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Political meorabilia saved from Cedar Rapids flood now in Twin Cities

September 2, 2008 By

A piece of political memorabilia saved from flood waters in Cedar Rapids has made its way to the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities.

Rose Eaton Rose Eaton of Cedar Rapids is wearing a white straw hat that has name tags on the inside. Those tags show Mildred Ward of Marshalltown wore the hat at the 1980 Republican National Convention. Ward’s daughter, Rosemary Harvey, lives in Cedar Rapids, in a neighborhood that was flooded in June.  "And so she was cleaning out her house after the flood, but this was in the attic," Eaton says. "This was safe."

Harvey, the flood victim, and Eaton, an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention, attend the same church in Cedar Rapids. "She just found out I was going to the convention," Eaton says. "And she just says, ‘Rose, I’ve found this hat and I’m going to give it to you to wear to the convention.’"

Eaton, who will celebrate her 79th birthday next month, has been wearing it in the convention center, and to breakfast with her fellow Iowans. The hat has its original Reagan sticker on the back, and Eaton has put a McCain sticker on the front. Eaton sees similarities in Reagan and McCain. "Reagan was kind of a maverick, wasn’t he?" Eaton says. "…Reagan was somebody that stuck to his principles and McCain is someone that sticks to his principles. Even though he sometimes goes off in the other direction, you know where (McCain) stands."

Eaton retired after a 33-year career at the "Square D" plant in Cedar Rapids and she became a well-known political volunteer in the Cedar Rapids area in her retirement.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Ballot drama in Iowa over timing of convention

September 1, 2008 By

The Republican National Convention in St. Paul is scheduled to end on Thursday and that September 4th date has led to a bit of drama in the printing of ballots for the fall election. 

This morning, Dave Roederer – chairman of Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s Iowa campaign — publicly thanked Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro for his understanding. The late date of this convention’s conclusion created a bit of a headache.

"We have a bit of a unique situation in Iowa….Early voting starts like about September 20th or so and in fairness to the secretary of state’s office, they have to have ballots printed and ready to go in a matter of weeks," Roederer says. "…There was an issue as to how we even get on the ballot…Technically, we were faced with a situation where we could have John McCain on the ballot, but no vice presidential candidate."

The minute McCain and Sarah Palin are formally nominated by convention delegates, an attorney for the McCain campaign will FAX a document to the Iowa Secretary of State. It will confirm the McCain/Palin ticket for the Iowa ballot. "They have printers that are actually waiting for that final confirmation so they can start printing the ballots," Roederer says. "Now, it’s not just early voting, but it’s all the ballots we need to start sending overseas for all our military people."

Convention delegates have gathered this afternoon to conduct "essential business" in St. Paul, but the hoopla and political speeches have been jettisoned due to Hurricane Gustav’s arrival on the Gulf Coast. Steve Scheffler, chair of the Iowa G.O.P.’s delegation at the convention, says the scaled back convention schedule isn’t putting a damper on things. "A year ago, I’m not sure that I would have said that we would come to this convention — regardless of who our nominee was — that we were going to be energized," And I think it’s fair to say that even before the choice for vice president was made known that at least I and I think a lot of you probably saw a change in attitude that people were beginning to get on board because they understand that just two months out from the election there’s a lot at stake."

Scheffler says Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was at the top of his list of potential running mates for McCain. "It doesn’t hurt that she’s a woman, but certainly the fact that she’s articulate. She’s sharp. She passes every test with the Republican base and I think (Palin) is going to be exactly what’s needed to get them excited," Scheffler says. "…At this point, I would walk on broken glass to get this team elected."

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, one of the pack of politicians who campaigned for president in Iowa last year, spoke with Iowa Republicans this morning. "You know in Iowa, that’s where it all started and so congratulations to all of you," Thompson said, to applause from the delegates. "I had some wonderful times and some not so wonderful in Iowa. I managed to make it to every one of your 99 counties — the only candidate that did that. Didn’t help."

Thompson finished poorly in the Iowa G.O.P.’s Straw Poll in August of 2007 and dropped out of the race. Thompson revealed that, just like party nominee John McCain, he had skin removed and tested for cancer. "As you noticed, I’ve got a little bit of a ding on my face on both sides. I had to go in and have some minor surgery for cancer and it’s a good lesson," Thompson said. "Don’t tarry. Don’t wait."

Thompson told the delegates the surgery had "taken care of" the problem and Thompson bragged about a new diet which he said had helped him shed 15 pounds. "I like living so much, I might want to come back in four years to go through 99 counties in Iowa. I doubt it," Thompson said. "…For the first time in my life, I’m making money. I don’t want to give it to my grandchildren yet. I want to be around. I want to see if the Green Bay Packers, you know, can go back to the Super Bowl."

Read about the conventions over on The Radio Iowa Blog.  Click on the audio link below to hear all of Thompson’s remarks.

AUDIO: Thompson speaks to Iowans. 14:00 MP3

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Youngest delegate at Republican National Convention from Iowa

August 31, 2008 By

Mike Knopf The youngest delegate at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul is 17 years old and he’s from eastern Iowa. Mike Knopf of Dubuque was born on Halloween back in 1990 and he’ll turn 18 this October 31st.

That means he was eligible to be a delegate to this week’s Republican National Convention because he can vote in November.

Knopf started getting interested in politics when he was in junior high. “I started paying attention and wanting to be part of it, so I started going to political events. I got to meet President Bush a couple of times. I met Mitt Romney twice,” Knopf says. “I even met Senator McCain.”

Knopf’s parents are Republicans. “I’ve known from my personal beliefs that I was personally conservative a Republican for a long time because I believe in the second amendment; our constitutional rights staying constitutional; I’m a pro-life person all the way; if you want to work in this country you can come in legally — that’s the way I feel — and so that’s how I chose to be a Republican,” Knopf says. “I grew up in a Republican household, but I made my own choices.”

Knopf, who will be a senior at Dubuque Senior High this fall, backed Rommey in the Caucuses because of Romney’s record as governor of Massachusetts and his business background. ”But in today’s day and age it’s still hard to believe that we can have the discrimination that we do and I think that the big scare factor for a lot of voters would have been the Mormon issue,” Knopf says, referring to Romney’s Mormon faith. “I don’t understand why, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Knopf is a bit disappointed that President Bush and Vice President Cheney won’t be making in-person appearances here in St. Paul, due to the hurricane. ”I have heard President Bush speak and I think he is a very educated man and I’ve listened to him the past eight years and I’ve supported him almost 90 percent of the time, but it’s very unfortunate that we’re not going to get to hear him speak (in person) or Mr. Cheney,” Knopf says. “But as long as the majority of the convention goes through and holds strong, I think it will be successful.”

You may see Knopf’s name on a ballot in the future, as he wants to be one of the politicians who make decisions for the country. ”If you can be part of the group that actually changes things andmakes laws, that’s what I want to do,” Knopf says. “And if it does come down to being president, that’d be amazing.” Knopf hopes to attend the University of Iowa next year and major in political science.

Iowa’s status as the nation’s first caucus state was challenged in the past few days during deliberations of top-level Republicans meeting in Minneapolis. Sandy Greiner of Keota is one of Iowa’s representatives on the Rules Committee and she says Michigan and Florida may try to bring the issue up again during the convention and dislodge Iowa as first-in-the-nation. ”I am still not comfortable saying, ‘It’s a done deal and it’s greased,’” Greiner says of the 2012 calendar of presidential primaries and caucuses.

Greiner was at the big pre-convention meeting of party insiders when John McCain publicly introduced Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.  ”The most stunning thing of all happened. When she was finished, the entire room stood up and gave a standing ovation to a television screen. I’ve never seen that happen before in my entire life and as you know, I’m a pretty jaded politician, so it was really a stunning moment,” Greiner says. “It was like riding a lightning bolt.”

Read more about Greiner’s experience over on the Radio Iowa blog.

AUDIO: O.K. Henderson report. 1:40 MP3

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Grassley and King like selection of Palin for McCain V-P

August 29, 2008 By

Iowa Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Kiron is visiting Iraq, but commented today on John McCain’s selection of Alaska governor Sarah Palin  as his Vice President runningmate. King, who represents western Iowa, says Palin will help quell the concerns of conservatives over McCain.

“I think it’s just bound to bring the social conservatives together, noone is going to question her pro-life credentials. She’s lived them, she’s demonstrated them and noone in the pro-life community is going to question where Sarah Palin stands on that,’ King says, “so I think that this is a good pick. The generational gap has been bridged. She’s younger than Obama for starters, and she has executive experience, she’s more experienced than Obama is.”

King says he anxious to see more of Palin. He says it will be interesting to see how Pailin handles herself on the campaign trail. King says some of her credentials are impressive and he also likes that Palin is for drilling for oil in the artic refuge in Alaska, which King favors. “I’m happy with the pick, I don’t have any reservations about endorsing the pick McCain has made,” King says. King says he has seen people in western Iowa slowly moving toward McCain in the last few weeks.

Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says Palin will compliment McCain’s image as a maverick. “When I get credit for going up against party a lot, I think she deserves even more credit,” Grassley said of Palin. “She stood for principle over party and has record breaking support in her state because of her independence. It’s a situation where the more you learn, the more you like and respect her.”

Critics of McCain’s selection site Palin’s lack of experience. Grassley isn’t buying that argument. “She’s got more executive experience than what Barack Obama’s got,” Grassley said.

 

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,
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