Posted November 20, 2013in Political Mercury
A who’s-who list of Iowa business leaders joined military and state officials at Camp Dodge in Johnston last Tuesday for the unveiling of Gov. Terry Branstad’s Home Base Iowa, a far-reaching effort aimed at providing jobs in the state for returning veterans. “Through their service, veterans have already proven they
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Posted November 13, 2013in Political Mercury
After the success of D-Day, a reporter asked Ida Eisenhower, mother of the commander of the Allied invasion of Europe, if she was proud of her son. “Which one?” replied Ida Eisenhower, who had seven sons — including President Dwight D. Eisenhower. That Midwestern humility forms the foundation, both in
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Posted November 06, 2013in Political Mercury
One in six Americans is Latino. The ethnic group is the fastest-growing in the nation. More than half of all babies born in the United States are minorities — and the average age of a Latino is 27.6. According to 2012 U.S. Census figures, Latinos are now the largest minority
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Posted October 30, 2013in Political Mercury
Kentucky’s Rand Paul based an extraordinarily effective Cedar Rapids speech on its contents. His colleague in the Senate who compiles it annually served as a key source in a “60 Minutes” segment on outrageous fraud in government disability programs. We are talking about U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn’s “Wastebook 2012,” the
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Posted October 23, 2013in Political Mercury
They are ever-present bit players on the modern political stage, ragamuffins with recorders at rallies and town halls. Political trackers. Republican and Democrats hire them to trail opposing candidates and sitting congressman in much the same way most of us play the lottery. You’ll probably toss the ticket (erase the
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Posted October 16, 2013in Political Mercury
Former State Rep. Rod Roberts of Carroll says he plans to make a decision within weeks on a possible bid for the U.S. Senate. “Yes, I’m still seriously considering running,” Roberts, a Republican, said in an interview late last week. Roberts, who lost a GOP gubernatorial primary in 2010 to
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Posted October 09, 2013in Political Mercury
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin’s days in the great American food-stamp fight go back to the 1970s, his first years in Congress representing Iowa. “I remember going through all these things about, ‘Oh, people are gonna cheat, people are gonna cheat, people are gonna cheat,’” said Harkin, a Democrat. “And at
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Posted October 02, 2013in Political Mercury
He’s not King Corn around these parts for nothing. Gov. Terry Branstad knows the strings to pull — where, and just how hard. Eschewing the advice of GOP consultants near and far, and enjoying something of a death grip on Terrace Hill, the Great Mustachioed One cannot resist star-making impulses.
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Posted September 25, 2013in Political Mercury
A veteran Chicago congressman shaping the raging immigration debate says he has a powerful accidental ally in U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. “Every time he opens his mouth, he helps the pro-immigrant movement in this nation,” U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, an 11-term Democrat, said in an interview in his Washington,
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Posted September 18, 2013in Political Mercury
A western Iowa Republican Party fall fundraiser weaved the local and international in a power-punch case for a conservative reshaping of U.S. government at all levels. In a two-hour session last week at Santa Maria Winery in Carroll, headlined by WHO Radio talk-show host Simon Conway, a London-born American, an
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