Good news first. Congressman Latham and Congressman King should be commended, not only did they win reelection they won convincingly. We expected this from King, but Time magazine called the 4th District race one of the top 12 house races in the county to watch. I guess they got that wrong. Krusty Kudos to both campaigns.
The rest just flat out sucked. McCain was a disaster, Reed, Hartsuch, Miller-Meeks, and Schmett all got a whooping. Christopher Rants still has not had an election where he has picked up seats; House Republicans return with 44 seats in January. And the Republicans in the Iowa Senate out preformed and lost only one seat.
There is no need to try and write about all that ails the Republican Party in Iowa in one post, there is plenty of time to do that in the months ahead. We have a lot of work to do if we want conservative leadership in Iowa.
As for my predictions I have a little crow to eat today. I’m still surprised that our congressional candidates were only able to garner 40% of the vote. It clearly shows the erosion of the Republican base in Iowa. For me the biggest surprise of the night was how poorly both female candidates in Iowa did. Greenwald and Miller-Meeks garnered 39%. And while I’ll eat crow on my Miller-Meeks prediction. Last night’s results confirm that she was the strongest female candidate in Iowa.
Becky Greenwald had a voter registration advantage in her district, while Miller-Meeks had a huge deficit in voter registration in hers, yet Miller-Meeks was able to garner the same percentage of the vote. It’s also interesting to note that congressional challengers were only able to win 8 counties last night. King, Latham, and Braley won every county in their districts, Kim Schmett won one county in the 3rd vs Boswell, and Miller-Meeks won 7 of the 15 counties in the 2nd, but failed to win in the larger counties.
Miller-Meeks showed promise and I still believe she was our best candidates out there; unfortunately the 2nd District looks to have been impossible for any Republican to win this cycle. It will be a shame if we don’t see Miller-Meeks on the ballot again. Personally I think she would be an outstanding Lt. Governor candidate who would bring tremendous assets to any campaign, especially with health care issues. I don’t mean to insinuate that Miller-Meeks can’t win a campaign of her own, it’s just that the 2nd district as it currently is difficult for any republican to win, and I don’t think she’s well enough known yet to run for statewide office.
On a more philosophical note, many people are now saying that it took a Carter to make Reagan possible. I hope that’s the case, but I’m sure Democrats are saying today it took a Bush to make Obama possible. I believe that Obama has huge expectations to live up to, we need to hold him to these high standards.
One final thought. I could not help but see the symbolic nature of what happened last night from the city of Phoenix. Our party nationally and locally grew tired and lost. We no longer has a soul… we became The Government. There are many disgusted people, but remember the phoenix. A phoenix is a mythical bird with a long life, and near the end the phoenix builds itself a nest and then ignites it. Both nest and bird burn and are reduced to ashes. From these ashes a new, young phoenix arises, reborn anew to live again.
Out of the city of Phoenix, our Party has been reborn.
Latham/Miller-Meeks '10 for Governor
ReplyDeleteBefore we start talking governor, perhaps we need to start talking about a freakin message.
ReplyDeleteChris Rants has now taken us from the majority to an increasingly shrinking minority under his "leadership".
Republicans need a major overhaul in this state we can't continue to use the same tired things over and over again.
ReplyDeleteGreat analogy, Krusty. It is time for the Republican Party to be reborn. Both in Iowa and nationally. Time to go back to our roots and remember what it is this party stands for, because we seem to have forgotten over the last few years.
ReplyDeleteamen on the Christopher Rants comment
ReplyDeleteif he's reappointed as minority leader we deserve to keep losing in the house
By the numbers -- Latham holds the #1 and #2 slots in Iowa's history for votes received in a contested Congressional race. #1 was this year -- the year of the Obama - where he got 184,537 votes.
ReplyDeleteThis now bumps Latham's (and Iowa's) previous record in 2004 of 181,294 votes to #2 all time.
Think about that -- accomplishing this record in a district where Latham faced a party registration deficit of almost 12,000 -- that is an amazing accomplishment -- and one for a candidate that has the support and trust from voters that cuts across all party lines.
Tom Latham, steady and trusted leadership for Iowa. Matt Hinch for Governor 2010.
ReplyDeleteLeader Christopher Rants is an oxymoron (with apologies to morons). He’s time has come to an end.
ReplyDeleteThe surviving members in the House Republican Caucus need to answer this question, “Who is the next Republican leader in the House?” If your answer is Rants….God help us. Christopher, instead of running on core beliefs, you played “gotcha politics”. Hey, hats off to ya for your candidate recruitment too. Iowans want leaders not politicians! And you are a career politician. Step aside.
Jeff Kaufmann... That's who the House GOP needs to turn to start turning this thing around.
ReplyDeleteKaufmann almost singlehandedly helped to keep some of those seats down in the SE corner..most notably Jim Hahn's seat, in GOP control.
If the Dems had been able to take Hahn's and Tom Sands and Dave Heaton's seats..SE Iowa would be a massive block of blue. Instead, there is much red mixed in still.
Wow Kauffmann? You do know that Iowa is bigger than the I380 Corridor right? Jodi Tymeson is probably more qualified. Kent Sorrenson would be even better. Yeah, he’s a freshman but at least he knows how to win. He won an untargeted race in a democrat county in a democrat year against an entrenched democrat incumbent ... Bow down! This guy is the future of this party.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on that.
ReplyDeleteMatt Hinch for Governor!
Matt Hinch would be a good ED for the party. He is a proven leader.
ReplyDeleteTymeson is a fine leader..but..lets look at the map from last night..where is the majority of blue right now in the state of Iowa?
ReplyDeleteEastern, SE, and NE Iowa.
We've proven we can hold onto Steve King land out in Western Iowa no problem...
Our problem is the less rural into urban areas across these parts of the state.
It's ironic "Krusty" acknowledges the GOP has never won seats since Rants has been "leader" since many have thought "Krusty" actually was "Rants." So much for that one. Let's face it, Rants has always been about Rants. And not only will he not step down, he will step forward, driven by his own ambition, and declare his candidacy for Governor. It's symptomatic of everything that's wrong with politics and political parties, ego and ambition over achievement. Conservatives will continue to try to make a difference, but many will likely move to the ranks of "Independent." Perhaps a third party or strong Independent candidate will be in Iowa's near future.
ReplyDelete"It's symptomatic of everything that's wrong with politics and political parties, ego and ambition over achievement."
ReplyDeleteAGREED.
I see most party operatives & "leaders" doing little work and lots of "being seen & looking important." Everyone's trying to build a resume. Few seem to work hard anymore because their ego is too big. hard workers at the top attract hard workers to volunteer.
it's a bit of a stretch to call Kaufmann a I-380 corridor representative - his area only boundaries the east side of Johnson county, not I-380 at all.
ReplyDeleteKaufmann is firmly grounded and in these last sessions was probably AS responsible for the failure of the right to work passage as anyone.
A farmer, educator and a leader - I wish he was my representative.
2012 Race Begins for Republicans
ReplyDeleteFirst Read: "NBC-WSJ GOP pollster Neil Newhouse did a post-election survey last night, and here's what he found: Just 12% of those surveyed believed Palin should be the GOP's new leader; instead 29% of voters said Romney, followed by 20% who say Huckabee. Among GOPers, it was Romney 33%, Huckabee 20% and Palin 18%. Look for more from this survey later today."
Did anyone see Hinch on election night in Ames? He was poured into that suit! Purrrrrrrrr
ReplyDeleteRepublicans need to come up with benchmark positions on issues that we can use to evaluate politicians.
ReplyDeleteAbortion? Everyone should agree that it's bad public policy, and the Republican party should work to eliminate it from American life. Pro choice? Yeah, the choice was when you decided to have unprotected sex. The baby's a living, breathing consequence - not an ailment to be cured.
Immigration? Everyone should agree that America should set a policy on how many immigrants are allowed into our country, and vigorously enforce border security. If you want open borders, please don't run on the Republican ticket. There are jobs open in the HR department at Agriprocessors in Postville, maybe you should take one of those.
Fiscal policy? Money does more good for the entire economy when it stays in the pockets of those who earn it. Taxes should cover our necessary expenses, not our extravagant wish lists.
Foreign policy? America's interests supersede those of the UN. If we cared what the world thought of us, we'd be called "England", not America. If we're strong, they will respect us. I'm already married, so their "respect" is more valuable to me than their "love".
Global warming? Crap. Next question, please.
Gay marriage? Gay couples need to be able to make contracts with other people, just like any other member of society; however, marriage isn't just another word. It means something, and two members of the same sex do not make a marriage. Nobody has the right to reinvent the meaning of a word to preserve their self esteem.
(sorry about the rant, krusty. I needed to get it out somewhere, and you've got a good place to let these ideas fly.)
3M was a joke.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and Kauffman also took my rights away as a property tax payer when he was not just on the SILO bandwagon, but he was hitching up the horses. I want a Republican, not some RINO who didn't protect the tax payer.
ReplyDeleteNumber 15 of Steve Deace's 25 points going forward. I hate to say it but I agree with him.
ReplyDelete15. Let me be perfectly clear going forward about this point one more time. I will, under absolutely no circumstances, vote for Willard Mitchell Romney for president—period. Not only that, but by the grace of God I will do my best to make sure I take as many conservatives with convictions with me if that lying, flip-flopping, scam artist runs again and/or becomes the GOP nominee.
krusty,
ReplyDeletecan you make sure that both locally and nationally, the word gets out that we conservatives do not need to have people whom have lost one campaign keep running for another office, or keep running for the same thing, again? that is the one striking thing here - we keep doing the same damn stupid things with the same losers - and shocking - we shouldn't blame our president, george bush, for it. he actually won campaigns! rants, miller-meeks, gross, and all of these campaign managers who keep getting hired and losing and losing......they are all losers!
klean house, krusty!!!!
I am a registered democrat.
ReplyDeleteI voted for Latham, which I always do, because he gets money for Iowa. Trash talk earmarks all you want, but if Latham isnt getting the money, someone else will.
If he runs for Governor, I don't see him winning. I could see him running for senate if Grassley retires. Ironically he may be running against Culver either way.
But thats not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about Mike Huckabee. I was watching his show the other and he toned down the whole neo-con rhetoric and said "While I believe strongly in my conservative ideals, I also believe in having compassion for all Americans, liberal or conservative".
Sometimes we get too carried away and don't remember that we are all on the same team and that the enemy is "outside the wire".
It would be a hard choice between Obama and Huck, and also between Culver and Latham.
Kaufmann for Leader? Whatever. During this last cycle he was responsible for raising some money for the House election efforts. His answer? Whore himself around to the Presidential candidates to see who would pay the most for his worthless endorsement.
ReplyDeleteTruly a man of principle.
A hundred bucks that kaufmann now! is son Bobby.
A Kaufmann fan, this jedi is....
ReplyDeleteIf everyone is throwing out someone that they would like to see run for governor, I would like to see Paul McKinley from Senate District 36. He is the man that can carry the conservative banner for Iowa.
ReplyDeleteWho would want to lead the party or run for Governor.
ReplyDeleteSure, you'll be a favorite at first, then they will gun you down.
After 48 hours Becky Greenwald is still fat.
ReplyDeleteiowadefence, I think you're right on abou McKinley takeing on a bigger role in the future of this party. I doubt he'd run for Governor, his personality is too low-key. But he may be a good RPI Chairman.
ReplyDelete3M got what she deserved. I hope she never runs again. but if she does shell know better than to let her no experience music major son run her campaign.
ReplyDelete....horizontally corrugated barn signs... sigh....
I would like to see a younger fresher face as our leader at RPI. Or, how about a woman? Former State Rep Carmine Boal would be fantastic. She served with dignity and had a clear head. She was able to raise money and get Dems to vote for her.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteEric Johansen for RPI ED!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Johansen ... That’s exactly what we need. Judging by our success on election night, he'll be luck to keep his job. Let alone get a promotion.
ReplyDeleteI love how the day after Miller-Meeks took a dive, the Marionette love-fest on the blogs came to a screeching halt. I guess she isn’t the "future" of this party after all. We’ll how many members of the SCC consider voting to remover her now. If the motion comes up for a vote at all, I predict Lehman wins 14 to 3.
ReplyDeleteLay off Eric. He did everything he could do. It is very hard to polish a turd.
ReplyDeleteEric would be great, he did a great job with victory. he's experienced, articulate, and passionate. He or Hinch would make great ED
ReplyDeleteEric is a nice enough kid, but he's a little immature, and not ready to be ED.
ReplyDeleteThat's part of how we got ourselves into this mess, by hiring people who were too young and inexperienced (i.e. What's his name who went back to Minnesota where he came from).
Then we finally got some grown ups, and Stew didn't like having people who might question him around.
And now we're back to the immature genius as ED who was previously responsible for some of the worst mailers in Iowa political history as political director.
We need some adults with some decent judgment, please!
Seriously, RPI would be wise to seek out Matt Hinch for the ED position.
ReplyDeleteWho in the hell is Matt Hinch?
ReplyDeleteGet serious people.
Eric who?
ReplyDeleteLet me guess Eric and Matt are promoting themselves on this blog and nobody even knows who they are.
Perhaps ED of the blogosphere?