All of Iowa’s incumbents for federal office held distinct financial advantages, reports from the second quarter show.  While not all current lawmakers raised more funds than their challengers, all has significantly more money available for their campaigns.  In many cases, challengers had more recently spent campaign funds in primary battles across the state.

For U.S. Senate, Democratic candidate Roxanne Conlin raised $643,895 compared to Republican Senator Charles Grassley’s $630,430 during the second quarter.  However, Conlin had only $851,014 in reserve, which is only slightly more than a seventh of Grassley’s $5.7 million warchest.  The Conlin campaign was also quick to point out that no funds had been raised from federal lobbyists and that 81 percent of the money raised was from Iowans.  The Democrat’s campaign also received 81 percent percent of donations in amounts of $100 or less.

Iowa’s other representatives in U.S. Congress all held advantages over their challengers.  First District Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley raised slightly less than his Republican challenger, Ben Lange, during the second quarter.  Braley has almost six times the amount of available cash on hand than Lange does.

In the Second District, Democratic U.S. Representative Dave Loebsack raised nearly twice as much as his Republican nominee Mariannette Miller-Meeks between 1 April and 30 June.  Loebsack also enjoyed five times as much cash in the bank as Miller-Meeks, who had to fight in a four-way primary.

Third District Democratic Representative Leonard Boswell out-raised his opponent, Brad Zaun (who just survived a crowded primary field), and also has more than seven times the cash available than the same measure for Zaun.

In the Fourth and Fifth districts, Republican Tom Latham had $755,832 in the bank compared to Democratic challenger Bill Maske‘s $16,328, and Representative Steve King had $309,154 on hand compared to Democrat Matt Campbell‘s $22,673 in available money.

Republican gubernatorial candidate and former four-term governor Terry Branstad said Thursday that he will urge the Iowa House to pass a resolution supporting a public vote on gay marriage.  Candidate Branstad supports a constitutional amendment to forbid gay marriage and said he expects the GOP to retake control of the Iowa House in the 2010 elections.  Democrats currently hold a 56-44 seat edge on the Republicans, but Branstad expects the GOP will take eight to fifteen more  seats in the election.

Branstad’s comments come alongside a flurry of interest in his candidate for lieutenant governor, freshman State Senator Kim Reynolds of Osceola, and her comments regarding civil unions.  In an interview with The Iowa Independent, Reynolds said that the state “could take a look at civil unions,” while also saying that if abortion were successfully made illegal, the punishment for performing or having one should “be equivalent to [the punishment for] murder.”

The civil unions comments raised eyebrows among the right wing of the Republican party, which was already critical of Branstad for his comments that were perceived  as sympathetic towards civil unions.  Conservatives, whom Reynolds was supposed to woo in a tour of counties conservative Republican Bob Vander Plaats won in the primary fight with Branstad, are now attacking Reynolds for her comments.

This spat highlights the still simmering split left over from the close primary (whose official results show Branstad won slightly less than fifty percent of the vote, and Vander Plaats was within ten percentage points of victory) and a conservative bid to get Vander Plaats on the ticket as Branstad’s running mate despite the former governor’s wishes.  Reynolds, Branstad’s preference for lieutenant governor, won the spot with only 56 percent of the convention votes to Vander Plaat’s 44 percent.

Vander Plaats has not endorsed Branstad and may potentially run as a third party candidate.  His non-endorsement thus far has drawn some criticism and questions as to how united the state GOP will be behind the Branstad/Reynolds ticket.

Reynolds (whose list of legislative accomplishments is relatively short) has been campaigning solo in counties Vander Plaats won in a bid to smooth over differences with Vander Plaats supporters.  Reynolds and Branstad traveled together to Newton and Marshalltown for events while the campaign launched a new advertisement statewide.

Despite the increased interest in the Republican primary this cycle, there are still significantly more registered Democrats in Iowa than there are registered Republicans.  However, that lead has been cut approximately in half by this primary election, and those registered for “No Party” still outnumber both the Republican and Democratic parties (separately) in Iowa.

Republican United States Representative Steve King of Iowa’s 5th Congressional District continued his streak of controversial remarks regarding the Obama administration with comments about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  King blamed politics for the slow response to the spill, saying the Jones Act prevented foreign ships and technology from aiding in the spill cleanup.

The Iowa Independent and McClatchy News discredited these claims, with McClatchy calling it a “false talking point.”  Factcheck.org noted that the Jones Act “has yet to be an issue” in the cleanup, and the charges that the Obama administration has refused to accept foreign help are false in all cases except one.  The State Department says that equipment from Brazil, Mexico, and Norway has been helping the response efforts since May 11.  Meanwhile, the Deepwater Horizon response team highlighted in a 15 June press release that fifteen foreign-flagged vessels were helping the cleanup efforts.  The Jones Act also only applies to vessels operating in state waters, which are within three miles of the shoreline, according to Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen.

Representative King also recently defended controversial remarks by a Texas Republican apologizing to BP for the administration’s actions.  U.S. Representative Joe Barton made the remarks in his opening statement at a 17 June 2010 House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing questioning BP CEO Tony Hayward.  “I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown — in this case a $20 billion shakedown,” Barton said.

While Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he “couldn’t disagree with Joe Barton more,” Representative King called Barton’s analysis “spot-on” in a radio interview.  King continued, saying “if you look at all they have nationalized during this administration — some started during the Bush administration — it should tell you, they want to swallow up as many Fortune 500 companies as they can,” The Hill reports.

Representative King’s comments surrounding the BP oil spill come after a string of ill-received statements, including a mid-June remark claiming that the Obama administration favors African-Americans over Caucasians.  King said on the G. Gordan Liddy radio show: “But the president has demonstrated he’s got a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race on the side of it favors the black person — in the case of Professor Gates and Officer Crowley. That was a case where he knew nothing about it, threw himself into it, and concluded that the cop had operated on a race bias or a racist basis and then he ended up having to have a beer summit because of that.”

While King received some support for this statement, both an eastern Colorado Republican congressional candidate and the Northern Colorado Tea Party canceled Representative King’s invitations to their events.  Representative King went to Colorado despite the cancellations, however, to attend two different speaking events at which he was still invited to speak.  This trip created dueling rallies and some confusion as to the circumstances of King’s cancellation at the other events.

At the 9-12 Movement rally dubbed “United We Stand Behind Arizona”, where Representative King appeared with former U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo, King said President Obama and administration officials have “contributed to misinformation” about the new Arizona immigration law, the Associated Press reports.

Roxanne Conlin declared that incumbent Republican Senator Chuck Grassley “will get the race of his life” this fall as she seeks to break the “glass ceiling” that women seeking high-profile statewide or federal offices have faced in Iowa.   Iowa has never elected a woman to the governorship, U.S. Senate or for any of the U.S. congressional seats.  Conlin declared that “it’s time that we end that” as she celebrated her victory in the primary last night.

Conlin won 77.47 percent of the vote with 52,700 votes, while Bob Krause came in second with 12.83 percent of the vote and Tom Fiegen with 9.49 percent of all votes cast.  Conlin won 98 of the state’s 99 counties, losing to Fiegen in Cedar County 49 percent to 44 percent.

Democratic Governor Chet Culver ran unopposed, as did Democratic U.S. Congressmen Leonard Boswell, Bruce Braley, and Dave Loebsack.  Bill Maske is now the Democratic nominee for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District and will run against Tom Lantham.  In the 5th District, Matt Campbell won the primary over fellow Democrat Mike Denklau in a contest to challenge Republican incumbent Steve King (whom Gawker analyzed recently for keywords in speeches).

On the Republican side, former Republican Governor Terry Branstad won by surprisingly small margin given past polling showing a formidable lead over underfunded conservative candidate Bob Vander Plaats.  In a high-turnout election, Branstad won 50.33 percent of the vote while Vander Plaats earned 40.88 percent statewide.  Rod Roberts earned 8.75 percent of the vote, winning countywide only in his home county of Carroll.  Branstad may face difficulty in uniting conservatives behind him after the primary; the right-wing vote proved its strength even in Polk County (home to Des Moines and Branstad’s home county) by bringing Vander Plaats to within 133 votes of a tie.  Some have raised the possibility of a Vander Plaats independent run in the wake of the election results.  UPDATE: Vander Plaats says he is not planning an independent run.

In the heavily-contested race for the 3rd Congressional District GOP nomination, Brad Zaun won against the well-financed party favorite, Jim Gibbons and five other candidates.  Zaun earned 42.12 percent of the vote, which was above the 35 percent threshold required to avoid a convention.

In the 2nd Congressional District, Mariannette Miller-Meeks won the GOP primary over Steve Rathje, Christopher Reed, and Rob Gettemy with 50.7 percent of the vote.  To the north, Benjamin Lange won the GOP nod to compete against 1st District Representative Bruce Braley, defeating self-described tea party candidate Will Johnson and two other competitors.

After over a month of early voting, Democratic primary voters will travel en masse to the polling booths on Tuesday, 8 June and decide which candidate would be the best to defeat incumbent senator Chuck Grassley in the fall election.

The primary election comes as increased national attention has been given to the Iowa senate race.  Grassley has not faced a serious challenge since his first election in 1980, but national observers are beginning to describe the Iowa race as possibly “highly competitive” as polls have shown Grassley’s approval ratings sinking and sinking since last summer.  Grassley has held elective office since the Eisenhower administration, and he may fall victim to this year’s anti-incumbent sentiment.  Several polls have suggested a tightening race.

The three candidates for the Democratic nomination have been campaigning for months.  All three recently appeared together on Iowa Press, and the polling that has been done suggests a lead for Roxanne Conlin over Bob Krause and Tom Fiegen.   However, the recent Iowa Press debate gave Krause and Fiegen the opportunity to criticize Conlin on personal and political issues.  Polls are open from 7AM to 9PM across the state on Tuesday.

On the Republican side, a contested primary race for the GOP gubernatorial nominee is also heating up.  A recent debate gave Bob Vander Plaats a platform to attack former Republican Governor (and current candidate) Terry Branstad, who leads in recent polling.  In the past few days, Sarah Palin and a prominent Christian conservative activist have weighed in on the race, splitting their endorsements between Branstad and Vander Plaats, respectively.  Palin met some resistance for her support of the GOP establishment candidate.  Meanwhile, Vander Plaats also has a roundhouse-kicking ally in movie star Chuck Norris, adding to the competitive spirit of the final days of campaigning.

Republicans also have a hotly contested primary in the 3rd U.S. Congressional District, as seven candidates scramble to challenge incumbent Democrat Leonard Boswell.  If no candidate earns 35 percent of the vote, the state GOP will have to call a convention to decide on the party’s candidate.

U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Iowa as part of his Main Street Tour, making this his third stop to Iowa since the beginning of his presidency and second stop this year.  The President will stop at Fort Madison, Mount Pleasant, and Ottumwa, which will include a visit to the Siemens Energy Facility in Fort Madison and a town hall meeting in Ottumwa.

Tuesday’s visit will mark the first time a sitting president has been to Ottumwa since Richard Nixon in 1971.  The town hall meeting is open to the public and will be held at Hellyer Student Life Center at Indian Hills Community College.

Tickets will be available first-come, first-serve at the Hellyer Center Monday, and doors open at 1:30Pm Tuesday.

Republicans are planning to protest the President’s visit and “big-government message” in Ottumwa.

The student government at Iowa State University voted to decrease campus use of coal energy and push for more clean energy use.   The coal plant on campus has become a target of student environmental activism since at least last August, and the school administration had already changed its policy to conduct groundwater monitoring following student protests.

The student group ActivUS has been meeting with administrators over the last year, and the environmental organizations Greenpeace and the Sierra Club have also become interested in this issue.

The groups won a victory at the student government level Wednesday, with a unanimous vote from the Government of the Student Body and over 600 signatures from students and administrators.   Anti-coal activists were quick to note the symbolic victory of this vote taking place so close to the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day.

The Iowa Democratic Party announced that it raised over $1 million more than their Republican counterparts over the course of 2009.  The Democrats also raised about $170,000 more than the Republicans in the first quarter of 2010.  The state Democrats continue to have a large voter registration advantage of 100,000 people statewide.  The next quarter’s fund-raising numbers will be reported in May.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) will take a jaunt south to Iowa on 12 June 2010 for the IDP convention, where she will be the keynote speaker.  Klobuchar was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, when she won a 20-point victory over Republican Mark Kennedy.  In the Senate, she sits on the Judiciary, Commerce, Agriculture, and Environment and Public Works committees.

After many hours of work, I am proud to present to you the new College & Young Democrats of Iowa website. Besides the new visual overhaul there are a few new features in the works. On the front page you’ll now see spaces not only for news, but also pictures, blog feeds, event listings, and social media.

I hope to eventually make this website a hub of activity for our group and the general public; people will come to check-for and write-about the most recent news, view upcoming events, and share our content on the internet.