After interminable months of campaigning, debates, and
roller-coaster polling, the first official vote of the 2012 presidential race is in -- and boy, is it a doozy.
Ames straw poll winner Michele Bachmann placed second-to-last, while former juggernaut Rick Perry performed so badly he's
canceled upcoming events and is said to be on the verge of dropping out. Meanwhile, perennial laughingstock Rick Santorum, consolidating the support hemorrhaging from Perry, Bachmann, and an
ad-blitzed Newt Gingrich, rocketed past the
youth- and independent-backed Ron Paul and, with 99% of the vote counted, is separated from Mitt Romney by
four votes out of ~120,000 -- by far
the closest result in caucus history. As the shaken field contemplates the path ahead through Romney firewall New Hampshire, conservative South Carolina, Florida, Super Tuesday, and beyond, President Obama staged
a quiet redux of
his own dramatic caucus win four years ago, a dry run for the looming general election. And as for powerhouse
Buddy Roemer? Don't worry --
his team is ready to do battle with
evil.
posted by Rhaomi
on Jan 3, 2012 -
277 comments
“Those who stay in rural Iowa are often the elderly waiting to die, those too timid (or lacking in educated) to peer around the bend for better opportunities, an assortment of waste-toids and meth addicts with pale skin and rotted teeth, or those who quixotically believe, like Little Orphan Annie, that ‘The sun’ll come out tomorrow.’”
Just ahead of the
Iowa Caucus, New Jersey native turned University of Iowa Professor
Stephen Bloom has published a
piece in The Atlantic that
has caused quite a stir in the heartland. The piece, which is very critical of the Hawkeye State and her inhabitants, has a lot of
Iowans on the defensive, with one article calling Bloom the
"Michelangelo of hick-punching." Stephens has said the
"feedback has been frightening," but he stands by his story. Perhaps a
1971 Harper's piece on Iowa captures the state with a bit more nuance.
posted by Lutoslawski
on Dec 13, 2011 -
134 comments
Abortion Drugs Given in Iowa via Video Link. "The situation has played out hundreds of times. From his office here, a doctor asks a woman on the computer screen before him one final question: Are you ready to take your pill? Then, with a click of his mouse, a modified cash register drawer pops open in front of the woman seated next to a nurse in a
clinic — perhaps 100 miles from this city — with mifepristone, the medicine formerly known as RU-486, that is meant to end her pregnancy."
[Via]
posted by homunculus
on Jun 9, 2010 -
46 comments
With 12-year old Maggie Wiederholt's permission, Quad City Times reporter Kay Luna and photographer John Schultz followed her and her family for several weeks as the terminally ill Walcott, Iowa girl faced death - and made choices about how to live.
Maggie's Choice is a heart-wrenching project that captures the last days of a young girl with with a rare form of Behcet's disease.
[more inside]
posted by Lutoslawski
on Apr 6, 2010 -
33 comments
First, there was the
Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. Now, everyone's favorite super-premium conglomerate-owned sticking-to-its-righteous-roots ice cream company
has transformed "Chubby Hubby" into Hubby Hubby (only in VT, only for September), in support of same sex marriage, which is legal in Vermont as of this month. No word yet whether Iowa-based Winnebago will follow suit with a specially-named RV.
posted by ericbop
on Sep 3, 2009 -
46 comments
It's nearly state fair time and you know what that means -
Butter Sculptures! Yes, year after year several fairs contract with artists to sculpt meltable works of art. Perhaps the most famous is the
Iowa State Butter Cow, carved year after year since the early 1900s. Of course, with butter art comes rivalry. Not to be outdone, state fairs in
Minnesota,
Texas, New York...oh, the list is long...each display these chilled masterpieces. However, this year Iowa has taken the rivalry to a new level and not without controversy -
The Iowa State Fair has decided that this year they will do a
Butter Michael Jackson.
posted by Muddler
on Jul 2, 2009 -
23 comments
The Iowa Supreme Court has
just unanimously declared the state's ban on gay marriage to be unconstitutional. "The decision strikes the language from Iowa Code section 595.2 limiting civil marriage to a man and a woman. It further directs that the remaining statutory language be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage."
(full summary PDF) The ruling effectively legalizes same-sex marriage in the state of Iowa.
posted by XQUZYPHYR
on Apr 3, 2009 -
221 comments
Hoping for the best for Mefites in eastern Iowa. I was CR born and raised, and just watching
the feed on KCRG is ...disturbing. It looks like the height of the Cedar River is estimated at 25.4 feet, and
it hasn't crested yet. They've
lost a railroad bridge downtown so far, and the news feed keeps tracking the rise of the river by standing outside the studio and watching the water approaching.
[more inside]
posted by thanotopsis
on Jun 12, 2008 -
53 comments
"I would have your wife right in front of you. I would smoke the last of your glaucoma medication. Then I will surely drink your liquor cabinet dry. However, know this my friend. I will never break an oath to uphold the public trust. My affidavit will be signed in my own blood. A Pirates crimson mark, with real binding effects into my after life. Laugh if you will then ask yourself if you could do it."
James Hill is running for congress in Iowa's first district. He accepts no money from anybody.
posted by Navelgazer
on Aug 25, 2006 -
54 comments
The
Oxford Project: in 1984, Peter Feldstein photographed every single citizen in the town of Oxford, Iowa (676 pictures in all). In 2006, he attempts
to do it again.
posted by JPowers
on Jun 6, 2006 -
24 comments
Whatever happened to Howard Dean? "He was assassinated by Bill and Hillary with the assistance of Chris Lehane, the political hit man who first worked for Kerry and now backs Clark.
Desperate to keep control of the Democratic Party, the Clintons used their negative researchers and detectives to the ultimate and generated a story-a-day savaging Dean. The Vermont governor, not ready for prime time, cooperated by being thin-skinned, surly and combative. "
caveat: I'm not trolling, but as a democrat I find this interesting. Ok, nauseating.
posted by mecran01
on Jan 24, 2004 -
102 comments
For students in one Iowa school district this year, it's "sit down, shut up and
eat your lunch." The principal says it curbs the noise level and makes sure kids eat all of their meal. Because if there's one thing this country (not to mention
the rest of the world) needs, it's more
fat kids.
posted by emelenjr
on Aug 21, 2003 -
53 comments
Remember
this thread regarding Planned Parenthood of Iowa, confidentiality and a murder investigation? The county attorney has now
dropped the case due to lack of resources. I was looking forward to the ruling on this one.
posted by justlisa
on Oct 9, 2002 -
4 comments
Ronald Reagan is joining the war on speeders in Malvern, IA. "Someone had put a dummy in there with a uniform and he has a big smile on his face," City Clerk Julie Powles said. I don't think it's very nice to call a former president a dummy, though.
posted by Kevin Sanders
on May 22, 2002 -
2 comments
Mailbox bomber at large. "More than a half-dozen pipe bombs were placed in rural mailboxes in Illinois and Iowa on Friday, and at least two people were injured in explosions, the post office said." Part of the note that accompanied the bomb said "PS. More info. will be delivered to various locations around the country." If you live in the midwest, be careful.
posted by Kevin Sanders
on May 3, 2002 -
19 comments
