We report stories every day. But I don’t think the media spend enough time explaining why we report the stories we do. Tonight has been a difficult night of decisions. Shortly before our 6pm newscast, Urbandale police emailed a news release telling us a 13-month-old girl had died in her babysitter’s care yesterday afternoon. It seemed a bit odd the release came more than 24 hours following the girl’s death. The caregiver operated in-home child care. Here’s what we don’t know: police aren’t saying whether the little girl’s death is suspicious in any way or whether this is a terribly sad accident or death from natural causes. That’s what’s make the decision-making so difficult for us.

We chose to air a story based on the police accounts but we are trying to be sensitive to everyone involved. We are not identifying the specific address of the home or caregiver’s name. We will, of course, do both if police later say something criminal in nature has occurred. But, again, police have said nothing of that sort so far.

We realize no matter what, at least two families will never be the same and their grieving will likely never end. We will stay in contact with police to find out whatever more we can on what happened. No matter what, this isn’t pleasant for anyone.

I welcome your thoughts.

Iowa will be a popular place this month. U.S. House Speaker John Boehner headlines a breakfast fundraiser for his “BFF“, 4th District Congressman Tom Latham, Tuesday morning, May 29th, at 7:30 at the Stoney Creek Inn in Johnston. The invite also says Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds will help lead the breakfast ($100 a ticket, if you want a seat).

This Thursday President Obama comes to the state for a two-fer. His first stop is the “official visit” to Newton to talk about the economy. The president could have an audience of eager ears in that town, that’s been crushed with the loss of several thousand jobs when Maytag/Whirlpool left town. The second stop is the campaign part of the trip as he meets with supporters at the Knapp Animal Learning Center on the Iowa State Fairgrounds from 6-8pm.

EXCERPTS:

“Today America faces a financial crisis of debt and spending that threatens what it means to be an American. Here in the heartland you know in your hearts that it’s wrong.  We can’t spend another four years talking about solving a problem that we only make worse every day. When the men and women who settled the Iowa prairie saw a fire in the distance, they didn’t look around for someone else to save them or go back to sleep hoping the wind might blow another direction. They knew their fate was in their hands and so it is today.  A prairie fire of debt is sweeping across Iowa and our nation and every day we fail to act we feed that fire with our own lack of resolve.  This is not a Democratic or Republican problem. That fire could care less if you have a donkey or an elephant in your front lawn, it’s still coming for your house.  There’s plenty of blame to go around for both parties. But in my years leading businesses, an Olympics and a state, I’ve learned one simple principle of leadership that never falters: Leaders lead.  I will lead us out of this debt and spending crisis.”

“President Obama started his days in office with the trillion-dollar stimulus package – the biggest, most careless one-time expenditure by the federal government in history.  And remember this: the stimulus wasn’t just wasted – it was borrowed and wasted.  We still owe the money, we’re still paying interest on it, and it’ll be that way long after this presidency ends in January.

“Then there was Obamacare.  Even now nobody knows the exact cost of that new program.  And that uncertainty has done great harm to our economy.  Employers aren’t hiring, entrepreneurs are worried, all because of a massive, European-style entitlement that Americans didn’t want and can’t afford.

“Through his own decisions, this President has added more than five trillion dollars to the national debt, which now stands at 15.7 trillion dollars.”

“As president, I will approach debt and spending differently.  My time spent building businesses and leading state government taught me that we need to hold every department and agency to a simple test: If something can be done better and more efficiently outside the federal government, then that’s where it belongs.  Wherever we have the option of returning functions back to the states, to local governments, or, better still, to the private sector, that’s what we will do.  We will make the federal government simpler, smaller, smarter – and, by the way, more in keeping with the vision of the Framers of our Constitution.”

A Boone County Sheriff’s deputy told Channel 13 news a child died following a crash before noon Saturday northwest of Boone in the 800 block of “L” Avenue (County Highway E26). The deputy said a woman, her boyfriend, two children and an adult friend were in the vehicle. The driver of the car swerved for some reason, then overcorrected, left the road and hit a concrete culvert. One child died. Everyone else in the car had to hospitalized. Authorities haven’t released other information about the people involved. 

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What do you think of the Veep’s comments today? Is change on the way?

Here’s the clip.

However…Romney likes to tout his business experience over his career. But is that different from creating jobs while in public office? If you think it is, this could be a problem for Romney. I wrote the other day about Romney’s numbers as governor of Massachusetts. The unemployment rate went down. But, the state’s unemployment rate dropped slower than the national average. And you can probably recite this next number in your sleep since we’ve heard it a gazillion times during the Republican presidential primary. Where did Romney’s state rank in job creation during his time as governor? All together now: 47th out of 50.

That’s why this question of which candidate would be the best job creator is interesting to me. Independents out there, what do you think? You will have quite a say in which one of these two men becomes your next president.

The Des Moines Register’s Jennifer Jacobs writes about the Pauliacs becoming a huge force in the delegation that could represent Iowa at the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August. Just imagine this scenario…In January, the Iowa Republican Chairman (now former chair) Matt Strawn declares Mitt Romney the winner. Then, two weeks later, he calls it a tie. Then later that week, he declares Rick Santorum the winner. Then, later this summer, Paul actually has more delegates in the state. Does that actually make Paul the winner? What would that do for Iowa’s national reputation and for its chances to keep the caucuses?

Craig Robinson, former Republican Party of Iowa Executive director, breaks down the supporters and also adds some history about why Iowa gets 25 delegates, which makes for a nice civics lesson.

The drama of this Republican race may not be over yet.

I wondered if anything above 4% is no cause for celebration, then how much celebrating did Romney do in his state when he was governor of Massachusetts? According to this chart, very little. Massachusetts’ unemployment rate never dropped to 4% during his time in office. Although, the rate did fall from 5.6% to 4.6% over his 4 years. The national rate dropped from 5.8% to 4.4% over that same period.

By the way, here’s what the Obama administration had to say about today’s jobs’ numbers:

Statement on the Employment Situation in April

WASHINGTON, DC – Alan B. Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, issued the following statement today on the employment situation in April. You can view the statement HERE.

The Employment Situation in April
Posted by Alan B. Krueger on May 4, 2012 at 9:30AM

Today’s employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, but much more remains to be done to repair the damage caused by the financial crisis and the deep recession. It is critical that we continue the economic policies that are helping us dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began at the end of 2007. President Obama has said that prosperity in America has always come from a strong and growing middle class. He has made clear that getting back to where we were is not enough. We need to do more, which is why the President has laid out his blueprint for an American economy that is built to last and will continue to urge Congress to act to do more to grow the economy and create jobs.

Private employer payrolls increased by 130,000 jobs in April, and overall non-farm payroll employment rose by 115,000. The unemployment rate dipped from 8.2% in March to 8.1% in April, according to the household survey. Though labor force participation fell over the month according to the household survey, since August the unemployment rate has fallen by 1.0 percentage point, from 9.1% to 8.1%, and nearly three-quarters of that drop is attributable to increased employment.

Despite adverse shocks that have created headwinds for economic growth the economy has added private sector jobs for 26 straight months, for a total of 4.25 million payroll jobs over that period. With upward revisions of 65,000 jobs to the past two months’ employment reports, in the first quarter of 2012 private employment expanded by 697,000 jobs, the largest quarterly increase since the first quarter of 2006. So far this year, 827,000 private sector jobs have been added, on net.

Manufacturing continues to be a bright spot and added 16,000 jobs in April. After losing millions of good manufacturing jobs in the years before and during the recession, the economy has added 489,000 manufacturing jobs since January 2010. To continue the revival in manufacturing jobs and output, the President has proposed tax incentives for manufacturers, enhanced training for the workforce, and measures to create manufacturing hubs and encourage the growing trend of insourcing.

Other sectors with net job increases included wholesale and retail trade (+36,700), professional and business services (+62,000), and education and health services (+23,000). Transportation and warehousing lost 16,600 jobs, and construction lost 2,000 jobs. Local governments shed 12,000 jobs, mostly in education.

As the Administration stresses every month, the monthly employment and unemployment figures can be volatile, and employment estimates can be subject to substantial revision. Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is helpful to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available.

Today, the governor’s office put out a statement from his Chief of Staff Jeff Boeyink. Here is it:

Statement from Branstad/Reynolds Chief of Staff Jeff Boeyink on property tax reform

(DES MOINES) – Jeff Boeyink, chief of staff in the Branstad/Reynolds administration, today praised House Republicans for submitting a compromise tax reform proposal that embodies all the elements necessary to forge a final agreement.

 ·        It includes permanent reductions in property value for commercial and industrial property taxpayers—meaning permanent tax relief that will improve Iowa’s competitiveness.

·        It includes property tax credits that will further jumpstart small business owners as they attempt to take their businesses to the next level.

·        It provides property tax equity for multi-residential housing so it is treated the same as residential property—meaning you do not pay a property tax penalty for being a renter, rather than an owner.

·        It also solves a long-standing problem regarding the inequitable treatment of property owned by telecommunications companies.

·        It further caps the growth rate of residential and agricultural property to prevent a massive tax increase over the next decade.

·        It implements a CPI-based spending limit on cities and counties to further protect Iowa property taxpayers and control government growth.

·        And, it raises the earned income tax credit to help lower income Iowans.

In response, Boeyink released the following statement:

“There has been general agreement between the House, Senate, and the governor’s office on the framework of a compromise.  The Senate has responded with their draft yesterday and the House has responded with their version of that understanding, today.

“There are some significant similarities in the House and Senate bills, and some significant differences.

“That said, I believe all three parties are committed to getting this worked out over the next week to ensure this unique opportunity to reduce property taxes for Iowans owning all classes of property is not wasted.”

But everyone supposedly remains committed to making a deal happen before this session ends in April. Just remember: “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going because you might not get there.”–Yogi Berra

Occupy Des Moines may annoy some people who don’t understand their staged events to draw attention to their cause. But I’m not aware that they have ever assaulted a member of the media covering their event, or anyone else for that matter. They peacefully work with police at events. There is usually very little drama and no violence at all. Perhaps, Seattle could learn a little something from Des Moines.

Enjoy.

http://www.happyplace.com/15761/the-first-ever-political-ad-to-feature-a-man-being-killed-while-urinating

Iowa’s 1st Congressional District is the only one not part of the ad buy. Democrat Bruce Braley seeks re-election there.

Here’s the breakdown from the Politico story.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley said Wednesday afternoon he hadn’t yet seen the photos but added that he should, since others would ask him about it. Grassley said, “I haven’t seen the pictures. But this is what I hope from our military people…that they show respect for human beings alive or dead. Now, I know in war-time, you gotta kill or you might be killed. But you still would show respect for a dead person.”

We had our wedding reception there. But I doubt the first lady will mention that.

Of course, we now know while Romney himself didn’t come here often, his campaign worked hard rekindling that 2008 support that finished second to Mike Huckabee. Romney did pick up the pace in December (which Branstad praised today).

Here are Branstad’s comments as released from the Romney campaign:

“Few leaders in Iowa have been better public servants to the state than Governor Branstad,” said Mitt Romney. “He has focused on making government smaller and more accountable to the taxpayers. I am fighting for these same principles in my campaign so we can cut spending, create jobs, and ensure that future generations have the same opportunities we have. I am honored to have Governor Branstad’s support and will need his counsel and hard work to help make President Obama a one-term president.”

At a press conference Tuesday, Governor Branstad said, “Now that dozens of primaries and caucuses have occurred across the country, the process did what it was supposed to do and that is to produce a candidate who will capture the needed number of delegates and that candidate is Mitt Romney. In Mitt Romney, America will have a clear contrast to President Obama in the November election. Governor Romney is committed to stopping this out-of-control federal spending that’s increasing the national debt by $1.3 trillion every year. Governor Romney is committed to unleashing the private sector to create the jobs we need to rebuild the American economy and to ensure that future generations will have the opportunity that we have enjoyed due to this great American free enterprise system.”

The timing of the announcement ended up being a bit interesting and, perhaps, a bit humorous. First of all, it came three months after the caucuses, long after his endorsement would have earned the most buzz. But it also came just less than an hour before Rick Santorum dropped out of the race. So did the gov know that was coming and he just wanted to get in this to save face? Nope, according to his staff, who told me the gov had idea about the pending Santorum announcement.

I did have someone tweet me this: “Did the governor also wait until April to fill out his March Madness bracket?”

Here’s the clip.

How did Mitt Romney’s advisor ever make that Etch-a-Sketch comparison about how Romney will handle the general election? I believe it was one of his first remarks in the interview with CNN, so does that mean he thought about it beforehand? Was there a preconceived purpose to the analogy? If so, I don’t get it.

Isn’t it a bit beneath those who want to become the next president to stand on stage holding an Etch-a-Sketch to rip on Romney? Rick Santorum has done well enough in the race to stay relevant, but he can never quite do well enough to truly make the case this race is his. But how does it help his cause to hold one of those props to make fun of the Romney campaign? Doesn’t that reek of desperation or at least give off the slightest whiff or desperation?

And what about Newt Gingrich? Gingrich seems to get his jollies by taking shots at the “elite media” as he chastises them (sometimes rightly so, I  might add) for failing to focus on the issues facing our country. So how does he argue that it’s presidential to resort to a stunt on stage?

I just read another article that said oil prices and consumer demand for gasoline are down. Why then do prices keep going up? Something doesn’t add up. Maybe I should have taken another economics course in college. Or maybe a speculation course.

A couple interesting developments as I watched my Tigers tank. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled against Governor Terry Branstad’s decision to line-item veto money for Iowa Workforce Development offices and use the money elsewhere. The court didn’t like his actions. The governor blamed those who brought the suit.

And there’s a new twist to that much-hyped 4th congressional race. Incumbent Republican Congressman Steve King challenged his opponent, former Democratic First Lady Christie Vilsack. It’s quite a switch for King, who always refuses to debate his opponent when it comes up every 2 years. Democrats have been talking up Vilsack’s chances in that newly drawn district, which includes Ames (where Vilsack moved after moving to Des Moines after leaving her hometown, Mt. Pleasant). But I’ve also had private conversations with some prominent Iowa Republicans who are also saying King could more than have his hands full with this race. Should make for an interesting race.

Here’s the letter King sent to Vilsack:

March 16, 2012

Christie Vilsack

c/o Christie Vilsack for Iowa, Inc.

P.O. Box 641

Ames, Iowa 51010

Dear Mrs. Vilsack:

In an effort to conduct an open and honest discussion throughout the campaign, I propose a series of six debates (minimum of 60 minutes each).

Because of upcoming votes in Congress, my schedule is limited but I hope six debates will be adequate to inform the voting public. The locations proposed are designed to spread the debates across the district equitably.

 1) Story County Fair, Nevada (12:00 pm on July 21, 2012)

 2) Iowa Central Community College, Fort Dodge (7:00 pm on August 22, 2012)

 3) Clay County Fair, Spencer (2:00 pm on September 8, 2012)

 4) Morningside College, Sioux City (Lincoln-Douglas Style) (7:00 pm on September 29, 2012)

 5)  Santa Maria Vineyard & Winery, Carroll (6:30 pm on October 25, 2012)

 6)  Music Man Square, Mason City (Lincoln-Douglas Style) (6:00 pm on November 1, 2012)

I ask for a formal response by March 23, 2012, to ensure time to reserve facilities and finalize details. Let’s give Iowans a great series of debates focused on issues important to them.

Sincerely,

Steve King

Member of Congress

 I haven’t heard anything from Vilsack yet about whether she will accept the terms of King’s offer.

(Update: Here is Vilsack’s campaign response)

Statement from Vilsack Campaign Manager Jessica Vanden Berg on Debate Proposal

 AMES – Christie Vilsack for Iowa Campaign Manager Jessica Vanden Berg released the following statement this evening, following Steve King’s offer to debate an opponent for the first time since taking office:

“It’s refreshing that Steve King has acknowledged the fact that Iowans deserve a debate, something he has avoided since taking office. We look forward to debating Steve King and will consider his proposal. Christie continues to run a strong campaign that’s focused on taking Iowa values and putting them to work in Washington. That’s why she continues to present substantive policy proposals aimed at growing communities across the district and creating layers of economic opportunity for every Iowan.” 

We also checked out the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City. I grew up with close to half our backyard filled with my dad’s strawberry plants. And my grandma used to say I had red hair because I ate so many strawberries. So, of course, I HAD to go to the festival. It was a mini-Iowa State Fair, I suppose. But it wasn’t the strawberry feast I dreamed it would be. I did try a slice of strawberry pizza. It was cookie dough on the bottom (I think), covered in cream cheese and then strawberries on top. But the strawberries tasted like they came out of a can…not what I expected with fields of strawberries in season. However, the strawberry shortcakes were awesome. Fresh berries covered with whipped topping. I could eat that all day! That was about it, though. They had strawberry shakes. But other than that, I didn’t see many other strawberry delicacies. I expected strawberries made into every conceivable combination. Oh, well. We did have some corn on the cob. Not quite Iowa sweet corn. But it did make me long for summer!