and now we are seeing record deficits. Nussle thinks that borrow and spend is the answer. Now every American, including my 3 week old nephew, owes $28,374.37 on our national debt. Who do you trust with your financial security?

Watch out Chet, the Boogeyman is Catching up!

I guess the Iowa Liberal Blogsphere was all wrapped in Harkin Steaky Fry-ness that they failed to mention the latest poll in the Des Moines Register on the Governor's race. Thanks to Krusty for posting first.

A new Des Moines Register poll shows Democrat Chet Culver and Republican Jim Nussle are tied, 44 percent to 44 percent, among likely voters at this stage of the statewide contest.

Ready to break the unusual tie are the 10 percent of Iowans who say they definitely will vote in the Nov. 7 election but are undecided on a candidate at this point.

Here's an interesting site that shows the trends in past polls on the race. Both candidates have been rising at about the same rate until August when Culver has fallen a bit and Nussle has picked up ground.

The poll also mentions that 16% of the people polled said they view Nussle as very unfavorably, while just 10% have the same opinion of Culver. As more people hear about the real Jim Nussle and hear about his abyssmal record in Washington, the more people that will be turned away.

The Register mentioned a similar poll back in 1998...

It was a much different story at this stage of the wide-open governor's race of 1998. Democrat Tom Vilsack trailed Republican Jim Ross Lightfoot by 20 points in a mid-September Iowa Poll. Vilsack came on strong at the end of the campaign and pulled out the victory.

As you can tell, a lot can change in the last 2 months. It is mid-September and it seems we are tied at 0-0.

**Update**
Check out this post by Iowa Ennui for more discussion about the latest poll numbers.

Lamberti attacks Nussle's budget record

From the Sioux City Journal...

Culver's campaign presented a video of state Senate Republican President Jeff Lamberti's speech at the Iowa State Fair, criticizing the condition of the federal budget. Culver's campaign noted that Nussle is chairman of the House Budget Committee.

"What I want to talk to you about today is the state of the federal budget, or should I say the mess that is the federal budget," Lamberti said during his speech. "That's right. And let's face it, it is a mess."

and more...

In his speech, Lamberti called the budget process "a mess because of the process where there is no control, where amendments, special interests, pork barrel projects are added in the middle of the night when nobody knows what's in there and you and I are paying the bills.

"This year alone there were 19 individual attempts to strike wasteful pork barrel spending from the budget and my opponent voted against all 19," he said.

West said Nussle voted the same way.

"You don't have to take our word for it, look at what the Republicans are saying," West said of Lamberti's speech.

Many Republicans know the Federal Budget is a mess. They see the handouts given out to the wealthy while social programs like Pell Grants, child-care assistance, and food stamps get cut.
As Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Nussle has a lot to do with that mess.

You could give Nussle the benefit of the doubt and say that he didn't cause the huge deficit, but it is very clear that in his leadership Nussle didn't do much to prevent the huge deficit. Do we want a leader who just sits back and watches problems get out of control while cutting programs that help the less fortanate or do we want a leader that sees the problems early on and tackles them before they get out of control?

Nussle has a proven record of sitting idle. We can't afford that here in Iowa, especially since every Iowan owes over $28,000 on the Federal Deficit.

Nussle scams teachers, children, and our future with NCLB

The Culver campaign released this press release yesterday that pretty much outlines one of the things wrong with NCLB. Despite the unrealistic goals and massive paperwork, it is drastically underfunded. Nussle has played a big part in the underfunding of our children's future.

“Culver accused Nussle of voting for the No Child Left Behind Act
and then refusing to fund it adequately.
Nussle’s campaign denied those claims.
‘I’d say the Culver camp is playing fast and loose with facts,’
said Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the Nussle campaign.”
[Omaha World Herald, 8/4/06, emphasis added

FACT: Congressman Jim Nussle Voted for No Child Left Behind. [House Vote #497, 12/13/01]

FACT: Congressman Jim Nussle Voted Against Increased NCLB Funding in 2003. Jim Nussle voted against an amendment to increase funding for No Child Left Behind. [House Budget Committee Vote, 3/12/03]

FACT: Congressman Jim Nussle Voted Against Increased NCLB Funding in 2005. Jim Nussle voted against an amendment stating the sense of the Congress that No Child Left Behind should receive full funding. [House Budget Committee Vote, 3/12/03]

FACT: Congressman Jim Nussle Voted to Cut NCLB Funding by $806 Million. Jim Nussle voted for an education budget that cut $806 million from the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative, a more than 3 percent drop. [House Vote #321, 6/24/05]

FACT: Congressman Jim Nussle Voted to Cut NCLB Funding by $784 Million. Jim Nussle voted twice for the 2006 Education Appropriations conference report that included a $784 million cut from No Child Left Behind programs. [House Vote #598, 11/17/05; House Vote #628, 12/14/05]

FACT: “STATES AND DISTRICTS LACK BOTH THE FUNDING AND THE STAFF CAPACITY TO CARRY OUT ALL OF THE DEMANDS OF NCLB.” – Center for Education Policy. The nonpartisan Center for Education Policy issued a study in March 2006, stating: “States and districts lack both the funding and the staff capacity to carry out all of the demands of NCLB, according to our surveys. Some 80% of school districts said they had costs for NCLB that were not covered by federal funds. Thirty-three states reported that federal funds have been inadequate to assist all schools identified for improvement, and less than half of school districts said they have enough money to assist identified schools at least somewhat… The President and the Congress must provide adequate funding for the Act. Both the President and the Congress moved in exactly in the wrong direction last year by approving a cut in federal education spending.” [Center on Education Policy; From the Capital to the Classroom: Year 4 of the No Child Left Behind Act Summary, March 2006, emphasis added]

WHO’S Playing Fast and Loose With the Facts?

**Update**

Ames Wire has asked a few questions about this post and since he doesn't allow comments on his blog, I thought this would be the best place to discuss those.

1. Why limit the focus of screwing to only one politician? What's the motive?
This one is easy. Nussle is the only candidate running against Chet Culver. If Nussle was running against Harkin, Boswell, Grassley, or any other Iowa politician then it would be an entire different story.
2. Leonard Boswell
I am not a huge fan of Boswell. I am pretty sure that I haven't even written about him on this blog and just posted the link to his campaign on this site this week.
3. Then there is this quote:

"But the restriction that NCLB is bad only if it is underfunded is not Common Iowan's point of view. Re-read his post:

Despite the unrealistic goals and massive paperwork...

The bill itself was unrealistic and overly bureaucratic, with or without the funding issue. And yet, all of our politicians voted for it.

If it is agreed that NCLB is bloated and unrealistic, a rational solution is to eliminate it, not to score partisan political points."

The goals of NCLB are admirable, but they fail to look at the statistical realities that walk through the school door everyday. Because of the politicians of both parties, the act is underfunded, so these unrealistic expectations will not even be close to being realized. The act is doomed to fail everytime they vote to underfund it. By not funding it, NCLB has been left behind by the politicians who voted for it.

When it is all said and done, we won't know if NCLB failed because of the unrealistic expections and overly bureaucratic management or lack of funds. At this point, I would say most teachers would say that eliminating it is the only way to go.

Nussle and Flow Nails It

Nussle and Flow put out a great post today about Nussle and NCLB Watch List. Make sure you read it.

James and the Giant Deficit

Just wanted to remind people about this site that outlines Nussle's lack of fiscal sanity. So go check out James and the Giant Deficit and tell your friends about it too.

Thoughts on the Primary

This is actually the 3rd time I am writing this because Blogspot has been down today. Hopefully it works this time.

From my posting the past couple weeks, it wasn't hard to tell that I was voting for Ed Fallon. I have been volunteering in Marshall County for the campaign. I helped organize a group of volunteers and we knocked on over 700 doors the past 3 weeks. This was the first time I had done something of this sort. I learned a great deal and met a lot of people. We were disappointed with the results in Marshall County, as Culver got just over 50%, Blouin 28%, and Fallon 21%. The UAW support really helped Culver here.

Chris at Political Forecast wrote about Fallon winning Polk County and about their grassroots organization.

...Fallon’s winning of the county (Polk) show just how critical a grassroots strategy that focuses on volunteerism and activism, particularly with regards to some of Fallon’s key issues, can change the tide in a district one would expect establishment candidates like Blouin or Culver to win.

Another county where the grassroots strategy was out in full force was Story County. Fallon won Story County with 44% of the vote with Blouin getting 28% and Culver 26%. Merlin, Marcia, Gavin, Susie, David, and a host of others did a great job on the ground in Ames.

Besides Polk and Story, Fallon won Adair, Decatur, Jefferson, Poweshiek, and Winneshiek counties. He got 2nd in 17 other counties. The farther away you get from Des Moines, the support went down, especially in the larger Eastern Iowa counties. He got a strong 2nd in Johnson County, but that was one county that many thought he should win. Here is the analysis from a volunteer for Fallon in Iowa City...

The "take away" I get tonight from looking at the early numbers from the Sec of State site is that Linn County, Scott, Dubuque and the smaller, more rural counties killed us. Ed was generally competitive, but in smaller, rural, and eastern-most counties, we were hammered.

State 29 writes about a piece from Todd Dorman that pretty much nails the primary and the Culver/Nussle matchup. Here is what Dorman wrote about Fallon:

Ed Fallon – Not bad for a guy who ran his campaign out of a minivan. Fallon struck a nerve when he talked about Iowans being sick and tired of politicians bought and paid for by special interests. Culver needs to bring Fallon’s disaffected supporters into the fold if he wants to win.

Another thing Culver needs to do is build upon Fallon's grassroots support. To beat Nussle, Democrats need to do more than just vote...they need to hit the pavement and knock on doors. Nussle will have money coming out of his ears. We won't outspend them, so we will need to out work them.

I want to finish by congratulating Culver on the victory. Even though I voted for Fallon, I didn't see anything that really turned me off on Culver (I just liked Fallon better). After a couple weeks of rest I will be ready to get behind Culver. With the thought of Nussle as Governor, I am pretty sure that other Fallon (and Blouin) supporters will feel the same.

I am off to read Marley and Me.

Governor Candidates Fundraising Reports

The fundraising numbers from the Governor's Race were released this week. Chris at Political Forecast does a nice job looking into the here. Over at John Deeth Blog, he has a great post about what the money and TV ads mean during a primary election.

Whomever the Democratic candidate is, they will not have as much money as Nussle. Luckily, I have never seen a check for $5,000 walk out of a voting booth.