Gwen Eilers and Kim Lehman

The excellent blog, Iowa Defense Alliance has a post today entitled: The Hypocrisy is Astounding. In it they assert that Republican leaders in Iowa should be outraged at Clayton County Chair Gwen Eilers for her anti-Reed write in campaign rather than at Kim Lehman for Iowa Right to Life's anti Miller-Meeks article.

I want to say first that some of us were (and remain) outraged  by Eilers' anti-Reed write in campaign. Here is what I said on this blog:

Let me be absolutely clear on this: as a Republican leader, Eilers should support our candidate, Christopher Reed — or step down. Reed won the primary and he deserves our support.

There is no mechanism for the SCC to remove or otherwise punish a county chair. Only the Clayton County Central Committee or the 1st District Executive Committees (basically the county chairs and co-chairs form the first district) can remove Eilers. I hope they have the guts to do so!

As for Kim Lehman, let me state that I supported Kim in her campaign for National Committeewoman. I had a Lehman sticker on my jacket the day of the state convention and I spoke with many people urging them to support Kim.

The Iowa Defense Alliance is right. IRTL does not have to toe the Republican Party line. But since their Executive Director is also our National Committeewoman, the potential for conflict exists.

The reason this has become such a big issue is not so much that IRTL did not support Miller-Meeks. Rather they call Miller-Meeks, who declares that she is pro-life, a liar. While her opponent, Dave Lobesack is never even mentioned.

Loebsack answered his Project Vote Smart questionnaire:

"Abortions must remain safe, legal, and rare. A woman's right to choose must never be taken away, Roe v. Wade must never be overturned."

It is not simply the case that IRTL is not supporting our candidate. In the 2nd Congressional District race, IRTL has chosen to gratuitously attack the candidate who is by any objective measure, closer to their pro-life position, while giving a free pass to the incumbent who is unashamedly pro-abortion.

Every leader in the Republican Party needs to be aware of how their actions affect our candidates and our cause. [[That includes those of us who are bloggers!]] I believe that in this case, Kim felt that her integrity as Executive Director of Iowa Right to Life necessitated publication and distribution of this article.

In the week since this issue surfaced, I have struggled as to how I should respond. I and the other two Second District SCC members, issued a statement to our district last week. As I have watched the situation unfold, I have talked to activists in my district and across the state.

I now believe, that integrity demands, that Lehman either apologize to Miller-Meeks and step down as Executive Director of Iowa Right to Life, or that she step down from her position as National Committeewoman.

Joe Childers SD 18 & the NRA

I am an NRA member and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. This week, I sat down and read the November issue of the NRA magazine, America's First Freedom. I was shocked to see that my friend, Joe Childers, received an F!

Joe is the GOP candidate in Senate District 18, Mary Lunby's old seat. His opponent Swati Dandekar received a C. Now a C is not an endorsement by any means but an F??? I know Joe and he is a conservative, I tried to recall whether he had ever said anything that would lead me to believe that he was no 100% for gun rights. I could not think of a thing.

I gave Joe a call and asked him about it. He said that he was frustrated. Apparently because he had asked for some more information on his survey they viewed his questions as negative responses. As a challenger without a voting record, they simply assigned him a grade of F.

THE NRA IS WRONG. Joe Childers is a strong pro-gun candidate. He is exactly the kind of person we need in the Iowa Senate. The NRA doesn't know Joe Childers — I do — he gets an A+ on gun rights in my book.

Miller-Meeks/Loebsack Debate

I was unable to watch the Second Congressional District debate live last night. When I got home I went online and watched a replay. If you have not seen it, you can view it in three parts: part1, part2 and part3. After the debate, I am more convinced than ever that we in District 2 are going to send Dave Loebsack back to school.

Second District GOP candidate, Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks came to the debate well prepared and did an excellent job articulating the differences between herself and her opponent.

Miller-Meeks clearly defined her positions as pro-growth, small government versus her opponent's tax and spend policies. She was especially strong in her understanding of ethanol and bio-fuels.

In my, albeit biased, opinion Miller-Meeks was the clear winner in this debate.

Miller-Meeks was asked how she could over come a fund-raising deficit of several hundred thousand dollars. She pointed out that most of Loebsack's money came from out-of-state PACs while hers comes from Iowans. (See her website ProfessorPACMan.com about Loebsack's ties to PAC money.) However in the most recent quarter she outraised Loebsack.

Even so, she did not complain about the fundraising disadvantage faced by every challenger to an incumbent. Rather she said:

If you can go out and meet voters, and you're pretty diligent and you got a lot of shoes, you can go out and meet a lot of people, you can hold meet and greets, because really it's  the voter, and letting the voter see who you are and for what you stand and knowing that when they look you in the eye, you're sincere, you're authentic, you're honest and you mean what you say.

I have looked Dr. Miller-Meeks in the eye. I know she is sincere, I know she is authentic, I know she is honest and I know that she means what she says. And besides, my kids love her! I am looking forward to celebrating her victory on election night.

SCC Meeting Postponed

Governor Palin's Des Moines visit Saturday conflicts with the State Central Committee meeting scheduled for this Saturday. The meeting has been put off until December 5-6.

Originally, I complained that the meeting was being held too close to the election. There really is little that the SCC can do at this late date to change the outcome. I thought that the meeting should be held after the election to do an after-action review and plan for the coming year.

Unfortunately, this Saturday was probably the time that the SCC was going to deal with the on-going issue involving our National Committeewoman. The December meeting will be interesting.

McCain Pulling out of Iowa — NOT!!!

There has been some buzz recently about the McCain-Palin campaign pulling out of Iowa. Well, it is time to lay that rumor to rest. This Saturday, Governor Palin is making two Iowa appearances, in Sioux City and Des Moines. Senator McCain will be in Cedar Falls on Sunday.

Iowa is in play and we need to work together in these last few days to win the state for McCain Palin.

Here are the details for the events:

Governor Palin and now Senator McCain are returning to Iowa this Saturday and Sunday for several Road to Victory Rallies in Sioux City, Des Moines and Cedar Falls!

Join Senator McCain in Cedar Falls for a Road to Victory Rally!

This Sunday, October 26th

 

West Gym at the University of Northern Iowa
2501 Minnesota Street
Cedar Falls, IA

Doors open at 11am
Program starts at Noon

Tickets to this event are free and can be picked up at the
following locations during the following times:

Black Hawk Victory Office
2307 Falls Ave
Waterloo, IA 50701
Hours: 9am to 9pm

Linn County Victory Office
2240 7th Ave, Suite 5
Marion, IA 52302
Hours: 9am to 9pm

University of Northern Iowa
The Northern Iowan
L011 Maucker Union (Lower Level)
Cedar Falls, IA 50614
Ticket distribution from 9am to 4pm

Governor Palin is coming to Sioux City for a Road to Victory Rally!

Saturday October 25th

Sioux City West High School Gym
2001 Casselman St
Sioux City, IA 51103

Doors open at 9am
Program starts at 10am

Parking at West High School will be limited.
FREE shuttle buses will be running beginning at 7:30am
from Gateway Parking Lot, 610 Gateway Drive, North Sioux City, SD.

Tickets to this event are free and can be picked up at the
following locations anytime between 9am to 9pm:

Woodbury Victory Office
4281 Sergeant Rd.
Sioux City, IA 51106
712-224-2803

Sioux County Victory Office
419 1st Ave NE
Sioux Center, IA 51250

Pottawattamie County Victory Office
1851 Madison Ave, Suite 716
Council Bluffs, IA 51503

Come Join Governor Palin for a Road to Victory Rally in Des Moines!

This Saturday, October 25th

Doors open at 12:30pm
Program starts at 1:30pm

Hy-Vee Hall
730 Third Street
Des Moines, IA 50309

Tickets to this event are free and can be picked up at the
following locations from 9am to 9pm:

McCain Regional Headquarters/Iowa Victory Headquarters
2775 86th Street
Urbandale, IA 50322

Republican Party of Iowa
621 East 9th Street
Des Moines, IA 50309

Story County Victory Office
413 Northwestern Ave.
Ames, IA 50010

Marshall County Victory Office
32 West Main Street
Marshalltown, IA 50158

Jasper County Victory Office
107 First Avenue West
Newton, IA 50208

Warren County Victory Office
1214 North Jefferson Street
Indianola, IA 50125

For additional information about any of the listed events
please call the McCain-Palin Hotline at 515-418-9322.

Second District GOP

This is an e-mail piece that I and my colleagues on the State Central Committee from the Second District sent to Republicans in our district. I believe that it is self-explanatory.

Dear Second District Republican,

We are almost there! The campaigns of our fantastic candidates are moving full speed ahead as we approach the finish line. We can almost smell victory, but there is still much work to be done.

First of all, thank you for all of your efforts. Whether it has been placing yard signs, knocking on doors, dropping literature, or calling your neighbors, your commitment to our candidates has been inspiring.

Unfortunately, in these last crucial days of the campaign, an issue has arisen that affects our Second District Congressional Candidate, Dr. Marianette Miller-Meeks. Iowa Right to Life, in their 2008 Special Edition Election Newsletter, unfairly distorts Dr. Miller-Meeks’ pro-life position. Since our newly-elected National Committeewoman, Kim Lehman, is also Executive Director of Iowa Right to Life, this has caused a great deal of confusion.

Let us make this clear ­ we support ALL of our Republican candidates and we believe that ALL leaders in our party should do the same. In the next few days, we must work together to elect our ENTIRE Republican ticket, from the White House to the County Courthouse.

If we can be of support to your county efforts during this home stretch, please do not hesitate to contact any or all of us.

David Chung
Lisa Smith
Jason Hutcheson

Dirty Laundry

In this post, I want to take a moment and state what my policy is on this blog regarding issues within the Republican Party. As most readers know, I was elected to my first term on the Republican State Central Committee at the Second District Convention this April.

This blog used to be anonymous but I was outed by Grant Young over at Questions Comments & Insults. At the time I thought that this blog would go dark, but I thought it over and several people suggested that I continue. Since then, I have put my name and picture behind every post.

By way of policy, this blog will never be the first to publicly air our party's family quarrels. I believe that doing so would be incompatible with my role as a member of the SCC.

However, once an issue has been publicly aired (in the press, or on a blog), I may choose to comment on it. This is especially true if I can provide a different perspective or insight than what is already out there.

Thanks for reading.

Miller-Meeks for House

There is a revolution going on in Iowa's second congressional district. It centers around Republican candidate, Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks or as I prefer — M³ (m-cubed - I did major in math after all).

As Krusty points out:

... Miller-Meeks was able to out raise Congressman Loebsack in the last three months of the campaign. Miller-Meeks raised $108,599.26 and gave her campaign $20k putting her total for the quarter at $128,559.26 compared to Congressman Loebsack’s $108,142.10. So even without her personal contribution Miller-Meeks outpaced Loebsack by $417.16.

Of his total, Loebsack only collected $36,000 from small donors. Almost all of Miller-Meeks' total comes from small Iowa donors.

I do not believe that I need to defend my conservative or pro-life bona-fides to readers of this blog. As a member of the GOP State Central Committee, I support all of our candidates. While I support all of our candidates, I naturally spend my personal time and effort working (as a volunteer) for those I really believe in.

This is a picture of me from about a month ago preparing to walk in a parade with my kids and hand out Miller-Meeks material. When my kids asked me why we were supporting Miller-Meeks, I said, "It's because she believes in what we believe in." As a home-schooling family, we are planning a field trip to DC to visit Congresswoman Miller-Meeks sometime next year.

We have a great candidate in the 2nd Congressional District. I am excited about the Miller-Meeks campaign. (And my kids are looking forward to that field trip to DC ;-)

Our Republican Family

Tolstoy's Anna Karenina begins with the immortal words:

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Tolstoy's observation applies to political families too. I was going to post today about 1st District GOP House Candidate, David Hartsuch's press release: McCain ’08 Shows Gay Pride By Snubbing Hartsuch. Then I read Krusty's comments, I have nothing more to add.

Reed on Deace — Pt II

Earlier this week, Republican US Senate Candidate Christopher Reed was on Steve Deace's show on WHO radio. Reed had been on WHO earlier in the day and afterward he was told that RPI Executive Director Caleb Hunter had been at an event or events telling people not to support Reed. According to Reed's sources, Hunter was:

actively telling Iowa voters not to support my candidacy because I have no chance to win ...

I spoke with both Christopher Reed and Caleb Hunter today. Reed's information is second or third hand. Caleb says that he has not been speaking at events. He further says that he said no such thing at any time. I take both of these guys at their word. I do not know exactly what was said or where but it sounds as if it lost something in the translation.

Reed went on to suggest that the party is treating him as if he were running for dogcatcher. Reed said that the state party should

... support all candidates, not just the chosen few who march to their little drum.

In this blog, I speak for myself and not for the Republican Party of Iowa. As I have said before on this blog, Reed is our candidate — he deserves our support. I have a Christopher Reed sign in my yard, (next to Miller-Meeks, Mahacek and McCain/Palin).

As far as RPI support for Reed goes, it is no secret that RPI has limited funds this election cycle. I supported the decision to target these funds to those races where they are likely to be affect the outcome. These chosen few are not chosen for their ideological purity, if it were so, Reed would be at the top of the list. But when I take a dispassionate view, looking to target key races, the US Senate race is not one of them.

If a Republican friend were to say, "Dave, I have time and money to spend on a campaign here in Iowa where I can make a difference." I would probably tell them to spend it on Renee Schulte in HD 37 or Joe Childers in SD 18. I have been working for these candidates because they are strategic races in my local area. There are certainly other strategic races around the state.

But if that same friend were to say, "Dave, Christopher Reed really speaks to me on issues. I have time and money to spend and I would like to help him beat Tom Harkin." I would wrap my arm around his shoulder, thank him and get him in touch with the Reed campaign.

If you think that RPI should be out there helping more of our candidates — then write a check to RPI! If you want to see Christopher Reed defeat Tom Harkin in November than go to his website and make a donation or volunteer.