Iowans at the RNC, state flood response, and a Rob Sand town hall
July 15 "Capitol Week" is online
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On to the program. The audio from our latest show is at the top of this message, or you can find it on podcast platforms and smart speakers as “KHOI’s Capitol Week.” Our full archive (going back to February 2021) is available on KHOI’s website.
When I started putting together the format for this week’s show, we appeared to be in a slow news period before the Republican National Convention. Wrong!
Here’s what Spencer Dirks and I discussed:
Of course we began with Iowa reaction to the assassination attempt at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania on Saturday. We didn’t have time to read through all of the official statements, but I compiled them at Bleeding Heartland;
Unlike Trump’s VP pick J.D. Vance, I didn’t hear any prominent Iowa Republicans blame President Joe Biden for the horrifying events. But Senator Joni Ernst took the low road by bashing Biden for supposedly being “silent” about the attempt on Trump’s life. She didn’t acknowledge later that Biden did release a written statement (less than two hours after the shooting) and addressed the country Saturday evening and twice on Sunday;
I was struck by how many political figures immediately praised law enforcement, despite the obvious security lapses that made this attack possible. Why didn’t the Secret Service have an agent on that roof? Why wasn’t Trump pulled from the stage immediately after bystanders warned local law enforcement they saw a man with a rifle? Senator Chuck Grassley and Representative Ashley Hinson did say Americans need answers on the security failures;
The Republican National Convention began on schedule on July 15, and Iowa GOP state chair Jeff Kaufmann gave the nominating speech for Trump (you can watch it on C-SPAN). It was a typical high-energy performance by Kaufmann. He hailed the GOP as a “grassroots party” and a “party of the people, not the party of the bosses”;
Why was Kaufmann picked for this honor? Although he didn’t officially endorse a candidate before the Iowa caucuses, his sympathy for the former president was obvious. He’s also been going around the state this spring telling Republican activists to fall in line behind the nominee, even if they don’t personally like Trump;
Iowa also kicked off the roll call of delegates. Based on the Iowa caucus results, Trump should have received 20 of the state’s 40 delegates. But Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy all released their delegates before the convention;
I thought it was bizarre for Kaufmann to describe Iowa as “the inspiring home of Caitlin Clark” during the roll call. The star basketball player has steered clear of politics, and politicians shouldn’t drag her into a divisive presidential campaign;
We didn’t have time to mention all the RNC delegates (the Des Moines Register published the full list), but here are a few notable names: Governor Kim Reynolds, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker, Iowa Board of Regents member David Barker, and six state legislators including State Senator Brad Zaun (the first Iowa lawmaker to endorse Trump in 2015);
Bird has a speaking slot for Tuesday and was briefly on stage late Monday to mention that Trump had selected Vance;
Two of Iowa’s RNC delegates, Tamara Scott and Brad Sherman, dissented from the party platform language about abortion. I explained what changed and their objections in more depth at Bleeding Heartland. While some view the platform rewrite as kabuki theater rather than a real shift on abortion policy, many social conservatives are upset;
Moving to the Democratic side of the presidential campaign, I was surprised last Thursday when Congressional candidates Christina Bohannan (IA-01) and Sarah Corkery (IA-02) called on Joe Biden to step aside as the nominee. Bohannan didn’t clarify who should be at the top of the Democratic ticket, while Corkery endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. I wrote more about this development (and other recent Democratic comments about Biden) at Bleeding Heartland;
Governor Reynolds held an unusually long press conference last Thursday to highlight her administration’s response to recent flooding across Northwest Iowa, as well as tornadoes earlier in the spring. New housing initiatives were the main focus of her remarks, and you can read more about those in coverage by the Des Moines Register and Cedar Rapids Gazette;
At least eight members of Reynolds’ cabinet spoke at the press conference, and I summarized what else is happening on the disaster recovery front, aside from the housing piece that dominated the news coverage;
Last Tuesday I drove to Osceola for one of State Auditor Rob Sand’s town hall meetings. He’s been doing these public events in every county for years, and I wanted to give listeners a sense of what he talks about on the road. I would guess that these town halls (which often receive local media coverage) are one reason Sand’s approval rating is higher than that of Reynolds or Bird, according to the last two Iowa Polls by Selzer & Co for the Des Moines Register and Mediacom (see here and here).
Thanks for reading or listening! Feel free to weigh in on any of these topics in the comments section.
Longtime Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu is now part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. You can find her work at Rekha shouts and whispers. Our Sunday morning roundup links to recent posts by all of our columnists. You can sign up here, for free.
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Re Rob Sand's town hall events - I attended his July 9th appearance in Guthrie Center. It was the last of five hourly stops for the day. He has really honed his messaging and was never flatfooted. He made it plain that he would not discuss partisan politics and delivered on that when he didn't take the bait from an obvious Republican plant who was filming him.
Where do SS get & for a Rolex?