The Iowa Republican is running an article about the frustrations Iowans are feeling with Chuck Grassley and talking about mounting a primary fight against him for the 2010 election cycle. Not only has Grassley been the most popular politician in Iowa for the last 14 years but the Iowan Republican Party would do well to not worry about the candidates that are in office, but rather focus on the races Republicans can win.

Any attempt to take on Grassley will fail and should fail. He may not cast all the votes or support all of the things I care about, but I am more worried about Chet and the gang being removed from office rather than Grassley’s couple votes. If there is a candidate strong enough to challenge him, then bring him on against Harkin.

Article

On today’s Iowa Press, Iowa House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy was asked about the recent fit defeat of the Prevailing Wage bill in the Iowa House. Mr. McCarthy’s answer surprised me because it sounded to me like he was talking down to Iowans.

“Again, there’s still a possibility that we could pass that or other pieces of leigslation. Iowa, I think, is pretty slow to change. You know, we have the vast majority of this country moving in favor of smoke-free places. We passed our bill in Iowa and the response here has been a lot more controversial than I would have guessed. I think we’re slow to change.

“Unions in Iowa are not a huge presence in Iowa in terms of the work force. About 11 percent of the work force is unionized and I think we’re slow to change.

Slow to change….wonder what that is code for? Maybe he means it as Iowans are stuck in the past, non-enlightened, stubborn, or a bunch of hick farmers who don’t really ‘understand’ big city politics. After all, he goes on to point out that Des Moines, the apparent Iowa seat of all wisdom, supports the bill and that it will just take awhile to bring the hicks people to their way of thinking.

Our City of Des Moines was not registered against the bill and so I think the bill that we have is a pretty well-crafted, reasonable bill, but it takes a while to get people there and that’s the discussion we’re going to continue to have over the next few weeks.

Mr. McCarthy, you are wrong. The reason the Prevailing Wage bill did not pass are very simple; it is a bad bill. Iowans can read liberal union money grab when they see it. As you so aptly put it:

… and if you start moving too far in one direction or the other, I think Iowans — there’s a natural tension there that you’ve got to work through and I think that’s why you’ve got to convince people.

Iowans will not be convinced or tricked into believing this bill is anything but what it is. Iowans won’t support it because it is too far to the left. And with only 11% of the work force in labor unions, maybe you should consider working for the 89% of Iowans who aren’t.

Watch the show and read the transcript