Tag: Iowa

A Peter Waldron Sighting in Iowa: Spreading the Gospel of Michele Bachmann

Peter Waldron, the man who helped Michele Bachmann take the Iowa caucus vote in August, is back in Iowa organizing pastors. According to the New York Times yesterday, Waldron was deploying his faith based strategies:

One Bachmann aide, Peter Waldron, gathered 16 evangelical pastors in Des Moines last week to discuss strategy. “These are our caucus-builders,” Mr. Waldron said. “We have a very deliberate plan. It’s been thought-out, prayed over.”

The plan probably looks something like the one he implemented for Gary Bauer in 2000, and described here. Waldron might be informing pastors in Iowa that Bachmann is like King David and Rick Perry like King Saul as he said in August, just after the straw poll victory. Churches are prime source of campaign energy in the plan, turning them into political organizing stations, where they spread the gospel of their favorite candidate.

Donald Trump for President?

March Madness is here.

And I don’t mean NCAA basketball.

GOP suits are in Iowa testing the waters for a run at the nomination. The most entertaining aspect has to be the potential for Donald Trump to enter the fray. Although Trump was not there, he sent a water tester along to find out what Iowa is.

Michael Cohen, executive vice president and special counsel to Trump’s company, met with Iowa Republicans.

“We do understand that Iowa is the first stop if anyone is interested in the presidential election. Certainly … we are very anxious to learn about Iowa and be able to report back to Mr. Trump when he hopefully decides to run in June,” Cohen said.

Always good to do due diligence prior to a big purchase.

If Trump gets the nomination, I think he should choose his VP like he runs his reality show The Apprentice; call it Vice-President Apprentice. Put Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrinch on a team and Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman and Mike Huckabee on another team. Trump could fire someone after each challenge and end up with his Veep. Watching the board room antics would be must see TV.

Iowa Supreme Court rules same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional

Same-sex marriage in the heart land.
Note the attorney quoted at the end of the article: Richard Socarides. Charles Socarides son. English majors, help me, is that irony?
It seems even clearer to me that this issue will eventually come before the Supreme Court. Can the nation long sustain a patchwork quilt of laws regulating marriage?
Here is the ruling summarized with a link to the full court documents.