So it goes. Steve King has been talking for weeks about possibly challenging Iowa Governor Chet Culver who is seeking re-election in 2010. Now King is saying that if Culver doesn’t “properly handle” the Supreme Court decision before the end of the session, then King will be more likely to run. By the way, I’m pretty sure that when King says “properly handle” that he doesn’t mean “uphold your constitutional duty as chief executive of the state and respect separation of powers, checks and balances, and basic democratic principles by enforcing the decision handed down by the courts.”Not that King’s ultimatum wasn’t flimsy enough. Usually when you say “do this or else” the “or else” part is supposed to be truly spine tingling. Instead, King says “do what I say, or I will continue to merely consider running against you.”
If I were Chet Culver, I would issue a statement right now that says the following:
“Hello my fellow Iowans. Yesterday, the Iowa Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision that will affect Iowa in what I perceive to be a positive manner in the years to come. The court’s decision, based on common sense and principles of civil liberties and democracy in general, though controversial, deserves our support. And by the way King, I dare you, I double dare - nay – I triple dog dare you to run against me. I welcome the challenge. By the way, if you do choose to run against me, you are a sucker, because you’ll be giving up your cushy seat in the House of Representatives from a district where you will always win, to instead run against, and lose to, me.”
I’m not the only one who has this opinion either. There seem to be scores of Democrats in Iowa who have trouble restraining themselves from launching into full song and dance over the idea of Steve King running for statewide office. Apparently, he is as disliked in his home state as he is, well, everywhere else. Aside from King’s weak reaction, it’s hard to understand exactly why there was so much surprise coming from the Iowa conservatives after the ruling was handed down. The ruling seemed to be expected by almost everyone who had paid attention to the oral arguments.
The larger reason that Democrats in Iowa like the idea of running against a social conservative is the economy. A more moderate Republican will bring up Iowa’s economic hard times and try to hit Culver on the issue. King will talk Gay Marriage until he is blue in the face. Everyone gets what they want. King gets to continue making outlandish and offensive remarks, Democrats in Iowa get their Governor back.
UPDATED: Governor Culver issued a statement reflecting some of the principles I espoused in the column I posted on friday:
“Yet, the Supreme Court of Iowa, in a unanimous decision, has clearly stated that the Constitution of our state, which guarantees equal protection of the law to all Iowans, requires the State of Iowa to recognize the civil marriage contract of two people of the same gender. The Court also concluded that the denial of this right constitutes discrimination. Therefore, after careful consideration and a thorough reading of the Court’s decision, I am reluctant to support amending the Iowa Constitution to add a provision that our Supreme Court has said is unlawful and discriminatory."
“As Governor, I must respect the authority of the Iowa Supreme Court, and have a duty to uphold the Constitution of the State of Iowa. I also fully respect the right of all Iowans to live under the full protection of Iowa’s Constitution.”
And he concluded “Congressman King, the gauntlet has been thrown. Bring it.”
…Ok, no. He didn’t actually end it that way. I wish he did though.
Just days after the landmark Iowa Supreme Court decision, Vermont overrode the veto of its Governor, allowing it to become the fourth state in the country to allow Gay Marriage. Vermont is the first state to allow Gay Marriage via state legislation, as opposed to court decisions striking down unconstitutional laws.
Democrat Al Franken has extended his vote lead over Republican Norm Coleman in Minnesota after a three judge panel admitted new votes yesterday. 350 rejected absentee ballots were counted, with Franken taking 198 of them, and Coleman only taking 111 of them. The result is a net gain of 87 votes for Franken, extending his lead to 312. According to Congressional Quarterly Politics, it is now statistically impossible for Coleman to win. The only question now; will Governor Pawlenty play partisan politics and refuse to sign the election certificate, or will he do the right thing, and allow Franken to be seated?
As long as we are talking about the Senate, A PPP poll was leaked to the public by the Political Wire which shows that Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning has just a 28% approval rating, and loses reelection against any of the declared Democratic candidates for Senate.
It is municipal primary day here in Omaha. I’m voting for Jim Suttle for mayor. I feel like I may have done some of my local visitors a disservice by not commenting on the Mayor’s race The other two candidates, Vokal (whom I would consider) and Daub (who I would, under no circumstances, ever vote for) are both qualified for the job. From an electioneering standpoint, Vokal began defining himself as the viable Republican alternative to Daub, and he started the election season strong, but as his fundraising numbers have dwindled, so has his ability to reach large numbers of voters. Vokal used pension spiking as an issue to try and eat into Daub’s base, but the Police union has been hammering away at Vokal for weeks, and who knows how negative an effect it could have. Suttle, on the other hand, started with a weaker hand than Daub and Vokal, but has garnered a nice little war chest for himself, perhaps in anticipation of Vokal’s end. In any case, I predict that Daub and Suttle will be fighting for the Mayor’s office in the General, and Vokal will be on the outside looking in.
