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New GOP group to work grassroots

September 4, 2004 By

Democrats are getting help this election from independent groups like ACT – America Coming Together – in mobilizing voters. Now, a start-up G-O-P group seeks to imitate their success. A former Iowa G-O-P insider who moved onto the national scene has returned to the state to launch a new republican project. Brian Kennedy has moved to Bettendorf, where he’s running “Campaign of One” which he describes as an effort to “bring the personal democracy movement to the republican party.”

He says this new project to bring “grassroots” politics back to the G-O-P is in response to “what’s been working for democrats lately.” Kennedy says his group has a lower budget than the newly-formed special interest groups on the democratic side.

The Campaign of One is a traditional political action committee which means there are limits on the level of contributions it can accept from individuals. Kennedy says he wouldn’t want the massive cash for commercials anyway. Kennedy says campaign commercials are flooding t-v and radio stations, and becoming less effective as people use their mute buttons, turn the channel or simply tune-out the message altogether. Kennedy grew up in Iowa City.

His older brother works on the other side of the aisle — for John Kerry’s campaign. Kennedy ran Terry Branstad’s 1994 campaign for Governor, he was Iowa G-O-P chairman in 1995 and 1996 and he worked on Lamar Alexander’s presidential campaign before moving on to work for John McCain.

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Iowa delegates homeward bound

September 3, 2004 By

The Republican delegates leaving New York City today will be some of the architects of the party’s get-out-the-vote effort. Reverend Morris Hurd of Marengo says he’s ready to burn some shoe leather.

“People are turning ads off,” Hurd says. “We can raise millions of dollars for ads and people aren’t listening to them, so if we want to win elections, we’ll have to learn to go door-to-door.”

Bernie Hayes of Cedar Rapids says first, he needs to catch up on some sleep, then he’ll go out and employ some of the things he learned in New York City. “I attended an African Americans for Bush seminar yesterday (with speakers) Lynn Swann and J.C. Watts,” Hayes says. “They’re saying, ‘Hey, let’s mobilize the black vote. Let’s get ‘em out there and let ‘em see the light.”

Chuck Laudner of Rockford works on Congressman Steve King’s staff, and they’ve been looking for votes who split their ticket, voting for republicans and democrats rather than voting straight party line.

“We’re using the most popular republican of their choice and trying to get them to vote straight ticket,” he says. Across the state in more-heavily-populated eastern Iowa, John Ortega of Bettendorf says the GOP is stepping up its get-out-the-vote effort, and what’s happening in Scott County is just one example.

“We’re going to open a new office down in Scott County, at the old American Water Company. It’s one of the biggest offices we’ve ever had…it’s two stories,” Ortega says. Former Republican Governor Terry Branstad’s oldest son, Eric, is working in that office. Dave Roederer, a former Branstad aide who is the Bush/Cheney campaign chair in Iowa, says the GOP’s get-out-the-vote effort is different than the democrats’ push to encourage early voting.

“It appears that the democrat approach is to try to get as many people to vote absentee as possible,” Roederer says. “What we’ve been trying to do one the republican side is we’ve been trying to identify those people who don’t necessarily vote every election, so we’re targeting ours a little bit.”

NYfri9

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NRA to take aim at Kerry

September 3, 2004 By

Retired Des Moines cop Kayne Robinson is coming to the end of his reign as president of the National Rifle Association. At the Republican Convention in 2000, Robinson was a v-p of the NRA and chairman of the Iowa Republican Party. At this year’s convention, Robinson’s an alternate delegate and I caught up with him yesterday. He says NRA campaign ads will go on the air soon, and Robinson previewed some of the rhetoric that’ll be directed at democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

“Kerry will be the most anti-gun presidential candidate in our history,” Robinson said. “His entire life in politics has been opposing private gun ownership. He adopted this business of going around and getting a hunting license in all the states and everything as a gimmick.”

Kerry hunted for pheasants right before the Iowa Caucuses in January. This past July, Kerry told Radio Iowa he supports the right to keep and bear arms, but with commonsense restrictions. Kerry says he doesn’t know any hunter who uses an AK-47 to shoot a deer. Robinson fires back.

“And although he has owned a couple of guns and he’s done a little skeet shooting and a couple of birds he’s hunted, Jane Fonda hunts, too, and owns guns. That doesn’t mean very much. He’s not a serious gun owner and he’s not a serious hunter.”Robinson says Kerry will have a hard time winning in the “pro-gun” states that Al Gore lost in 2000. So which states are “pro-gun”? All but four or five, according to Robinson.

“There are 80 million gun owners, and when you get in their face and tell ‘em you’re going to take away their guns, they get pretty angry, and when you become a serious threat, they get more angry than they get about, you know, any of the other 50 or 60 issues that are laying around out there.”

In a prepared statement, Kerry’s Iowa campaign spokesman Colin Van Ostren said “John Kerry has been a gun owner and a hunter since he was 12 years old and voters can recognize it when special interest groups care more about party labels than they do the rights of gun owners.” Robinson’s term as N-R-A president expires in April.

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Iowan could be on "Letterman"

September 2, 2004 By

An Iowa republican who’s in New York City for the Republican National Convention may have a brush with greatness tonight. Kevin Johnson of Oskaloosa may be on the David Letterman Show tonight. Johnson went to the taping of Wednesday night’s show, and everyone in the crowd was asked if they had an “unusual” story to tell.

Johnson says Letterman will have a “show and tell” segment on tonight’s show, and when the Letterman staff asked the crowd waiting in line for last night’s program if they might have something, Johnson told ‘em about the chicken trophy he won as a 4-Her back in Hampton, Iowa. The Letterman staff gave Johnson a FedEx number to have the trophy shipped to New York, and “it’s here. It’s just a little gold trophy with a chicken on the top of it,” Johnson says.

The unusual twist in Johnson’s story is that both he and his sister were showing chickens at the fair, and had their poultry in the same cage. When it came time to show the chickens, he wound up showing his sister’s birds instead of his own. Johnson says his sister wasn’t that mad; they are speaking to one another. The Iowa delegation’s hotel is just a couple of blocks from Letterman’s Ed Sullivan Theater. Johnson works at Musco Lighting in Oskaloosa.

letterman

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Leach says economic explanation complicated

September 2, 2004 By

Congressman Jim Leach says President Bush faces a challenge tonight when he speaks in New York City at the G-O-P’s National Convention. Leach says every politician faces the same dilemma of how to explain the economy in ways that fit the times. Leach says the President has an opportunity to make it clear that the economy’s growing and more jobs are being created – especially as more folks start businesses in their own homes – jobs that aren’t immediately on the radar screen because they’re non-traditional jobs. Leach, one of the leading moderate republicans in Congress, says the party moderates who’ve been given big, prime-time roles in the G-O-P’s national convention got those roles because they’re national figures. Leach says movie star and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani are truly interesting characters. Leach says Giuliani and Schwarzenegger were picked to speak because they’re strong leaders, not because they’re pro-choice. Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, part of the “democratic response” at the convention, says the republicans have trotted out speakers who do not back President Bush’s call for a ban on gay marriage and abortion.

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Grassley’s advice to Bush for big speech

September 2, 2004 By

Senator Charles Grassley says perception is becoming reality when it comes to the nation’s economy, and Grassley is advising President Bush to counter democrat attacks that blame Bush for job losses. Grassley says the terrorists are to blame for the one million jobs that were lost after September 11th. Grassley says Bush should clearly outline a withdrawal strategy from Iraq, but Grassley says Bush shouldn’t divert from the new foreign policy objective called “pre-emption.” Grassley says “a President of the United States can’t let Americans be sitting ducks for anybody that wants to attack us.” Grassley says it’s a “no-brainer” to say, as John Kerry has said, that if America’s attacked, we’re going to defend ourselves. “You know, that doesn’t take any brains at all,” Grassley says. “What takes brains is what are you going to do to make sure Americans aren’t attacked?”

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"Can I have your autograph, Senator?"

September 2, 2004 By

There’s a saying: it’s good to be king and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is a king, or sorts, in Congress. He is chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. The committee drafts tax policy and some of the businesses seeking to get in Grassley’s good graces are paying for some fancy receptions here in New York City. On Wednesday morning, the Aegon company paid for a breakfast spread “honoring” Grassley. The senator and the other delegates at the convention were treated to free, made-to-order omelets and cappuccinos as well as a smorgasbord of other breakfast fare.

“It’s an opportunity for us, as Iowans, to enjoy fellowship with each other, but also as individual Iowans…to think about the greatness of Iowa and that is our good corporate citizens that we have,” Grassley said. Aegon’s Pat Baird even presented Grassley with his own Wheaties box, with his picture on it. Afterwards, Iowa Congressman Jim Leach joked with Grassley about the event, and pulled the invitation out of his pocket.

“Chuck, I’m wondering if you could autograph my invitation,” Leach said, as Grassley, Leach and the crowd of reporters around Grassley started laughing.

“The most significant thing out of this news conference is not anything that’s been said, but do you realize that a member of the House of Representatives asked a Senator for his autograph? I can’t believe that. If I didn’t have a strong heart, I wouldn’t be able to take that,” Grassley said.

This morning, Prudential will host another event for Grassley that’ll provide breakfast for the Iowans at the convention. This evening, Amgen – a pharmaceutical company — will host another reception for Grassley and his Iowa guests. Earlier this week, Verizon hosted an ice cream social at the Plaza Hotel for Grassley and his Iowa delegates, and it wasn’t just any ice cream. It was Hagen Daas. The wining and dining at both political conventions is nothing new, although the companies know better than to serve hooch at a Grassley event. One oil company executive says his firm used to set up a free martini bar for breakfast for delegates from Louisiana and their infamous leader Huey Long.

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