moderated our panel for Episode 4 of Iowa Down Ballot, where Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members discussed the Democratic National Convention and how it could impact Iowa political campaigns down-ballot.
Included on the panel were ,
, , , , , and Kathie Obradovich, editor in chief of Iowa Capital Dispatch.Zachary Oren Smith is the podcast producer. Music intro by
.
Panelists also referred to stories they have reported this week.
Laura Belin has a story about the number of LGBTQ candidates running for Iowa legislative seats.
Dave Price interviewed Kim Reynolds, and asked her about the high rate of cancer diagnosis in the state.
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Raw, unedited Transcript of Episode 4 of Iowa Downballot
Hi, and welcome to the politics panel. Our collection and focus feature some of the premier journalists throughout Iowa who are part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Some of these folks I have known for years. Some of the folks I'm just kind of getting to know over the past year since I joined the Iowa Riders Collaborative.
It's a privilege to be joined by all of you. We have so much to talk about, a lot going on in our country, but our primary focus is how things affect the state of Iowa. So, to get things rolling, let's bounce through with all of our panel members for this week's show. Art, will you lead us off? Hi, Dave.
Thanks. I'm Art Cullen. I'm the editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot newspaper in Storm Lake, iowa@wwwstormlake.com. And I also have a column on Substack at Art Cullen's Notebook and the senior Dave among us, Mr. Boozy. Good morning everybody. I'm Dave Busick. I write a column on Substack called Dave Busick on Media Talk mostly about media issues, but sometimes intersection between media.
In politics, I spent 43 years as a reporter, anchor, and news manager in Iowa, um, specializing in political coverage a lot of that time. Which is impressive because you're only 45, so that's an impressive math background. As you can tell. All right, batting third, Laura. I'm Laura Bellin. I am the publisher and primary reporter for the Bleeding Heartland website.
On Substack, I have a column called Iowa Politics with Laura Bellin where I feature occasional posts from Bleeding Heartland and also my weekly radio show that I do for KHOI Community Radio in Ames. And Kathy, who is showing how skillful she is at dealing with unexpected challenges of technology, she's immediately moved to a plan B to show just how quick she is on her seat.
Yeah, I'm used to having Wi-Fi issues, so I always have a plan B, Dave. I'm Kathy Obradovich. I'm the editor-in-chief of Iowa Capital Dispatch. We're a not-for-profit news organization that primarily focuses on state government and politics. We publish columns frequently from members of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, and I'm.
A journalist in Iowa for more than, let's just say, 35 years, give or take, have worked at the Des Moines Register and at the Lee Enterprises Newspapers. Welcome to you as well. Mr. Bob Leonard. Thanks, Davia. I'm retired radio. In, Knoxville Pellin Indianola, rural radio guy, um, write a lot, I write, uh, for the Iowa Writers Collaborative at Deep Midwest Politics and Culture, mostly politics now, but occasionally I'll sneak in something more interesting, cultural wise.
You never have any problems finding something interesting. Alright, and last but not least, our queen, our founder, our creator. Queen. Oh boy. Then nobody's called me queen. That's a first. Well, my name is Julie Gammack and I am creating the Okoboji Writers Retreat, which is coming up in September. We'll have about 300 folks from around the country.
I founded the Iowa Writers Collaborative and I write a column on Substack called Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck. Thank you, ma'am. I am Dave Price. I write Dave Price's Perspective. Primarily it's My thoughts and experience dealing with Iowa politics, although I also talked about pie in the last one. So, you know, sometimes we do, we do things to keep things interesting, but everything always has a political thread.
All right. Speaking of politics, we are gathering on Wednesday. So we're on our third day through the democratic national convention in Chicago. We have our slate of Iowa Democrats out there. The whole different feel about this thing as Kamala Harris as ascended to the top spot on the democratic ticket with Joe Biden reluctantly, but finally stepping aside.
So this whole burst of energy, it's had a whole different feel and also this fascinating decision, which we need to get into. But this fascinating decision, and I'm not sure I can ever remember them doing anything like this. But during day two of the convention, You had the top two folks not there. In Chicago, but it's essentially out on the road doing their own rally in Milwaukee at a very interesting site that they chose.
Uh, so you, you kind of had Democrats doing two things at once, which I thought was fascinating programming. Um, Laura, let's start with you. What, what, as we talk, we've seen. the current president. We've seen the former president. We saw the former first lady. All of them have gone and we're gathering before Tim Walz gets his time.
Kamala Harris had some brief brief remarks on Monday. But what sticks out to you so far through your Iowa lens? Well, first of all, a welcome to life, not in a swing state. There are no Iowans scheduled to speak from the main stage at the DNC. And I feel like that's been a while since that's happened because we were for a number of election cycles.
We were one of the six, one of the swing states that people relied on. And I think that this counter programming that you mentioned last night was fascinating. I didn't understand why they scheduled a rally in the middle of the convention, but I thought it worked really well last night. I was watching on C SPAN, uh, rather than on one of the networks where they keep interrupting with talking heads, and I thought the virtual roll call that they did was really fun, and then having the packed arena in Milwaukee, which was the same venue the Republicans used for their national convention, and then being able to come back To speeches, really some outstanding speeches by Doug Emhoff and then, of course, Michelle and Barack Obama.
And I feel that even though Iowa is a red state now, I mean, the Iowa delegates seem to be really excited and having a good time. So that's, I mean, part of the purpose of a convention like this is to fire up the base and they've certainly accomplished that. Kathy, did you see all the speeches on Tuesday night?
Yes, yes, and, you know, I echo what Laura said about Doug and Michelle and Barack Obama being outstanding. You know, it makes you remember, you know, back to 2016 and the theme of hope. I thought it was a very smart thing for Barack Obama to reprise that. You know, hope and change, um, theme for his speech. I was also very nostalgic for the, the unity message that Barack Obama in particular, but also Michelle, um, emphasized, you know, that.
Um, you know, we don't have to hate the other side. We don't have to vilify the other side. You know, that the, um, that's dyed in the wool independent in me, because I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a Republican and I don't think like, I don't think either party has all the answers. And I like, I love hearing that kind of unity message.
I think the challenge, uh, for Democrats is to how, you know, how to take that kind of message forward in the face of, um, the way the other side is coming at them in this campaign, because, you know, it does present a contrast, but it's also a message that not necessarily everybody in the party base wants to hear.
Dr. Bob Leonard, can you pick up on what Kathy's talking about the hope message? And I'm curious, how does that play in rural Iowa, where you have folks, perhaps some of the ones who have jumped onto the MAGA movement, who maybe lost a little of that long term hope, as they've seen their neighbors take off, their schools close, the businesses leave, all those kind of things.
Does, does rural Iowa, does that hope message connect? Well, it's certainly connecting to, uh, my democratic friends and, uh, they are just giddy and energized and that they were, they felt like they were, you know, fighting against overwhelming odds. And the whole dynamic has changed just incredibly. I've been to a lot of Trump rallies and early on, they were so exciting.
They were fun. It was just. You know, people were dancing. It was joyous. And then he's sort of, he's fading. He's not very interesting anymore. It's the same. He's redundant. He's tiresome. People are walking away. Um, it's, I don't know. I think the bloom is off the rose if there ever was a bloom, but yeah. So I don't know.
I think that most of my Republican friends are not, are not aware of it. They're picking up on, oh, you know, things that are nationally coming down, the culture war issues and. So I don't think that my Republican friends will be moved. I'm going to be going to an event soon that I'll be able to tell pretty quickly.
Art Cullen, you are a master of the written word. And I'm curious as you listened to, you must not read much, Dave. Uh, I do. And that is exactly why I, uh, that's why your book is featured prominently in our living room, by the way. Uh, so we can see that as we're watching her, our big screen. Um, so I disagree with you on that.
Um, as you're listening to these folks, um, in these primetime speeches in particular, I'm curious. The messaging and what, what works, what hasn't worked for you so far. And I appreciate we're not, we're not full, you know, we're not all the way through the week, but what stands out to you? Well, first of all, I'm an old man.
And so I don't stay up to see Joe Biden. And I suspect much of the country did not since it was about midnight central time when he's wrapping up. The thing is just way too long. Um, and, uh, You know, Barack Obama ought to be on at 9 p. m. Central time. And, uh, you know, I would actually see that. So I, I didn't see all the headliners.
One reaction I have is nobody should ever let Chuck Schumer on television or on stage. Uh, it just reminds me that he's owned by, uh, Citibank and, uh, uh, Goldman Sachs. Uh, um, you know, so it was, it was all very well scripted, I guess, but it was, it's too long and, uh, And I'm, you know, and I appreciate that Laura, uh, enjoyed the, the roll call, um, but I didn't.
And I, let's get down to business. Let's get Obama on stage here and, uh, and don't keep Tim Walz, uh, uh, you know, us Midwestern dads aren't going to be up to see Tim Walz. It's, it's really stupid programming, I think. All right, Dave Buzik, uh, you were the local TV guy for about four decades. What do you think about the, the theatrics, the TV side of, of a convention?
You saw how the Republicans did theirs. You've seen what the Democrats have done theirs. Do you agree with art? Is this thing too, too drawn out? And it's only the inside baseball politicos are in all this stuff. I do agree with hard. I think that it's just been way too long. The speeches have been too long.
There have been too many of them. The speaker should be trained not to wait for the applause to die down before they just move on because the television audience can't hear that. So the TV producer in me wants to keep it tight, keep it going and stay on time. It's it was tremendously insulting, I think, to President Biden to get him on as late as he did.
Everyone should have seen. Uh, the Obamas last night, their speeches were great. Two quick Iowa connections. Um, I, I could not help but notice Um, and feel how much Iowa has lost influence within the Democratic National Committee. Um, I'm not sure where they're seated. They used to be up front. I think they're way in the back.
I'm not sure they were actually in the arena. I think they were in the parking lot. It might have been in Grant Park. Um, we, I was at an event last night where we were watching it with a room full of about 30 people on CNN and just as the roll call got to Iowa, CNN goes to a commercial break. President Obama, so we didn't, I never did see it.
President Obama did mention Iowa one time. It was very quick. He, he mentioned, um, how, uh, Kamala Harris had a doorknock for him in, in, in Iowa. And, um, so they, they go way back, but I couldn't help, but think back to those days of, um, of, of the message of hope and change and helping people, um, and then contrast that with where Iowa is today compared to back in 2007 and 2008, where all of these restrictive.
Um, pieces of legislation don't really help people. They just prohibit people from doing things that they want to do. And it was just a stark contrast for me. Julie, what did you take? What have you seen so far? What sticks out to you? Well, I was delighted that they're going to underscore the message of freedom.
Because I think that will resonate for so many reasons in Iowa, we've, we've got book bans going on, for God's sake, I never thought in my, my lifetime that, that the books that we read as children would be on a banned book list, for God's sake. I also think that the eminent domain issue is a real sleeper in Iowa.
I don't think it's getting nearly enough attention as a game changer. I may be wrong, but I'm coming on the record by saying, If something flips in Iowa, those two issues are going to be one of the reasons why in addition to abortion. But you have people all over the state who know it is not fair that the government can just take their land.
And, um, I think the message of freedom, we're fighting for freedom, is a good one, and I think it resonates across party lines. If I could just jump in real quickly, Dave, if I could just, this is Dave Buzik, real quickly on Julie's point about eminent domain. And that is that it's a difficult issue for Iowa Democrats because they want those union construction jobs.
So you're not going to be hearing Democrats screaming from the mountaintops. Uh, about, about that issue. The one, perhaps exception to that, uh, Ryan Milton, the Democrat from Nevada running in the fourth congressional district in that kind of uphill fight against the Republican Congressman, Randy Feenstra, that was a focus of part of his remarks at the Des Moines registers soapbox at the Iowa state fair.
And he is trying to galvanize the opposition to the pipeline, to the use of eminent domain. As kind of this broad outreach, you know, there aren't frankly enough Democrats in the fourth district to mount a winning campaign. So he was trying to pluck out these Indies and Republicans who perhaps are against that.
To Julie's point, I mean, I don't want to overstate his chances here, but it was an interesting message. And we have seen, I totally agree with you, Dave, a lot of the Democrats are kind of standing off this and. Perhaps that's a tough issue. They don't know how to thread. Cathy Obradovich. Uh, the Libertarians, um, are actually picking up on that theme of eminent domain as well.
Um, and, you know, Libertarians have been a factor in the past, um, in races in Iowa. They have, In the past, gained enough votes to be considered an official party. Um, and, you know, if you look at, for example, the 4th district. I know I don't necessarily expect this to help the Democrat that much. Um, but the, but it may actually peel off some Republican votes for the libertarian candidate.
So I, I just think that may be maybe an interesting dynamic in some districts. Well, first of all, on eminent domain, Democratic candidates, for the most part, aren't talking about the issue. Democratic legislators have basically not talked about it very much in the legislature with few exceptions. And even when the Iowa House passed an eminent domain bill this year, not one Democratic legislator spoke during the floor debate.
So. I don't think the Democrats are well positioned to capitalize on that issue, but just to respond to what Art and Dave Buzik said about the scheduling, I agree they could have done with fewer speeches and shorter speeches, but I think it's less important now than it used to be whether someone is speaking in prime time because a lot of people aren't watching the conventions live.
They're looking at clips are going to be shared on social media. The next day. And so the best clips from Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, Joe Biden speech, those will be shared around and people will see them regardless. And by the way, if you don't want to have commercial interruptions, you should be watching C SPAN because I got to see the whole roll call, including Iowa.
It wasn't clear why they chose the song Celebration by Kool and the Gang, but I did get to see it. Uh, it was the Cardinals theme song in 1982 when they won the World Series. So I think that's why, right, Dave Boozik? Exactly. You know I'd have to have a Cardinal reference. Hey, I wanted to expand on something that we talked about a little bit sooner, but when it comes to the messaging specifically, Uh, you know, we saw it with the Obamas out there.
You can do the hope and change kind of bring that back. The one thing that I'm curious watching the convention as a whole is kind of what the, what is the primary theme? Is it an optimistic theme? As we've seen some in the MAGA crowd are trying to make fun of Kamala Harris's laugh, right? Making it seem like she's some kind of maniacal, crazy, whatever.
But if it's going to be kind of this push of Democrats trying to get behind this joyful kind of uplifting, let's all work together, let's take us forward kind of thing, or, you know, the Trump message is more dark crime is everywhere. We've got people invading our Southern border. This is the apocalypse.
It's the end of the earth. This is our last chance. We're going to lose our country. This kind of really, really dark, dark, dark message, regardless of whether the facts back up some of the claims. And I'm curious from you all, what is the most effective way again, thinking within our border, let's maybe push some of the Democrats aside here.
You would assume the Democrats are on board unless they're not going to vote, but to really. Reach what is left of our purple middle. What is the best way to do that? Maybe sort of counter programming, if you will, is this kind of joyful, let's all work together, who cares? We don't all agree on everything.
Or do you have zingers that. You know, Trump is the devil or whatever it is here. Um, uh, art, let's, let's start with you. Like what's the most effective way to go there? I've heard a little bits of both, frankly, so far during the convention, I thought they would maybe do the, let's be the joyful party. Let's play on Harris's smile and laughter and all that kind of stuff.
But we did hear some zingers here in various forms. What's the most effective way to connect? I think they're doing a masterful job, actually, despite me bitching about the fact that it goes on too long. I bitch about that kind of thing all the time. Stories are too long also. But no, I think they've done a masterful job for TV.
They're appealing to young voters. Uh, people of color, women, and, uh, they're, they're very obviously targeting those demographics. And I think it's been very effective. And, uh, look at the polls, uh, they're moving the polls right now. And, uh, second, you know, it's, uh, it it's, uh, You know, masterfully put together in terms of, uh, theming, uh, and freedom, uh, is of, of course, code for pro choice and, uh, uh, you know, bodily autonomy, freedom, and so, and that's, that is going to be a very powerful issue for, for Harris and Walls going forward.
So, uh, uh, and the other themes, uh, you know, are, uh, Uh, you know, the coach Walz routine is really effective, uh, and that that's going to have a lot of traction in the upper Midwest swing states, Wisconsin, Michigan, and, uh, you know, showing him off is, it is, uh, brilliant politics. And, and so I can't question anything they've done in the last month.
Uh, because it's, it's been a masterstroke, uh, of, of politics, in my opinion. Dave Buzik, one of the, one of the things that I think is so valuable about your column is when you allow readers into our newsrooms and the realities of how things work, does a speaker get rewarded with a hopeful message? Or does a television newsroom producer who is producing two newscasts that night and has to scroll through two hours of speeches, it's a lot easier to find that 10 second soundbite where you see a, that Donald Trump is Satan.
So what is the most effective way to communicate in light of modern media? I think Laura, um, nailed it when she said a lot of people aren't going to be watching live, they're going to be looking at the clips that are online. You know, I have to tell you Michelle Obama's line last night about somebody, I'd hate to be the person who whispers in Trump's ear that the job he seeks might be one of the black jobs.
I mean, it brought the house down last night. I about fell out of my chair. I thought it was such a great line. And that's a, that's a clip. Is is certainly, uh, going viral. So, you know, from your political coverage days. I mean, that's what reporters do. We go, we cover an event that lasts for hours. And then we try to find the best parts to put on television that night.
The best quotes to put in the newspaper the next day. So that is not unusual. Yes, journalists are overworked. So that's just kind of the process. If I could address real quickly your question to art about. An overall theme of this convention. I think it's change. The phrase is, we're not going back. Kamala Harris as the change candidate.
And of course, from the Republican perspective, they're going to say, wait a minute, she's been in the White House for the past three and a half years. She's the change agent. So I think that's going to be a real friction point moving forward in this campaign. Is she like Obama in 2008? change or has she been part of the problem.
And, uh, the messaging there is going to be extremely important Cathy Obradovich and now you want me to jump in. Yeah, well, first of all Dave just said, but I was going to say in terms of, uh, Michelle Obama's quip about, uh, about, you know, the presidency being one of those black jobs. It, it was, It was completely, you know, absolutely a roar, you know, the people, uh, and, you know, I, I certainly was yelling at my team what I heard.
I was like, oh, that was that was right on the point because it was turning his words against him. But she, she, she delivered that zinger. In the context of a speech where she also was saying, you know, when they go low, we go high, you know, that this is not where, you know, we're not going to go small. These 2 ideas can coexist and they, and they always do in politics that, you know, delivering a positive message, being upbeat, being joyful.
Um, does not mean that you don't criticize the other side. It doesn't mean that you don't, you know, point out the contrast. Um, you know, but also, you know, this positive vibe, I think it helps Democrats with one of their biggest problems, which is people's perception of the economy. Um, what we've seen from polling, what we've seen from consumer activity is that the economy is a lot better than people believe it is.
And because of the way the economics work, if people don't believe the economy is good, then it's not going to be good. This positive vibe. You know, as if Democrats can maintain it, um, will help with the attitude that kind of sour attitude that American voters are feeling. Um, it's in some ways justified because there are a lot of prices at the grocery store that haven't gone down.
It's not necessarily due to economic. Policies from the government, it's due to policies from, um, you know, from the businesses that are are in the business to make money. So, um, but, but I do think that the, the changing the attitude of voters will help with that issue. A lot of supply chain issues that led to some price jumps with that.
As well, and I don't know if this is a barometer or not. I mentioned this and I think in 1 of the recent columns I wrote, but. I was state fair. Just set a record for attendance, you know, is that a good barometer? But if the economy sucks, are we really going to have nearly 1. 2 million people? shelling out an awful lot of money to buy expensive food to park 20 bucks in somebody's yard to pay 11 bucks whatever it was to get in.
It might just be proof that people are getting stupider over time too. Not a fan of the fair, Art? No, I've covered enough fairs that I don't care if I ever see the backside of a sheep again. There was some good food there too. Uh, Julie, Julie Gamig, I know you wanted to jump in. Yeah, you asked about messaging and I think The messaging that took place at the convention and what will probably unfold here in Iowa is the stories people tell, you know, you can talk about abortion from a statistic point of view or from a medical point of view, but to have a young woman get up there from Kentucky and talk about being impregnated by her father at the age of 12, and having choice to deal with that effectively.
Those stories hit home, because whether it's a 12 year old who got pregnant and needed a medical abortion, that's one case. But everybody I know has somebody either in their family or somebody they know who's had to make that difficult decision. And to bring these stories to the fore as an emphasis of the importance of a word, a theme that they're using, which is freedom, I I think is, I think is the message and I hope we see a lot more of that.
I also am curious how the, the threat perhaps of IVF and how that crosses partisan lines here beyond the issue of abortion, uh, contraception. We have seen in our state, perhaps there will be a movement To even further restrict what Republicans have already done. Those two things to me, I wonder even get broader than the, than the abortion, uh, rights changes and arguments to people that those may add another kind of oomph for Democrats as they go out campaigning as well.
Uh, anybody else want to jump in on, yeah, go ahead. Did I hear Michelle Obama say last night that the one of their children at least was. Um, can see through IVF. I, did we know that? I don't think I knew that. I didn't know that before. I didn't know that before. Yeah. So it was reported a few years ago, uh, but for whatever reason, it, it never, uh, became news until now.
Mm hmm. Uh, does anybody think that, no, no disrespect to the former president, uh, with whom I spent an awful lot of time in the caucus campaigns back when campaigns were sort of like that, but should those two have been flipped? In the way the effect and I appreciate that art would have been long in bed.
Uh, perhaps it would not have seen the former first lady, but to me, I thought her speech was the one that perhaps connected a little bit more that kind of rah, rah, let's get after it. Let's do something. It had some optimism. It had a couple of dings at, at Trump. Uh, I have wondered if the former president Obama Is truly comfortable being on stage, ripping on a, another person who has been president.
I feel like he's been hesitant to do some of that. I thought that the former first lady maybe had the, had the connection with the audience that perhaps the former president did not. Does anybody agree? Go ahead, Dave. Let me say, I think they had different jobs and I think they fulfilled those jobs perfectly.
Um, you don't put, uh, the president on, the former president on anything but last, you just don't because you built. So I think that she had to do the emotional part of it. And he had to do a little bit more of the intellectual part of the argument, and I thought it went brilliantly. Go ahead, Laura Bellin.
I think that for the first time I can ever remember, the Democrats have better bumper sticker slogans. Then the Republican. So would they, I mean, the whole messaging around, we won't go back, mind your own damn business. It's very broad. It applies to a lot of things, not just one issue, although it partly, of course, the abortion issue, but I thought Michelle Obama, it was so skillful when she was saying.
You know, every Democrats are on this sugar high right now because things have been going so well for the last few weeks and she said there are going to be some tough days and there are going to be some tough polls. So, you know, you're going to put down your phone and do something and she was really getting the crowd involved in saying do something and and I just felt that that was very effective again.
That's a simple idea. Usually it's Republicans who have morning in America or make America great again. And I feel like this ticket, I'm sure we'll hear more of it from Tim Walz and Kamala Harris. Also, when she says, when we fight, we win. That's something that at their rallies has been getting a lot of crowd involvement.
And I think it's very effective. Laura, that's, I totally agree with you about the bumper sticker message. When I talk to groups, I bring that up and I'm always a little resident to do it because I feel like I'm the shallow. TV guy out there who's used to 10 seconds soundbites. But when I've thought about the successful candidates we have seen over the years, like tell me what John Kerry's bumper sticker message was in oh four.
Uh, we know George W was stay the course. I have no idea what John Kerry's message was. We've already discussed what Barack Obama's was clearly Donald Trump has his like there has to be a way to have that overarching theme to connect with folks and perhaps maybe Democrats are getting better. Uh, Bob Leonard, you've been patiently waiting to jump in here.
Well, sure, I thought both Obamas were fantastic, but I knew it was going to have to be Art or I to bring this up, but, um, since Art hasn't, I'm going to. Barack Obama's joke about crowd size was fantastic. It was just and I'm moving my hands for the listeners who didn't see it going from large to small clearly.
And, uh, I don't know, a Freudian reference to, uh, what hand size. Yeah. Yeah. Hand size. Thank you. So, I thought that was fantastic. No, get it. Could you explain a little further? No, I think Dave handled that very well. Uh, and it does seem. The what gets under former president Trump's skin the most would be comments like that, and as you allude here, Bob masterfully, you know, there could be a little double entendre here, but when you start talking about his physical appearance, his intelligence, even things like crowd size, any of the kind of vanity type things, those seem to be the things that really get him going.
And you can tell when he then does a rally and goes on and on and on talking about something clearly you've hit a nerve. Kathy Obradovich. Yeah, I just wanted to mention that memes, Internet memes are kind of the new bumper stickers. So, uh, you know, what Laura had to say about the messaging, you know, sort of the slogans, the bumper sticker messaging is even more important these days, because that is what is so effective on those Internet means that people are paying attention to more unfortunately than they are the newscasts.
So. Um, so definitely, um, you know, having those. Having those effective means, and, you know, of course, that is why we continue to be concerned about Internet misinformation and disinformation. The, the bots that we're not hearing so much about, um, foreign actors producing these as we did in the last election cycle, but I feel like that's coming.
Um, so that is, that is something that, um, you know, you've got brilliant messaging on the one hand, um, that can absolutely go viral, uh, but you've also got a threat from the same source. Uh, Julie Gammy, going to do a final thought here on, uh, the convention before we move on to another topic. Well, actually, I was going to move on to another topic.
Oh, well then. May I? May I? I think I just got fired as the lead here, but sure. Go ahead, Julie. The queen has reclaimed her throne. No, it ties in though. I'm curious and I want to direct this to Art because Art and Chris Jones were a part of a panel discussion about water quality up in, uh, Northwest Iowa was just last week and it capped off for Chris.
It capped off a long week. Where he has appeared around the state from, uh, uh, Decorah, uh, Iowa City, etc. Where he is reaching packed halls, packed audiences of people who are showing up to talk about water quality. Now, I don't see the Democratic Party taking this on as an issue, but I think, but I think, I think it's curious that it's, it's really churning people up and again, if anything is going to impact Iowa and flip it, issues like that and eminent domain just might be the ticket.
Art, I'm curious what you think of that. Hey, Art, before you answer, I wish our listeners could see your face. As Julie was asking that question, that's all I have to say. Oh, well, yeah. Because, uh, I was smiling in recognition, uh, of the issue that I've been talking about this for, you know, uh, 20 years and, uh, Democrats keep ignoring the issue of water quality.
And they keep performing very poorly in rural areas. Uh, and look where the lakes are. Dickinson County, Buena Vista County, uh, Cerro Gordo County. Every place where they're losing, there are lakes. Okay. And then they ignore water quality. And whether it's Tom Vilsack, uh, although Vilsack was responsible for dredging Storm Lake, uh, but overall the pollution, uh, of the state, surface water, we have the, the worst surface water in America.
The Raccoon River and the Mississippi River are on American River's most endangered list. And my sister in Omaha had breast cancer and she, uh, is a, votes Republican, she's an independent who votes Republican in Omaha, and she believes that her breast cancer may be linked to water quality. Furthermore, Ann Selzer, uh, the esteemed pollster, the queen, shall we say, of polling, uh, if Julie is the queen of talk, uh, Ann Selzer has done a lot of focus groups in Poland that shows that it polls really well among, uh, Obama to Trump voters.
Uh, water quality is one of their number one issues. It had over 60 percent support in a vote for a constitutional amendment. When was that? 10 years ago, Kathy? 12 years ago? I can't remember. But the Iowa legislature has refused to appropriate any money to it. So in polling, in an actual plebiscite, water quality shows to be a very important issue in Iowa and Democrats are punning it.
And it's a huge strategic error. It's a way to reconnect with rural areas and, uh, whether it's Democrat or Republican, uh, we've never, uh, really tackled the issue of surface water pollution, which has to do, of course, with producing ethanol and hogs and, uh, What does Rita Hart talk about, uh, in the roll call that Dave couldn't see because he was watching CNN?
Uh, she says, well, we're good at growing corn and we got ethanol and we feed the world and that old feed the world line again. And, uh, what we're doing is we're feeding ethanol plants that are sucking down our water supplies and we all know it. And nobody likes to smell hog shit in the morning or napalm.
And, uh, so Democrats are really punning a huge issue in rural Iowa. Dr. Bob Lehner, this was your column we're talking about here. What do you think about that, uh, lack of focus on water quality? Well, I think they're going to have to focus on it pretty quickly. Um, They're being called out on art just did right there, but I got a text last night after Rita Hart spoke and and I was from Chris Jones and he said, uh, spouting the Farm Bureau line, you know, and so he was, uh, Upset that, um, that was the the line that was Rita's pitch and Chris Jones is taking no prisoners.
He's got a new group. The driftless water defenders. Uh, I was at 1 of the events, uh, where he and just Piper, who, if you don't subscribe to just Piper, um, uh, she, you know, is from Missouri. Just really a great progressive. She's really good. They had an event at big. A brewery. And it was packed standing room only.
And, um, Chris has been calling out, you know, different legislators much to the consternation of many Democrats. He's calling out Democrats. He's called out Rob Sand in a pretty brutal tweet the other day. And so, um, They're either going to have, it's going to be hard to ignore Chris and so he's trying to leverage them to do something.
And, you know, some other people are doing too. And it's a very popular topic and tying it to cancer rates. I mean, there's, there's us from free Rick, uh, sent me a, a study the other day that they're thinking that, um, nitrates in our streams. Uh, and if we're close to them and, and the impact on water is as bad as smoking for cancer.
So I mean, we're coming up to, I think, a tipping point on water quality and Democrats can ignore it or they can embrace it, but they're going to have to, you know, stop taking the big egg money. I talked to Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds at the fair. I was asking her about her husband's. Lung cancer, uh, he has been undergoing treatment since last September, by all accounts, has done reasonably well with this immunotherapy, uh, he had radiation early on, and this is something that I think he takes some, uh, oral medication for this continued treatment, but it's something that he'll have to do the, the rest of his life, as he has a small cell lung cancer, which is what my dad died of.
Of course, my dad had smoked for 60 years, so they're not quite the same, scenario, but they don't really seem to know how Kevin Reynolds got his lung cancer. He's not a smoker. And I had asked the governor about the fact that we have the second highest cancer rate in its two years straight. Something's causing this.
She said the Iowa Department of Public Health will be looking into this, which is something that I think we journalists need to stay on top of to see what indeed is being done with this. As we know, a Democratic legislator, Janice Weiner, had tried, um, uh, Janice Weiner from the Iowa City area had tried this last session to get some state funding to kind of Do a little more research into finding out what the heck is causing all of this and Republicans chose not to.
Dave, this is Art Cullen. Please interrupt. I'm sorry. I'm impulsive and, uh, uh, I must note that, uh, Northwest Iowa has, uh, the densest concentration of livestock in North America. And it also has the highest rates of prostate and breast cancer. So in short, there's the answer to your question. Furthermore, that, uh, it's been already shown that children who grew up, uh, near, uh, livestock confinements have higher rates of asthma and other diseases.
Thanks for sure. And so where, you know, where does this go if we stay on top of the department of public health and what kind of research, what kind of inquiries will they be doing on this? Is this going to have to be an outside group that really identifies what's going on? How does that lead to policy changes, Julie?
Well, I, I, I would like to say some really positive things about Rita Hart's leadership as the chair of the party. Um, and actually Laura can probably speak to this better than I can at this point, but I think they're, they've done a much better job, uh, putting candidates on the ballot this go around. I think she's, she's an impressive, um, leader of the party.
Julie. And yes, I think these issues are definitely real and definitely need to be discussed, but I think we need to acknowledge Rita's leadership in other ways too. Laura, how about you? Well, I've been writing for 15 plus years about why Iowa Democrats Should be doing more to protect the environment and speaking out on these issues.
Even back when Iowa had a democratic trifecta, the legislature really didn't do a lot for the environmental community. And that's where a lot of my activism was focused in the 2000. So, I mean, I, I don't think that we're going to see democratic candidates highlighting this issue anytime soon. The House Minority Leader, Jennifer Converse, has been really clear that Their candidates are going to be very disciplined and on message on public education and reproductive rights.
They feel that those are the issues that are animating Iowans, including in rural Iowa. And I guess I just, um, I, I feel a little bit hopeless in terms of organizing Iowans around the issue of water quality, but I did want to mention that during the legislative session, some Democrats did try to offer amendments.
Are bills that would add. I think it was a 2 million research line item that would be researching the causes of cancer in Iowa and Republicans didn't add that they didn't put that funding in their budget and they rejected those amendments when they were offered so and I finally I wanted to give a shout out to Keith Schneider, who has done some really good reporting on this issue and he did a Feature in April or May focusing on the high cancer rate in Palo Alto County, Iowa, and had a lot of personal stories in there, and it was very strong reporting and very powerful.
Hey, Laura, speaking of reporting, let's talk about one of your recent cons. You're looking at the record number of LGBTQ candidates running for the Iowa State House. Yes, I thought it was interesting because we've seen the last few years just a slew of anti LGBTQ bills, and there have been a handful of LGBTQ legislators before and usually in each election cycle, a few candidates, but this year, at least 10 candidates.
Who are openly gay or queer running for the legislature, mostly for the house, one campaigning in the Iowa Senate, but, uh, including two incumbents. And one thing that I didn't realize until I started looking into this over the summer is that Austin Harris, who is a Republican state representative from a district in South Iowa, he is openly gay.
And so he is the first. Openly gay Republican legislator in Iowa. Also, Eleanor Levin, who is a House Democrat from Iowa City. She identifies as queer, as does Liz Bennett, who's a state senator from Cedar Rapids. But I think it's very positive to have a Republican politician in Iowa be openly gay. I also think that the number of candidates, six Democratic challengers, one Democrat, Amy Wichtendahl, Running for an open seat in Cedar Rapids.
She has a pretty good chance of becoming the first transgender legislator in Iowa and also an independent candidate way up in Northeast Iowa, the House district that includes Alamakee County and he, Ian Zarin, you might remember him if you've seen the Rag Bride documentary. called Shift. He was the head of the RAGBRAI committee in Lansing.
But in any case, I think that the fact that people, despite the difficult political environment for LGBTQ Iowans, I thought it was really noteworthy that we have so many people stepping up and saying, we live here, including some candidates who live in very small towns. So I have more. About the specifics of the candidates and their districts in my post from over the weekend, but I thought it was worth highlighting.
Art Cullen, you, you wrote about rural Democrats might come out of hiding. And one of your lines was that Trump's flag goes limp in the dog days of summer. You believe that? Well, yeah, actually, they are tattered. They haven't been replaced. The Trump flags around the fourth congressional district. You know, the, the, there, the big, uh, Trump signs are not there, uh, like they used to be.
Bob was talking about this earlier and, uh, uh, I, I sense that there is a shift in rural Iowa, uh, and in, uh. in the politics, uh, of rural Iowa. And it's not going to be determinative. I, you know, I, the Iowa poll showed that, uh, Trump had a double digit lead over Biden. And, uh, a lot of keen political observers would think that if you could get that down into single digits, then it might give, uh, Bacom or Bohannon, uh, a chance to flip congressional seats or to make some progress in the house, the Iowa house.
Uh, the, the differences in the Senate are so great, it's going to be very difficult to ever make up that chasm, but, but anyway, Democrats are in rural areas like J. D. Scholten, for example, from Sioux City, are feeling a little more optimistic and J. D. talks to a lot of Trump people. He's on a baseball team, a semi pro baseball team.
Where most of the bus are Trumpers and, uh, you know, they just aren't as vigorous as they once were. Uh, and, uh, I don't know what that means politically in Iowa. Um, but, uh, it might mean lower turnout in the fourth district. Again, because of pipelines, Republicans aren't real crazy, but Randy Feenstra, he had a very strong primary challenge.
Uh, from a guy who was anti pipeline, and so we might see limited turnout in Iowa, uh, uh, this fall among the hardcore Republican base, cause, and there isn't a real statewide issue to motivate, or candidate to motivate them, uh, you know, there's no governor's race, no Senate race. So it could be an interesting year for turnout, but yeah, let's see what a statewide poll looks like with Kamala Harris too.
I don't think anybody believes Kamala Harris is going to win Iowa, but it'll probably be a lot closer than that last Iowa poll suggested. Uh, Bob Leonard, do you want to jump in on that? Yeah, I just thought you'd be interested, uh, with this email that I just got from the chair of the Marion County Dems.
She writes, Michelle Obama was absolutely inspiring last night. I don't know about you, but I am inspired to get out and do something today. Come out today and tomorrow to support Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. Bring a friend and share with anyone you think would like to join us. Come both days or come whenever you can.
They're going to knock doors. So this is a direct result of last night. And so while while maybe Trump's. Fading a little bit. The Democrats are energized and this is rural Democrats here. And so that was, um, really nice to see coming in during this conversation. Dave Boozik, you wrote about Kamala Harris ducking the media.
She's largely gotten away with that so far. Kind of, uh, uh, enjoying the boost, the boost, the increased poll numbers. Hasn't been doing those sit down interviews. Getting the hard questions from the national media. It rarely takes any questions in a gaggle, you know, after events, those kinds of things. Uh, how long can this honeymoon go before this starts working against her?
It's been a pretty long honeymoon so far. I mean, I expected it to last a week or two, but it's gone on four weeks plus now. Um, so yeah, I think the important thing to remember and keep in mind. Is that she's had a month to plan a convention, pick a running mate, run for president, whereas Trump has been running since 2015 when he came down the escalator.
So, you know, I think that she's gotten away with it so far, but she's not going to be able to get away with it much longer. Immediately after the convention, she needs to schedule a couple of meetings. Significant interviews and she needs to hold a press conference before it becomes a thing, because otherwise what happens is there's going to be so much focus and heat on when she finally does sit down that everybody will be looking for the slightest little error.
We still have to get through her speech on Thursday night. You know, the speeches have been so good on the first two nights as we sit here on Wednesday morning that she's going to have, um, I think, um, I think she's going to have a tough hill to climb here to be able to match the energy and enthusiasm.
Um, let's just face it, Michelle and Barack Obama are supreme communicators. We don't know that, uh, Kamala Harris is at that level yet. So, uh, there, there may be a bit of a letdown after she talks, uh, on Thursday night. We'll see, but bottom line, before it becomes a thing, she needs to sit down and answer some questions.
I think we remember Hillary Clinton struggled with that by, uh, kind of defarming the media for quite some time. That was something Obama was, uh, Far, far better at when they went head to head back in whenever that was. Oh, wait, uh, Julie Gamak, you had Ruth Harkin, uh, Story County's first female County attorney back in the day.
Of course, the wife of longtime Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, Ruth Harkin is out with a book and she was. She was your podcast guest over this past week. What'd you take from that conversation? First of all, I think she epitomizes what I hope so many people come to acknowledge in their own families is that if, if we don't tell our family stories, who will, so, um, obviously she's, she's a person who is from a very prominent Iowa family, but she wrote these essays primarily for an audience of her children.
And her family. And then, as she was encouraged to, to have a broader audience for them, she, she decided to make a, a, a book, uh, of these vignettes of these essays. And what you really get to see is the behind the scenes of the life of someone who's been, whose family has been in the public eye for decades.
Uh, they're fascinating stories. She, she read from the one that she wrote about the decision, uh, when Harkin withdrew from the presidential race in 1992. Now, these are the kinds of stories you don't you don't hear you don't read generally and in the mainstream media. So it's it's going to be a fun book for people to read Bob Leonard.
You've interviewed her. You've got a story coming up. Don't you sometime soon? Yeah, I interviewed Ruth. Uh, it was a very nice interview. Um, the Harkin boyhood home. They still live in. Um, I enjoyed the book. I have a review that will be coming out. Going to try to finish it today, but it'll come out Sunday in the register.
So I'm, uh, there's some big message as to for all of us in the book, Kathy Obradovich, if you could close this out here, uh, your work at the Iowa Capitol dispatch, obviously your day to day, primarily. is guiding this massive ship through the ocean. Uh, you have your reporters dig into a lot of things that we don't see in other publications.
The one thing that I saw this week that stood out is this kind of continued commitment that Clark Kaufman has had dealing with the state's nursing homes, a variety of issues. In this case, he was talking about one that's I think filed bankruptcy and they're going to have 10 years maybe to pay back the million bucks they're supposed to.
But the, the reporting kind of writ large on this industry, what is this? What is this, uh, informed readers most about, do you think? Yeah, so Clark Hoffman, first of all, had an interest in this topic, even before Iowa Capital Dispatch existed. He wrote stories like this, uh, at the DeWine Register, um, and unfortunately, he's continued to be pretty much the only reporter in Iowa, um, who is consistently writing about this, uh, you know, he, uh, every single week, he looks at inspection reports for Iowa nursing homes.
Unemployment records for, you know, finding out why people get fired from health care jobs. Um, and it, you know, it takes it's a huge lift to go through all of these reports in mind for stories. What we're seeing, though, so, you know, he's now been doing this for more than 4 years for Iowa capital dispatch and, you know, what we've seen is.
You know, before Clark, these unreported stories of horrific heart rending cases of abuse and neglect in nursing homes. And we're starting to see patterns now where there are some corporate owned nursing home chains that are significantly contributing to these abuse and neglect cases. And, you know, the trend of the fact that, you know, even good nursing homes, it can run into these problems because they have a hard time keeping staff.
So the staffing shortage. Meanwhile, I was population is aging this issue of safety and, you know, being comfortable and, you know, having a good life. In skilled care in Iowa is just only going to get to be more and more urgent. It was this year. Really? For the 1st time that we actually started seeing some of this reporting being reflected in policy being proposed at the Capitol.
Um, you know, we, Democrats in particular introduced a suite of of legislation that would have addressed some of the issues dealing the staffing levels, for example. Um, but, um, none of that, none of those past and there was, there was also a Republican sponsored bill that that probably, um. Um, but, um, none of that, none of those past and there was, there was also a Republican sponsored bill that that probably, um.
Eases the ability of nursing homes to avoid some of the fines that they get. So, so I, you know, I think that we're still kind of going the wrong direction with policy, but the fact is that it's being discussed and, um, and the nursing home industry contributes a lot to lawmakers. Um, and they have been very, very successful and lobbying for their causes over the years.
Um, and, uh, you know, I think that the effects that we're seeing, you know, this latest story that you mentioned, you know, millions of dollars in fees. This is so circular, but, um, nursing homes pay. Big money in fees to the state so that they can get a discount on the back end from federal Medicare dollars and Medicaid Medicare Medicaid.
So, um, it's legal. Um, the federal government agrees to it, but it's just like, kind of a shell game with the money and the money that they get back from the beds is supposed to be spent on staffing, you know, improving staffing levels. For example, we can't, we can't. Conclude that the money is being spent and also we can't conclude that the, uh, many of the energy homes are not we know that they're not actually paying in those fees to the state.
They're getting the discount on the back end, but they're, they're in arrears to the state. So so we've got this money game going on and I have to think that lawmakers will take a look at that this fall. Thank you, Kathy Obradovitz, Julie Gamak, Laura Bell, and Dave Buzikard, Colin. Dr. Bob Leonard, we appreciate the conversation.
Uh, maybe a final note of thanks, uh, particularly to the benefactors. Julie Gamak, Gamak has talked to these folks. This is, this is kind of enables us to do this thing, to have this frequent conversation, this in depth conversation, and hopefully in moments like these, As we have spent over the past hour talking about what's going on, we can have a little deeper conversation about what is going on in our state and across our country, in particular, how things, these decisions, these politicians, their ideas, what they do, what they don't do, how it impacts.
All of our daily lives. So we greatly appreciate those who those of you who have supported this effort here at the politics panel. And then even more broadly with the Iowa Writers Collaborative, we greatly appreciate your support and please continue to spread the word so we can continue to expand what we do here.
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Midweek of the DNC Convention