This will be our last episode before our Summer hiatus. We are hoping to be back with new episodes in the Fall, but we do need more financial support to defray the costs of production. If you are able, please consider a donation or paid subscription. We really enjoy doing the show, and believe that many of you find it valuable.
On to the show! Christina Bohannon has officially declared her candidacy for the 1st congressional district in southeast Iowa. Will the third time be the charm? It certainly was for Mariannette Miller-Meeks. That leads in to a discussion of Joni Ernst, Randy Feenstra, and MMM trying to tie their wagon to the MAGA/Trump Republicans but they also have a fairly tepid past with Trump; Laura Belin wrote a deep dive at Bleeding Heartland concerning Democrats’ statewide chances in the 2026 cycle, and we discuss the apparent uphill battle for the dems. We also discuss how the trends in Iowa mirror what’s been going on in other states since about 2014; Our central Iowa viewers will be familiar with our last topic. High nitrate levels in Des Moines and Raccoon rivers prompted Central Iowa Water Works' first-ever lawn watering ban. Kathie and her team at Iowa Capital Dispatch have been all over this story so she gives us the details on how nitrates in water can impact our health. We appreciate you guys, and hope to see you again soon. Have a nice summer and stay cool this weekend.
AI generated transcript:
Dave Price (00:00:01):
Hi,
Dave Price (00:00:01):
everyone,
Dave Price (00:00:01):
and welcome back to the Iowa Down Ballot podcast,
Dave Price (00:00:04):
a production of the Iowa Writer's Collaborative.
Dave Price (00:00:07):
I'm Dave Price,
Dave Price (00:00:07):
joined,
Dave Price (00:00:09):
as always,
Dave Price (00:00:09):
almost always,
Dave Price (00:00:11):
Kathie Obradovich and Laura Belin,
Dave Price (00:00:13):
and happy Friday to you both as we talk on a Friday afternoon.
Dave Price (00:00:16):
It is 150,000 degrees outside, and it'll be that way all weekend long.
Kathie Obradovich (00:00:24):
They say it's not the heat, it's the humidity, right?
Dave Price (00:00:27):
uh apparently so man we had the des moines area we had a pretty good storm early
Dave Price (00:00:32):
this morning my poor doggie got all freaked out as she does in the storms and came
Dave Price (00:00:36):
up to the bed and that's when i knew things were about to get ugly outside
Dave Price (00:00:44):
All right, let's talk about a few things.
Dave Price (00:00:46):
I think maybe possibly on here somewhere several weeks back,
Dave Price (00:00:52):
we may have said Christina Bohannon's name.
Dave Price (00:00:56):
It has been a long kept secret that not so good secret,
Dave Price (00:01:01):
I suppose,
Dave Price (00:01:02):
that she was going to run again in Iowa's first congressional district.
Dave Price (00:01:07):
As she told me when we were talking earlier this week,
Dave Price (00:01:09):
she claims that third time will be a charm here.
Dave Price (00:01:13):
um it is an interesting way to I saw the National Republican campaign uh committee
Dave Price (00:01:19):
had uh said something about Iowans have already rejected her or something like
Dave Price (00:01:23):
which is true that's that's true she lost both times but it might not be the right
Dave Price (00:01:27):
way to come after her when Marianne Miller Meeks lost three times before she won a
Dave Price (00:01:32):
fourth time so this is like the race of persistence if these two become our
Dave Price (00:01:36):
nominees right
Kathie Obradovich (00:01:39):
Yeah, yes, absolutely.
Kathie Obradovich (00:01:40):
I mean, so Christina Bohannon has come very, very close to knocking off Marianette Miller Meeks.
Kathie Obradovich (00:01:51):
We had the last...
Kathie Obradovich (00:01:55):
election i think the difference ended up being something like 800 votes 599 i think
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:02):
right right yeah 799 799 okay yeah so that you know percentage wise is is pretty
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:08):
small um the legislature you say it sort of prompted the legislature to actually
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:13):
come back and change the recount rules um because that that um race did go to a
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:20):
recount
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:21):
um and you know obviously did not change the results um but you know you look at it
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:27):
you know if you look at the fact that that was a presidential year um that was
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:32):
frankly punishing for democrats and i know we're going to get into that a little
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:37):
bit later with laura but um but you know the fact that she could come so close in a
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:42):
presidential year and now the the midterms
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:46):
which, you know, typically would be better for the party not in power.
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:49):
So,
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:49):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:51):
I don't,
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:53):
I'm not necessarily going to discount her chances as certainly being better than
Kathie Obradovich (00:02:59):
they were two years ago.
Kathie Obradovich (00:03:01):
But I also didn't hear a lot from her in her announcement about what she might be
Kathie Obradovich (00:03:08):
planning to do differently.
Kathie Obradovich (00:03:10):
So I would be interested in hearing more about that.
Laura Belin (00:03:13):
I did.
Laura Belin (00:03:13):
I asked her a little bit about that.
Laura Belin (00:03:15):
She thinks that this whatever you want to call it,
Laura Belin (00:03:18):
I think she was calling it the big,
Laura Belin (00:03:19):
bad bill,
Laura Belin (00:03:19):
the big,
Laura Belin (00:03:20):
beautiful bill.
Laura Belin (00:03:21):
And that is going to be a central issue for her in the midterm elections.
Laura Belin (00:03:25):
But I want to put this in context of how badly Marianne Miller Meeks underperformed
Laura Belin (00:03:30):
in that district.
Laura Belin (00:03:31):
That's a district that Donald Trump carried by about eight and a half points that
Laura Belin (00:03:36):
Miller Meeks won by 0.2%.
Laura Belin (00:03:38):
So she was one of the absolute worst performing Republican incumbents in the
Laura Belin (00:03:43):
country relative to how Donald Trump did in the district.
Laura Belin (00:03:47):
And I think that's why Democrats are targeting that first district again,
Laura Belin (00:03:51):
because even though there has been so much slippage in Democratic performance,
Laura Belin (00:03:55):
I mean,
Laura Belin (00:03:55):
you just have to say that Christina Bohannon is in this for a real chance.
Dave Price (00:04:00):
And we're assuming Marianne Miller-Meeks is going to run again.
Dave Price (00:04:03):
I do not believe she has said that yet.
Dave Price (00:04:06):
We do know that if she does run,
Dave Price (00:04:08):
she has a Republican challenger,
Dave Price (00:04:09):
David Pouch,
Dave Price (00:04:11):
who made a race of it last time around,
Dave Price (00:04:13):
right?
Dave Price (00:04:13):
I think it was 55-45.
Laura Belin (00:04:16):
It was 56-44.
Laura Belin (00:04:17):
And he raised almost no money, less than $40,000.
Laura Belin (00:04:20):
And she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Laura Belin (00:04:22):
And then outside groups were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Laura Belin (00:04:26):
I think the American Action Network is already, that's a conservative...
Laura Belin (00:04:29):
group.
Laura Belin (00:04:30):
I think they're already up with some ads for her.
Laura Belin (00:04:32):
I don't know if they're digital or broadcast, but she's going to need a lot of help.
Laura Belin (00:04:36):
She could lose the primary.
Laura Belin (00:04:37):
That's realistic.
Dave Price (00:04:39):
I'm going to make a very TV-like generic blank statement,
Dave Price (00:04:44):
blanket statement,
Dave Price (00:04:44):
as we TV people do when we try to make a point in 10 seconds.
Dave Price (00:04:48):
But do you all agree with me on this,
Dave Price (00:04:51):
that Marionette Miller-Meeks,
Dave Price (00:04:54):
to me,
Dave Price (00:04:55):
has something in common kind of with Joni Ernst and Randy Feenstra?
Dave Price (00:04:59):
they're not like a super perfect mega match necessarily and they have to kind of
Dave Price (00:05:08):
work for it right like randy feenstra who is running for governor but not quite
Dave Price (00:05:14):
running for governor and it's all this semantics thing he's got this exploratory
Dave Price (00:05:18):
committee but man his stuff is so trump trump trump trump trump trump trump trump
Dave Price (00:05:24):
and i'm going to support trump and all of this stuff and as we well know before the
Dave Price (00:05:28):
last caucus cycle he was planning on endorsing somebody that somebody was
Dave Price (00:05:36):
supposedly not donald trump then he changed and he didn't endorse so that whatever
Dave Price (00:05:42):
that
Dave Price (00:05:44):
environment thing was happened and marionette miller meeks had we just talked about
Dave Price (00:05:49):
she had to deal with her republican primary joanie ernst also did not endorse trump
Dave Price (00:05:54):
and seemed more aligned with nikki haley although she never never endorsed her and
Dave Price (00:05:58):
now she's trying to figure out with elon and hegseth and dc and all this stuff and
Dave Price (00:06:04):
is she running not running and whatever it just feels like the three of them like
Dave Price (00:06:09):
there's something not quite hand in glove what do you think
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:14):
I totally agree.
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:15):
And we've seen that more,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:18):
I think,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:19):
with Joni Ernst recently,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:21):
especially with the qualms that she showed early on with Hegseth and how very vocal
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:31):
the MAGA right was in threatening her into essentially saying she was going to vote
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:37):
for him and then voting for him.
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:41):
And Randy Feinster,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:42):
I mean,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:43):
come on,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:43):
he's he's in Congress today because he beat Steve King,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:49):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:50):
who,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:51):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:51):
frankly,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:52):
was MAGA before there was MAGA.
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:54):
I mean,
Kathie Obradovich (00:06:54):
he was he if Steve King had been in Congress today under Donald Trump,
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:00):
there's no way that Randy Feinster would have beat him.
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:04):
You know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:05):
because,
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:05):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:07):
his alignment and the things that he really got in trouble with mainstream
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:13):
Republicans for saying are now sort of,
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:17):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:18):
they seem very middle of the road compared to some of the things that we hear from
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:24):
Donald Trump and others.
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:27):
So, so I, so France definitely, I would say not,
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:32):
Not a MAGA Republican.
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:35):
And Marianne Miller Meeks,
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:36):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:36):
I think she she tries,
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:38):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:39):
but and we never we never really see her overtly or otherwise bucking Donald Trump
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:46):
or voting against the Republican majority.
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:49):
You know, her her rhetoric, however, is not flamethrowing for the most part.
Kathie Obradovich (00:07:56):
And with her, you just sort of feel that her heart's not in it.
Kathie Obradovich (00:08:02):
She's saying the things that she thinks she needs to say and she votes the way she
Kathie Obradovich (00:08:05):
thinks she needs to vote.
Kathie Obradovich (00:08:07):
And I don't see that changing,
Kathie Obradovich (00:08:09):
but you don't really necessarily feel like that's where she's coming from
Kathie Obradovich (00:08:13):
generally.
Laura Belin (00:08:15):
I mean, their voting records are all pretty down the line Republican.
Laura Belin (00:08:19):
I will say that early in her first term,
Laura Belin (00:08:21):
Marianette Miller-Meeks did vote for the bipartisan January 6th commission bill,
Laura Belin (00:08:27):
the one that the House approved,
Laura Belin (00:08:28):
but then it didn't pass the filibuster in the Senate.
Laura Belin (00:08:32):
And I mentioned that because Donald Trump in 2022,
Laura Belin (00:08:37):
Miller-Meeks was the only Republican incumbent in Iowa he didn't endorse in 2022.
Laura Belin (00:08:41):
And so
Laura Belin (00:08:42):
I feel like what she took away from that election and then especially this most
Laura Belin (00:08:46):
recent election is that she just has to try to get as close to Trump as possible to
Laura Belin (00:08:51):
fend off this Republican challenger.
Laura Belin (00:08:53):
And it doesn't come across as authentic.
Laura Belin (00:08:55):
I mean, I wrote a post about this in March after Trump delivered his
Laura Belin (00:08:59):
State of the Union,
Laura Belin (00:09:00):
which they weren't calling the State of the Union,
Laura Belin (00:09:02):
whatever they call that,
Laura Belin (00:09:03):
has addressed to the joint session of Congress.
Laura Belin (00:09:05):
And it was kind of sad looking.
Laura Belin (00:09:06):
She was jockeying for position and trying to get really close to him after the speech.
Laura Belin (00:09:11):
And she tried to say something to him that he didn't really acknowledge.
Laura Belin (00:09:14):
And then later
Laura Belin (00:09:15):
She posted all over her social media.
Laura Belin (00:09:17):
It was my honor to personally greet Donald Trump after the thing.
Laura Belin (00:09:21):
I mean, it's just kind of sad looking.
Laura Belin (00:09:23):
And I think that's what David Pouch,
Laura Belin (00:09:25):
when I interviewed him in February,
Laura Belin (00:09:26):
that's what he said that,
Laura Belin (00:09:27):
you know,
Laura Belin (00:09:27):
she pretends to be MAGA,
Laura Belin (00:09:30):
but really she's just a rhino.
Dave Price (00:09:33):
This is just as an aside with Joni Ernst.
Dave Price (00:09:36):
With what she went through early this year, doesn't it show...
Dave Price (00:09:40):
the difference in today's politics in that she is the United States Senator didn't
Dave Price (00:09:47):
come out and say,
Dave Price (00:09:49):
Pete Hegseth is the devil.
Dave Price (00:09:51):
He's a sleaze bag.
Dave Price (00:09:52):
He's,
Dave Price (00:09:53):
she said nothing other than she wanted the process of him being vetted,
Dave Price (00:10:00):
which is that not the job of a United States Senator in that process.
Dave Price (00:10:05):
That's what I think blew me away with the
Dave Price (00:10:10):
the sheer force and anger and everything that came after her when she didn't say
Dave Price (00:10:17):
no,
Dave Price (00:10:18):
she just said,
Dave Price (00:10:19):
not yet.
Dave Price (00:10:21):
I want to do the, I want to do the workforce first.
Dave Price (00:10:24):
Like, isn't that what her job is to do that?
Kathie Obradovich (00:10:27):
Yeah, it is.
Dave Price (00:10:28):
But,
Dave Price (00:10:28):
and,
Kathie Obradovich (00:10:29):
but the,
Kathie Obradovich (00:10:30):
in this environment,
Kathie Obradovich (00:10:32):
saying that you have,
Kathie Obradovich (00:10:34):
you might have some questions that might want to be answered is almost the same
Kathie Obradovich (00:10:38):
thing as saying,
Kathie Obradovich (00:10:39):
You know, this person is unfit.
Kathie Obradovich (00:10:42):
Yeah, that's that's how it gets read.
Kathie Obradovich (00:10:45):
And anything other than unblinking loyalty is viewed with extreme suspicion for one thing.
Kathie Obradovich (00:10:56):
And also, you know, it tips over, as we've seen, into anger.
Laura Belin (00:11:01):
I'm working on something right now that I hope to publish this weekend about the
Laura Belin (00:11:05):
congressional...
Dave Price (00:11:05):
Well,
Dave Price (00:11:05):
you just said it now,
Dave Price (00:11:06):
so you have to.
Laura Belin (00:11:07):
Now I have to.
Laura Belin (00:11:08):
The scorecards that some of these conservative groups come up with for members of Congress.
Laura Belin (00:11:13):
Like we might look at Joni Ernst and say,
Laura Belin (00:11:15):
she basically votes whatever the way Donald Trump wants her to vote all of the
Laura Belin (00:11:19):
time.
Laura Belin (00:11:19):
And yet,
Laura Belin (00:11:20):
if you look at some of these scorecards,
Laura Belin (00:11:23):
the Iowans in Congress have very mediocre scores,
Laura Belin (00:11:26):
right?
Laura Belin (00:11:27):
And everything is binary.
Laura Belin (00:11:28):
So it'll say like,
Laura Belin (00:11:29):
Was it a vote for limited government or against limited government?
Laura Belin (00:11:33):
And some of these, the way they're scoring these votes, I consider absurd.
Laura Belin (00:11:36):
Like Rand Paul has an amendment to a budget bill that would raise the retirement
Laura Belin (00:11:40):
age to 70 and,
Laura Belin (00:11:42):
you know,
Laura Belin (00:11:42):
very few people voted for it.
Laura Belin (00:11:44):
So that's like a negative for Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley that they voted,
Laura Belin (00:11:48):
you know,
Laura Belin (00:11:48):
quote,
Laura Belin (00:11:48):
against limited government,
Laura Belin (00:11:50):
unquote.
Laura Belin (00:11:50):
Whereas I would view it as like,
Laura Belin (00:11:52):
not wanting to commit political suicide by saying you're for raising the retirement age to 70.
Laura Belin (00:11:58):
And yet,
Laura Belin (00:11:58):
so somebody can look at that scorecard and say,
Laura Belin (00:12:00):
oh,
Laura Belin (00:12:00):
wow,
Laura Belin (00:12:01):
you know,
Laura Belin (00:12:02):
Marianette Miller-Meeks only had a 59% score or something.
Laura Belin (00:12:05):
But then you look at it and it's like, well, yeah, she voted not to default on the US debt.
Laura Belin (00:12:10):
Like she voted to keep the government funded.
Laura Belin (00:12:12):
I mean, so there's a lot of the perception of this is bizarre.
Laura Belin (00:12:16):
Like you say, Dave, she never said that she was against Pete Hegseth.
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:21):
Yeah,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:21):
and,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:22):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:23):
if voting to raise the debt limit and avoid defaulting and,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:29):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:30):
voting to keep the government running is,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:33):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:33):
anti-MAGA,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:35):
then all of Iowa's congressional delegation is anti-MAGA because they have all
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:40):
voted to raise the debt limit and to keep the government running.
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:44):
And,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:44):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:45):
most of that,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:46):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:46):
comes with,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:47):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:48):
they're voting with the Speaker of the House,
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:49):
they're voting with the Senate.
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:51):
Majority leader, you know, as opposed to necessarily voting with the president.
Kathie Obradovich (00:12:57):
But I mean, usually those goals all align.
Dave Price (00:13:01):
All right, Laura, you did a deep dive.
Dave Price (00:13:05):
And let's be honest, some people aren't going to like this piece.
Dave Price (00:13:09):
because they don't they don't want to be presented with the numbers sometimes right
Dave Price (00:13:17):
and which is always the the emotions of politics right we have people who look at
Dave Price (00:13:22):
something like these people are bad so everybody should know that so everybody
Dave Price (00:13:26):
should vote this way all right you're trying to be more practical to show how
Dave Price (00:13:31):
uphill
Dave Price (00:13:32):
it would be for a statewide candidate who's a democrat to actually win and rob sand
Dave Price (00:13:39):
is the only statewide democrat in office right now and uh let's be fair we don't
Dave Price (00:13:45):
know exactly how it would have turned out for him had governor kim reynolds and the
Dave Price (00:13:51):
republican party gone all in
Dave Price (00:13:54):
for his opponent last time he was on the on the ballot as opposed to sitting out
Dave Price (00:13:59):
like they did because of the the the personal uh spat between that candidate and uh
Dave Price (00:14:05):
and the governor anyway
Dave Price (00:14:08):
That's my long winded setup for you.
Dave Price (00:14:10):
But I know you spent a lot of time in this sort of deep diving on registration
Dave Price (00:14:14):
numbers,
Dave Price (00:14:16):
kind of a reality check for Democrats,
Dave Price (00:14:18):
not saying anything is impossible here.
Dave Price (00:14:21):
But I mean,
Dave Price (00:14:22):
this is a very,
Dave Price (00:14:23):
this is a Republican leaning state for sure,
Dave Price (00:14:25):
and has been for a while.
Laura Belin (00:14:27):
Yeah,
Laura Belin (00:14:27):
I got the biggest feedback that I got on this post was people saying different
Laura Belin (00:14:31):
versions of,
Laura Belin (00:14:33):
I knew it was bad,
Laura Belin (00:14:34):
but I didn't realize how bad it was.
Laura Belin (00:14:37):
That was kind of my goal was to get people to look at how much the numbers have
Laura Belin (00:14:42):
slipped for Democrats since even 2018 or 2020.
Laura Belin (00:14:46):
when people think back and say well barack obama won the state twice democrats had
Laura Belin (00:14:51):
a voter registration advantage and that doesn't mean that everybody votes the same
Laura Belin (00:14:55):
way they're registered but it gives you a lot more paths to victory so i laid out
Laura Belin (00:15:00):
like for instance fred hubble's race for governor in 2018 when he really didn't
Laura Belin (00:15:04):
lose by that much just under three points 36 000 votes and you think well that
Laura Belin (00:15:08):
should be easy to overcome and when you look at how the turnout
Laura Belin (00:15:12):
broke down in that election,
Laura Belin (00:15:14):
you can see that it certainly with just slight changes in opinion or a little bit
Laura Belin (00:15:18):
more crossover Republican votes or a better majority among independent votes or
Laura Belin (00:15:23):
better turnout among Democrats,
Laura Belin (00:15:24):
whatever it is,
Laura Belin (00:15:25):
there were certainly ways for him to make up that gap.
Laura Belin (00:15:28):
But then when you apply what,
Laura Belin (00:15:29):
because I also was looking at historically what we see for turnout in Iowa midterm
Laura Belin (00:15:34):
elections and just looking at the way the voter registration numbers are now,
Laura Belin (00:15:38):
there just aren't enough independents who vote in a midterm
Laura Belin (00:15:42):
to make up the difference when Republicans are so far ahead.
Laura Belin (00:15:45):
And they've built up that lead in a fairly short amount of time.
Laura Belin (00:15:49):
Like I said, in 2018, the Republican voter registration advantage was still pretty small.
Laura Belin (00:15:54):
So I feel my biggest takeaway was a Democrat to win statewide.
Laura Belin (00:15:59):
They need extremely high Democratic turnout.
Laura Belin (00:16:02):
They need Republican turnout to be quite low,
Laura Belin (00:16:05):
you know,
Laura Belin (00:16:05):
relatively speaking,
Laura Belin (00:16:06):
which I think it's possible that some of these low propensity Trump fans,
Laura Belin (00:16:10):
maybe they won't show up for a midterm.
Laura Belin (00:16:12):
So I think that's possible.
Laura Belin (00:16:13):
They need a clear majority among independents.
Laura Belin (00:16:16):
But like,
Laura Belin (00:16:17):
I don't even know if that's enough mathematically,
Laura Belin (00:16:19):
unless they can do something between now and next time ever to reduce that voter
Laura Belin (00:16:24):
registration lead Republicans have.
Dave Price (00:16:26):
One of the fascinating things for me about living in Iowa since 2001 is because I
Dave Price (00:16:32):
get to go at this being a nonpartisan and,
Dave Price (00:16:35):
you know,
Dave Price (00:16:35):
just kind of taking it all in and covering all this stuff.
Dave Price (00:16:38):
We've had like every conceivable combination in our state,
Dave Price (00:16:40):
which makes this super fun,
Dave Price (00:16:42):
which is why as my career has gone along and...
Dave Price (00:16:47):
there have been enticing offers in other states and stuff.
Dave Price (00:16:50):
I always come back to where else in the country would I ever have the experience?
Dave Price (00:16:55):
Now it gets a little funky now because the caucuses may not quite be the same in
Dave Price (00:16:59):
the future,
Dave Price (00:17:00):
but I mean,
Dave Price (00:17:01):
we get everything,
Dave Price (00:17:02):
right?
Dave Price (00:17:03):
Democrats do well here, Republicans do well, then we're a mix.
Dave Price (00:17:06):
And now we're heavily Republican.
Dave Price (00:17:08):
And I'm curious what both of you think would be
Dave Price (00:17:13):
the reason for why Republicans have fared so well the past decade and as they built
Dave Price (00:17:20):
these voter registration numbers up and widened this gap and why Democrats have
Dave Price (00:17:24):
fared so poorly?
Dave Price (00:17:25):
Like, is there anything that stands out to you?
Dave Price (00:17:27):
Is it messaging?
Dave Price (00:17:28):
Is it candidates support?
Dave Price (00:17:29):
What is it?
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:30):
I mean, I think it's all of the above.
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:33):
But two things I would say.
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:36):
One, people want to be on the winning team.
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:39):
Um,
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:40):
they,
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:41):
uh,
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:41):
and I,
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:41):
I also think that it'd be interesting to see some,
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:46):
um,
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:46):
polling or some,
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:47):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:48):
some actual scientific surveys on this,
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:51):
but I suspect,
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:53):
um,
Kathie Obradovich (00:17:54):
that sometimes the party registration follows the is the second thing that happens.
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:00):
The first thing that happens is, uh, you get attracted to a candidate.
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:04):
Um,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:05):
and it's,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:05):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:05):
somebody who's really dynamic at the top of the ticket who speaks to you.
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:09):
um and you know regardless of how you're registered um if a pollster calls you you
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:16):
might say that you are a member of that party of that candidate that you really
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:20):
like so i so i do think you know donald trump um drove a lot of not all of it but a
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:28):
lot of the the sort of attraction to the republican party i think if donald trump
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:34):
had
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:35):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:36):
created his own party or,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:38):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:38):
somehow,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:39):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:41):
as he was at one time,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:43):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:44):
a Democrat,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:45):
that it would be,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:47):
we would see the effect for that.
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:49):
So I do think that,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:51):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:52):
the public opinion,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:53):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:18:56):
that having a really great dynamic candidate like Barack Obama was,
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:02):
can in fact drive that party registration.
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:05):
The second thing is,
Dave Price (00:19:07):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:09):
the Democrats have been on a long slide ever since Tom Harkin retired.
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:13):
There hasn't been anybody who steps in to his leadership role with his kind of
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:19):
authority to craft the message,
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:23):
to recruit candidates,
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:25):
to really kind of be driving the bus.
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:28):
And that vacuum of leadership has, I think, really undercut efforts.
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:34):
Democrats, they've never been able to agree exactly what the message should be.
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:40):
Of course,
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:40):
there's going to be a more progressive wing of the party versus a more mainstream
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:44):
wing of the party.
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:45):
And we've seen that for years and years and years,
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:48):
regardless of whether Democrats were winning or not.
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:51):
But Tom Harkin was able to sort of
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:56):
I would say,
Kathie Obradovich (00:19:58):
referee some of those family fights and keep them from getting out of hand,
Kathie Obradovich (00:20:02):
also to make sure that Democrats were doing everything they needed to do to get out
Kathie Obradovich (00:20:06):
the vote.
Kathie Obradovich (00:20:06):
And I just I don't know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:20:08):
Laura,
Kathie Obradovich (00:20:08):
what you think,
Kathie Obradovich (00:20:09):
but I just don't think we've had that leadership in the party to sort of
Kathie Obradovich (00:20:18):
And maybe it wouldn't matter with a Donald Trump at the top of the other party.
Kathie Obradovich (00:20:23):
I don't know.
Laura Belin (00:20:24):
I think that Donald Trump accelerated a trend that we were already seeing.
Laura Belin (00:20:28):
And I agree with Kathy that voter registrations is kind of a lagging indicator that
Laura Belin (00:20:33):
often people's voting behavior changes first.
Laura Belin (00:20:35):
We see this even in West Virginia now.
Laura Belin (00:20:37):
I think Democrats still...
Laura Belin (00:20:39):
don't do too badly on paper in terms of voter registrations but like the people
Laura Belin (00:20:43):
long ago stopped voting for democrats and before that it was true in texas i just
Laura Belin (00:20:47):
looked up just now this is an article that i've always i think about this a lot
Laura Belin (00:20:51):
harry n10 wrote this in november 2014 right after joanie ernst defeated bruce
Laura Belin (00:20:56):
braley and the headline is something funny happened in iowa
Laura Belin (00:20:59):
And it may hurt Democrats in 2016.
Laura Belin (00:21:02):
And his main point was that white voters without a college degree in Iowa shifted
Laura Belin (00:21:08):
away from the Democratic Party.
Laura Belin (00:21:09):
And I think this is the big structural problem for Democrats,
Laura Belin (00:21:13):
not only in Iowa,
Laura Belin (00:21:14):
but in everywhere,
Laura Belin (00:21:15):
literally everywhere in the country that looks like Iowa.
Laura Belin (00:21:18):
in the sense of the majority of the voters are white people without a college
Laura Belin (00:21:21):
degree,
Laura Belin (00:21:22):
you've seen the same trend lines.
Laura Belin (00:21:23):
And an example I like to give is Carleton County,
Laura Belin (00:21:26):
Minnesota,
Laura Belin (00:21:26):
which is up in that Iron Range area near Duluth.
Laura Belin (00:21:29):
It's not the county that contains Duluth, but it's nearby.
Laura Belin (00:21:32):
It's a mid-sized county and it has about 87.5% white people.
Laura Belin (00:21:38):
About a quarter of the adults have a college degree and it just voted for Donald
Laura Belin (00:21:42):
Trump for president.
Laura Belin (00:21:43):
And the last time before 2024,
Laura Belin (00:21:45):
the last time Carleton County voted for Republican for president was Herbert Hoover
Laura Belin (00:21:50):
in 1928.
Laura Belin (00:21:51):
And that is just the trend.
Laura Belin (00:21:52):
And that's what the Minnesota Democrats, they call themselves the DFL, but they had a trifecta.
Laura Belin (00:21:57):
And they implemented,
Laura Belin (00:21:58):
they had leadership,
Laura Belin (00:21:59):
they implemented a lot of the policies that Democrats want,
Laura Belin (00:22:02):
and they still weren't able to prevent this slide from happening.
Laura Belin (00:22:06):
And so I think that something,
Laura Belin (00:22:08):
it is really going to be difficult for Democrats in Iowa to turn this around,
Laura Belin (00:22:11):
unless there's something more national going on that allows this segment of the
Laura Belin (00:22:17):
electorate to start moving away from the Republican Party again.
Laura Belin (00:22:20):
I don't really know what it would take.
Dave Price (00:22:23):
And is it too much?
Dave Price (00:22:24):
Is it is it what they're talking about?
Dave Price (00:22:28):
I mean,
Dave Price (00:22:28):
this starts to get sensitive because you start talking about issues that are
Dave Price (00:22:31):
incredibly important to people.
Dave Price (00:22:32):
But is it the cultural things when they're talking about trans issues?
Dave Price (00:22:36):
Do those things not resonate with these people who've been shifting over?
Dave Price (00:22:41):
Does it do these things push them away?
Laura Belin (00:22:43):
I think the Fox News talk radio thing is very dominant in the information space in
Laura Belin (00:22:48):
a lot of smaller communities.
Laura Belin (00:22:50):
And it's not,
Laura Belin (00:22:50):
I mean,
Laura Belin (00:22:50):
the trans issues,
Laura Belin (00:22:51):
that's a pretty recent thing,
Laura Belin (00:22:52):
like within the last four or five years.
Laura Belin (00:22:54):
But before that, whatever, the immigrant caravan or, you know, whatever it is, I feel that
Laura Belin (00:22:59):
Somehow,
Laura Belin (00:23:00):
I do think the culture war issues are part of it,
Laura Belin (00:23:02):
but there is just a general,
Laura Belin (00:23:04):
it's a long process.
Laura Belin (00:23:06):
It started probably 20, 25 years ago.
Laura Belin (00:23:09):
It was definitely happening before Donald Trump went down the escalator and
Laura Belin (00:23:12):
announced he was running for president.
Laura Belin (00:23:13):
But then I think he was a candidate who was maybe uniquely able to tap into that
Laura Belin (00:23:19):
because we've seen that he does have strong working class appeal.
Laura Belin (00:23:23):
And of course,
Laura Belin (00:23:23):
in the most recent election,
Laura Belin (00:23:25):
he also made gains among working class voters who are not white.
Dave Price (00:23:28):
well he's not loyal to a party he's loyal to himself so he doesn't have to follow
Dave Price (00:23:35):
party dogma on whatever it is he he picks whatever he is changes positions on it
Dave Price (00:23:39):
whatever it is and to kathy's point i mean he is his own party yeah
Kathie Obradovich (00:23:46):
So after Donald Trump won the first time,
Kathie Obradovich (00:23:51):
national Democrats were in Iowa and had a panel discussion at the historical
Kathie Obradovich (00:23:57):
building about,
Kathie Obradovich (00:23:58):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:23:58):
what should Democrats' message be to win back rural voters?
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:04):
And I remember it pretty clearly.
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:07):
And Tom Vilsack was one of the panelists.
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:10):
And
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:11):
The message very clearly was,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:14):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:15):
dial back on what they called identity politics,
Dave Price (00:24:18):
which is,
Dave Price (00:24:19):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:19):
it's race,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:21):
it's some of the social justice,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:22):
some of that kind of stuff.
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:23):
Focus squarely on economic policies,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:27):
go out to rural Iowa and explain how you're going to make people's lives
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:32):
economically better,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:34):
put more money into their pockets,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:36):
put more money into their communities.
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:38):
And everybody nodded their heads.
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:41):
And then in the next election,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:42):
it was all about how bad Donald Trump was and,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:47):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:47):
and how bad it was for people of color and how bad it was for other marginalized
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:53):
communities.
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:54):
And,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:55):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:24:55):
I do think the reason for that was that that is truly important to Democrats and
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:01):
asking them not to talk about it would be,
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:03):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:04):
sort of like putting one hand behind their back.
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:08):
I do.
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:08):
I think the challenge is to,
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:11):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:11):
continue to talk about things that Democrats really care about,
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:15):
including racial justice,
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:17):
including social justice.
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:20):
But,
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:21):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:21):
try to help people understand why they should care and,
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:25):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:25:25):
what you know what it means to them.
Laura Belin (00:25:28):
I think the conservative noise machine, though, they center these issues.
Laura Belin (00:25:32):
I mean, there were no Democrats in Iowa running on defunding the police.
Laura Belin (00:25:36):
And yet in 2020,
Laura Belin (00:25:38):
there were a zillion mailers and ads run against Democrats saying that they're
Laura Belin (00:25:43):
socialists and they want to defund the police.
Laura Belin (00:25:45):
So that's very difficult to combat,
Laura Belin (00:25:48):
just like in this most recent election when the Republicans were so heavily
Laura Belin (00:25:52):
campaigning on transgender issues.
Laura Belin (00:25:54):
That wasn't the Democratic candidates.
Laura Belin (00:25:56):
making those the centerpiece of their campaign.
Dave Price (00:26:00):
Open borders, I think, would be another one.
Dave Price (00:26:03):
It was hard to and
Dave Price (00:26:05):
For some Democratic candidates,
Dave Price (00:26:07):
it was probably difficult for them to exactly verbalize what it was they wanted to
Dave Price (00:26:13):
try to push back against that.
Dave Price (00:26:15):
I know we're coming up on time and we try to be respectful of the length of this podcast.
Dave Price (00:26:20):
Kathy, you all at Capitol Dispatch have been all over this.
Dave Price (00:26:24):
There is a significant issue impacting parts of our state and the Des Moines Metro specifically.
Dave Price (00:26:31):
When it comes to nitrates and I don't know how closely a lot of people follow this,
Dave Price (00:26:35):
but in the in the metro they've been getting this warning,
Dave Price (00:26:38):
including where we live in Urbandale.
Dave Price (00:26:40):
You can't water your lawn and it's not because of a water shortage,
Dave Price (00:26:44):
which is probably the first thing that would come to mind if you're not following
Dave Price (00:26:48):
this stuff,
Dave Price (00:26:48):
but this is all about nitrates.
Kathie Obradovich (00:26:50):
Yeah,
Kathie Obradovich (00:26:50):
so normally when you get a water conservation order like this,
Kathie Obradovich (00:26:56):
it's because we're in a drought and it's been dry and the rivers are low.
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:00):
Here in Des Moines,
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:01):
the drinking water supply largely comes from the Des Moines River and the Raccoon
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:06):
River.
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:08):
And, you know, that water comes from upstream.
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:12):
And,
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:13):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:13):
this time of year,
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:14):
typically you have a rise in nitrates,
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:19):
which of course are,
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:20):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:20):
they're bad for
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:24):
there's a federal limit.
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:27):
I think it's something like 10 parts per million.
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:31):
People argue that that limit is too high,
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:34):
that there are concerns about pregnant women and the health of infants.
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:39):
There's something called blue baby syndrome where
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:42):
The blood is not carrying oxygen because of an excess of nitrate.
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:46):
So there are plenty of health problems with it.
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:50):
And this time of year, there is a spike in nitrates because you have more rainfall.
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:55):
And that rainfall is washing off the land,
Kathie Obradovich (00:27:58):
the farmland that has all this fertilizer and nitrates on it.
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:03):
People also in urban areas are watering their lawns, perhaps, or fertilizing their lawns.
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:11):
But really, I think the vast majority of it has to be understood to come from farmland.
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:17):
And so the nitrates come down.
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:20):
And in this case,
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:23):
it's not a lack of water,
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:24):
it's just that the nitrates are so high that they can't keep up with treating it
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:30):
fast enough to make that water supply below the federal limits for everyone,
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:37):
which is why they're asking for this conservation.
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:39):
It's not that they don't have enough water,
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:41):
they just can't treat it fast enough with the facilities that they have.
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:44):
So this has been a big deal and kind of, I think, a wake up call.
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:51):
And when it comes to water quality in Iowa,
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:54):
it reminds me of the situation back in,
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:59):
let's see,
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:59):
well,
Kathie Obradovich (00:28:59):
it was,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:00):
I don't know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:01):
20,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:02):
I can't remember which year it was,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:04):
that Des Moines Water Works and its CEO at the time,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:07):
Bill Stowe,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:08):
filed lawsuits against drainage districts upstream saying that they were putting
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:12):
too many pollutants
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:14):
into the river,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:15):
which was causing water customers in the Des Moines area to have to spend too much
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:21):
money treating this water.
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:23):
So ultimately that lawsuit lost.
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:26):
The Supreme Court threw it out.
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:28):
There was a big political backlash against Des Moines Water Works from Republicans
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:33):
at the Capitol and against Bill Stowe.
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:37):
And, you know, so but I think it will be interesting to see whether
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:41):
the political conversation once again ramps up about nitrates runoff,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:47):
et cetera,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:48):
here as a result of this.
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:49):
Because I mean, water quality really does touch everyone.
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:52):
And while we don't all water our lawns,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:54):
I mean,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:54):
even when I'm allowed to water my lawn,
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:56):
I don't water it.
Kathie Obradovich (00:29:58):
But ultimately,
Kathie Obradovich (00:30:01):
raising concerns about health,
Kathie Obradovich (00:30:05):
because the nitrates that are in the water may very well be
Kathie Obradovich (00:30:10):
not higher than the federal standard,
Kathie Obradovich (00:30:12):
but they might be higher than what scientists really recommend as being good for
Kathie Obradovich (00:30:16):
you.
Laura Belin (00:30:18):
And as a keeper of Iowa Wildflower Wednesday,
Laura Belin (00:30:21):
I want to put in a word for not watering your lawn and having more native plants
Laura Belin (00:30:25):
that don't need as much water.
Kathie Obradovich (00:30:27):
I'm feeling a clover in my lawn.
Kathie Obradovich (00:30:29):
Does that count?
Kathie Obradovich (00:30:31):
The rabbits like it.
Dave Price (00:30:32):
Just to put a ball in this, I will be curious if...
Dave Price (00:30:36):
If this will make more people think about this issue,
Dave Price (00:30:40):
we have people who are really dialed into this from the environmental side.
Dave Price (00:30:44):
But for the folks who maybe don't think about it as much when you're getting the
Dave Price (00:30:48):
warnings that you can't water your lawn,
Dave Price (00:30:50):
can't water your garden,
Dave Price (00:30:52):
flower garden,
Dave Price (00:30:52):
vegetable garden,
Dave Price (00:30:53):
whatever you have going on at home,
Dave Price (00:30:54):
then all of a sudden now this might be a thing that's affecting you.
Dave Price (00:30:57):
You might be wondering what the heck is this all about?
Dave Price (00:31:00):
I'm curious if we will see any of the candidates try to lean into this.
Dave Price (00:31:05):
to kind of broaden the attention on this.
Dave Price (00:31:10):
All right, we better wrap this sucker up because we're getting long-winded here.
Dave Price (00:31:14):
So I need to close with a pitch here while you two are still on here.
Dave Price (00:31:21):
We did not have ads on this podcast.
Dave Price (00:31:24):
So there are production costs that go into the weekly production of this.
Dave Price (00:31:30):
This is why we,
Dave Price (00:31:31):
while none of us are fundraisers or the MyPillow guy or anything else with any kind
Dave Price (00:31:37):
of experience raising money at this kind of stuff,
Dave Price (00:31:40):
It does take money to keep this thing going.
Dave Price (00:31:43):
We are going to take a pause,
Dave Price (00:31:46):
I think,
Dave Price (00:31:47):
for at least part of the summer while we think through the funding side of this.
Dave Price (00:31:53):
Because the easy way to do this is to load this sucker up with sponsors and ads.
Dave Price (00:31:59):
And this podcast has been kept...
Dave Price (00:32:01):
ad free so it is entirely dependent on the generosity of you all who are watching
Dave Price (00:32:11):
listening or reading to our conversations here so for those of you who already do
Dave Price (00:32:18):
Thank you very much.
Dave Price (00:32:20):
We greatly appreciate it.
Dave Price (00:32:22):
I wish I knew exactly how many episodes we have done to demonstrate our appreciation.
Dave Price (00:32:29):
Regardless of what the number is,
Dave Price (00:32:30):
we very much appreciate all of you who have contributed in whatever way.
Dave Price (00:32:35):
And when this is posted on here,
Dave Price (00:32:38):
depending on how you consume this,
Dave Price (00:32:41):
you will find on there,
Dave Price (00:32:42):
there is a way to support this.
Dave Price (00:32:45):
This will help us fire this back up
Dave Price (00:32:49):
And I would say get back on the air because that's my background.
Dave Price (00:32:52):
I don't know what you call it.
Dave Price (00:32:54):
It'll allow us to start making new productions of this again.
Dave Price (00:32:58):
Either of you want to say anything?
Laura Belin (00:33:01):
I would enjoy this.
Laura Belin (00:33:02):
So I'm hoping that people will pitch in and help us bring this back for another season.
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:07):
Yeah.
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:07):
And I would just add, I always learned a lot from Dave and Laura in our conversations.
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:13):
I hope that our listeners and viewers find it valuable.
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:18):
And, you know, it's not like we're asking for money to pay us.
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:23):
Your chauffeur?
Dave Price (00:33:25):
Somebody pays for that, Kathy.
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Dave Price (00:33:30):
His name is Jim.
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:33):
My 2012 Subaru doesn't have air conditioning right now.
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:39):
Oh, no.
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:39):
Yeah.
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:40):
But we know this is this is really about the production costs.
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:45):
And and so that and those kinds of things that actually bring it to you as opposed
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:52):
to us,
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:53):
you know,
Kathie Obradovich (00:33:53):
just getting on and drawing on Zoom every week.
Dave Price (00:33:57):
Indeed,
Dave Price (00:33:58):
none of us are comfortable really doing this aspect of it,
Dave Price (00:34:01):
but it is necessary to kind of keep things going and to keep this ad free.
Dave Price (00:34:05):
So if you are so inclined, and I believe there are ways you can do this.
Dave Price (00:34:10):
I mean,
Dave Price (00:34:10):
if you want to be a regular paid subscriber,
Dave Price (00:34:12):
you can also do a one time thing if you want to kick in a couple of bucks or if you
Dave Price (00:34:16):
want to kick in more than a couple of bucks.
Dave Price (00:34:17):
But if this is provided value to you,
Dave Price (00:34:20):
we would appreciate if you are able to contribute in any way that'll help us kind
Dave Price (00:34:24):
of put this all together and then kind of give us a business plan.
Dave Price (00:34:27):
so that we can bring this sucker back.
Dave Price (00:34:29):
Because I have a feeling now we are within our one year of a primary,
Dave Price (00:34:35):
as I think about the calendar.
Dave Price (00:34:37):
And then, of course, we'll have the general election, too.
Dave Price (00:34:38):
So we've got tons and tons of stuff,
Dave Price (00:34:40):
not to mention the legislature and every other facet of Iowa politics.
Dave Price (00:34:44):
Thank you for listening to this belabored and uncomfortable and not very succinct sales pitch.
Dave Price (00:34:51):
You can tell that's why I didn't go into sales.
Dave Price (00:34:55):
Kathy and Laura, thank you both.
Dave Price (00:34:57):
Good to see you.
Kathie Obradovich (00:34:57):
Thank you.
Kathie Obradovich (00:34:58):
Have a great summer.
Dave Price (00:35:00):
Same.
Dave Price (00:35:00):
I hope that air conditioning gets fixed soon.
Dave Price (00:35:02):
Me too.
Dave Price (00:35:03):
Because it is going to be hot as blazes.
Dave Price (00:35:06):
Thank you to our producer, Spencer Dirks.
Dave Price (00:35:08):
Thank you to our music from D'Artagnan Brown.
Dave Price (00:35:12):
We appreciate all of those contributions.
Dave Price (00:35:13):
Thank you for joining us week after week.
Dave Price (00:35:16):
And we hope to see, talk to you again very soon.
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