The Woodbury Democrat

Stimulus Bill Will Help Small Business

2009-03-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

I keep hearing people complain that the stimulus package approved by Congress won't help small businesses. In fact, some people claim small business owners will be punished by higher taxes.

These critics need to take a deep breath and let their brains catch up to their mouths.

When 70 percent of our economy is consumer spending, we need a stimulus bill that will get money to those hurting the most as quickly as possible. Why? Because these people will spend that money. Small businesses will benefit. And that's what this package does.

It also includes $730 million for the Small Business Administration. This will allow the SBA to guarantee loans up to 90 percent from 75 percent. A new program will provide loans to small businesses owners who need them to cover current loan payments. The funding should help make sure credit is available during the economic crunch.

In addition, it's helpful to note that when the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010 the highest rate will be 39 percent -- far below the maximum rate of 70 percent in the 1960s. Also, there are worse problems than having to pay taxes. You only pay them when you have income. And would you rather pay a slightly higher rate on income that is more robust from a recovering economy or a lower rate on income deflated by the lingering recession?

Another Democratic Friend Passes

2009-01-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

A great Democratic friend of ours passed away this morning. Earle Grueskin slipped away in the early hours of the new year, after a long-fought battle with brain cancer. Earle was a businessman who was first elected to the Sioux City council in 1962 and served with distinction on the council and as Mayor of Sioux City, later elected to the Woodbury County Supervisors for several terms. Earle later worked for a wholesale food distributor, and was one of the earliest employees at Gateway 2000.

A staunch liberal with a wicked sense of humor and sharp intellect, he and his wife Joanne moved to Carlsbad, California after his retirement at Gateway.

Family memorial services will be held in California, and a memorial service will be held in Sioux City at a later date.

In defense of U.S. automakers

2008-12-11T13:24:00.000-08:00

It’s easy to blame the U.S. automakers for their financial turbulence. Clearly, the leaders of these companies were enthralled with short-term gains and not worried about long-term ramifications.

But other culprits exist too, like all of us, who love our SUVs and trucks, which coincidentally are the vehicles automakers make the most profit from. The federal government made automakers create smaller, more efficient cars and guess what? We didn’t buy them. Even when they closed the gap in quality with Japanese automakers.

You might also be interested to know that Japan purposely keeps its currency, the yen, weak in comparison to the dollar. This gives Japanese automakers a $4,000 advantage over U.S. automakers per vehicle!

Go ahead and whack wages and benefits. But U.S. automakers will still face an enormous competitive disadvantage thanks to the weak yen.

One commentator said he believed the U.S. focused on winning the Cold War and did not pay attention to what Japan was doing, allowing it to win the industrial war. I fear we are about to lose another major battle in that war.

It's government spending, stupid

2008-12-09T13:37:00.001-08:00

Conservatives like to deride FDR's New Deal for not bringing the Great Depression to an end. They say most economists believe the economy didn't start growing again until America was drawn into World War II. But even if that's true we need to think for a second about what that means.

Why did the depression finally end with the start of America's role in World War II? Because we massively ramped up production of weapons and war material. And that, my friends, happened only because of a truly staggering boost of government spending.

"And let's remember just how vast that public-works program was. In 1940, the last year before the U.S. entered the war, the federal budget was $9.5 billion. Five years later, it had increased almost tenfold, to $92.7 billion," Paul Waldman writes on the American Prospect Web site. "Over those five years, the country's economy doubled in size. Federal spending in both 1944 and 1945 amounted to 43.6 percent of gross domestic product, a figure seen neither before nor since."

Government is Back

It's a New Day

2008-11-05T09:29:00.000-08:00

When it was announced last night that Barack Obama had won the presidency, I thought of the scene at the end of the first Star Wars movie:

The death star explodes, Darth Vader spins off into space, and our heroes have saved the universe.

Last night was the beginning of the end of the long, bitter reign of Bush and Cheney. At long last we can end the torture of prisoners, the dismantling of our constitution, and begin to put right America's place in the world.

Have no illusions: President Obama does not have a magic formula for making everything better, and we will have years of struggle to repair the damages done by republican rule of the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court and the White House. Yet we can be certain that we finally have a good and decent man at the helm who does not make rash judgments or use fear to get his way.

It is a new day for America and our world.

Business sense

2008-10-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

We're all drowning in propaganda from the McCain campaign about Joe The Plumber and what Barack Obama's economic plan would mean for job creation. Obama proposes a tax cut for 95 percent of working Americans and an increase for those making $250,000 or more. This is supposedly going to cause great economic chaos.

Well, here are some words of wisdom on the topic from Victor Hammel, a Republican and CEO of a pest-control company based in Reading, Pa. Hammel told USA Today: "I would rather pay a little higher tax on a higher profit than a lower tax rate on lower profits."

Click here for USA Today article on why many Republicans back Obama

Who's worse? Bachmann or King?

2008-10-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

Michelle Bachmann exposed herself last Friday on "Hardball." Her inane comments have caused a flood of donations to her Democratic challenger. Isn't it time Steve King's hateful, ignorant, malicious comments cause people to donate in droves to Rob Hubler's campaign?

This online diary on the Daily Kos reviews the lowest of the lows of King's Congressional career. Read it, donate and alert a friend.

Michelle Bachmann and Steve King, Worst Persons

Donate now to Rob Hubler's campaign

We REALLY Can Beat Steve King

2008-10-18T08:28:00.000-07:00

This poll really makes me smile. It was taken by SurveyUSA on October 8 & 9 of voters in Iowa. Of course, we know that Obama is projected to beat McCain in Iowa by a large margin, but here's the happy part: the poll breaks out western Iowa.

Northwest Iowa: Obama 49% McCain 45%

Southwest Iowa: Obama 51% McCain 42%

You will remember that the 5th District is the western side of Iowa, and that means a SOLID win for Obama in the 5th District. Now consider the voters who will vote for Barack Obama -- how many of them do you suppose will vote for Steve King? And how many McCain voters in the 5th are disgusted enough by Steve King to vote for our Democrat, Rob Hubler?

Rob Hubler has run an aggressive and smart campaign, raising well over $200,000 - that is light-years better than we have done in the last decade. And he happens to be a great guy who will make us proud.

Here's a link to Hubler's new mailer that is going out this week: http://www.hublercongress.com/images/voters_guide.pdf

And, of course, here's information on our incumbent, the inimitable Steve King: www.kingwatch.org

None of this matters if WE don't make it happen. We have the power in our hands and feet to knock the doors, walk the neighborhoods, make the calls and do all the things we know how to do to win an election.

If you don't show up THIS WEEK and help Rob Hubler, then just when are you going to? Don't just sit back and feel sorry that we are stuck with Steve King for another term. Make this happen: we can do it.

This is our campaign. This is our election. Now get busy.

Bailing on the bailout

2008-09-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

The proposed Bush Administration bailout is insane. Completely, hopelessly insane.

We should save these Wall Street big shots by using government money to buy debt no private investors want? Well, it will help the economy because no one has any money to lend because of the crushing debt. Remove the debt and lending will flourish again.

Okay.

So let’s buy that argument. Literally. Then why don’t we, as the government, get an equity stake in the banks holding the debt we are buying? That’s what Warren Buffett will receive for his $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs. The government should just step in and borrow hundreds of billions of dollars to buy bad debt. With limited upside. Riiight.

We’re also told that we can’t clutter the legislation with more regulations. Some argue that these derivative products are so complex that regulators couldn’t spot a problem anyway. So we should allow financial products that no one understands to remain legal? Can’t we at least insist that banks boost their reserves so they don’t get so overextended? Can’t we at least increase the budget for regulators to enforce the laws on the books? Can’t we at least insist that executives who ruined these banks not walk away with millions of dollars?

Naturally, the establishment also says we should only worry about Wall Street at this moment. Help for homeowners struggling with mortgages can wait. But most economic experts cite declining housing prices as one of the major factors in the economic meltdown. So why can’t this bill include a provision to help people continue to pay their mortgage. One idea – reduce the mortgage to 80 percent but place a lien on it so if the home owner sells it later and recoups the original price that 20 percent is returned to the government. Keep people in their homes.
Reduce the inventory on the market. Let supply and demand go to work and possibly at least stabilize home values.

These steps seem pretty simple. The Democratic leadership needs to stand up for the people. To steal from the movie "As Good As It Gets," let Bush, Paulson and Bernanke go sell crazy someplace else. We’re all stocked up.

Yet ANOTHER bill to pay!

2008-09-24T00:54:00.000-07:00

We're never gonna get ahead...

Now we just got whapped with another bill -- this one nearly $5,000! Where in the world are we gonna get the money to pay THIS? We've had so many medical expenses, lost work, stubborn city workers telling us we need a new $4,000 sewer, now ANOTHER $5,000 bill.

We just ain't got the money. I don't know how we're gonna pay it. That's a tenth of our annual income.

That's what it's gonna cost us to bail out the irresponsible millionaires who caused the bank failures. It's gonna be $2,333 for every man, woman and child in the United States. That's what the Bush administration wants us to pay -- to GIVE -- to greedy millionaires who have a proven track record of failure.

How did this mess come about? Deregulation. The Republicans in power have constantly thumped the "regulations get in the way of a free market" drum for years. The result? The Sago Mine disaster. Bank failures. Record high gas prices and record high profits for the oil industry. One of the leaders of deregulation? Arizona Senator John McCain.

The rules were there for a reason, dammit! Now my wife and I will be $4,666 poorer as a DIRECT consequence of ultra-rich businessmen's greed.

Flash From Frostbite Falls

2008-09-08T07:14:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Bryan Site.

Republican supports Obama

2008-09-07T08:14:00.001-07:00

During a canvass yesterday on Sioux City's north side, I encountered a Republican out on his lawn. Eric wasn't on my list, but we ended up in a conversation anyway.

He said he's been a Republican for decades, but, put simply, he's had enough. His biggest complaint: Corporations. He can't quite believe we give tax breaks to corporations that turn around and ship jobs overseas. He said corporations used to put the country first and helping them would in turn help the rest of us. But he isn't buying that proposition anymore.

He's ready for a change. And his candidate is Barack Obama.

You can help change America by volunteering! Just contact the local office at (712) 277-0167.

Hope for Hubler

2008-09-03T06:52:00.001-07:00

An internal poll by the Rob Hubler campaign indicates that 38 percent of voters in the Fifth Congressional District favor a generic Republican candidate, 36 percent prefer a Democrat and 26 percent are undecided. This shows that Hubler has a solid shot at winning this district.

The poll also indicates that Steve King's verbal hand grenade tactics have worn thin. 45 percent of those polled had a negative view of him. That's only 9 points less than President Bush's off the chart unfavorable rating. It shows voters in the district desperately want a change.

But the poll also shows that only 31 percent know of Hubler. That's why any financial contribution you can make to his campaign is more critical than ever. With enough resources, Rob can get the word out about himself and his campaign to take back the district.

Hubler for Congress - Click to donate!

Bush endorses McCain

2008-09-02T20:51:00.000-07:00

This just in: President Bush has endorsed Sen. John McCain. "The man we need is John McCain," Bush told delegates at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul tonight.

Four more years.

We rest our case.

Republicans diss Palin

2008-08-31T09:24:00.001-07:00

It's never good when the people who know you best don't think you are ready to be vice president. But that's the case with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Here's what the Anchorage Daily News reports:

State Senate President Lyda Green said she thought it was a joke when someone called her at 6 a.m. to give her the news.

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?" said Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"

Green, who has feuded with Palin repeatedly over the past two years, brought up the big oil tax increase Palin pushed through last year. She also pointed to the award of a $500 million state subsidy to a Canadian firm to pursue a natural gas pipeline that is far from guaranteed.

Democrats helped give Palin her victories on oil taxes and the natural gas pipeline deal, over the opposition of many of Palin's fellow Republicans in the Legislature.

But Anchorage Democratic state Sen. Hollis French said it's a huge mistake by McCain and "reflects very, very badly on his judgment."

I think Sen. French has this right. Make Palin's complete lack of experience the issue to show that McCain's judgment is faulty. This is the biggest decision so far of his presidential campaign and he makes this choice? Another tactic would be to highlight Palin's anti-environmental stances, opposition to stem cell research and other extreme views to show McCain/Palin is not a maverick ticket.

Complete article from the Anchorage Daily News

A Moment for Obama and Us

2008-08-30T14:34:00.001-07:00

I just got back from the Democratic National Convention. A friend and I decided to drive out earlier this summer for the fun surrounding the convention even though we were not delegates.

Last week, we received some great news. We received passes to Barack Obama's nomination speech at Invesco Field, I suspect, on the strength of my friend's support for Obama during the Caucus. She was a precinct captain. So we drove out West.

We had the time of our lives. What a great way to get fired up for the fall election!

Tim Bottaro managed to get us in the Pepsi Center for a brief visit to the floor on Wednesday. Melissa Etheridge was performing during my five minutes of floor time and the place was rockin'. I can't begin to describe the energy in the arena.

Hillary Clinton and President Clinton deserve great praise for their grace in supporting Barack Obama. After Wednesday night, I didn't talk to one Hillary supporter who was not on board with Obama, and that was even before his electrifying speech.

Many pundits thought Obama had given too much time to the Clintons. I hate to admit I thought he might have made a mistake on this account as well, making himself look weak. But in the end, he emerged stronger than ever.

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin told Charlie Rose that Obama did what Lincoln had done. He gave his rival, who is imminently qualified to be president, a moment on the stage. He gave the Clintons and their supporters a chance to note her historic campaign. They did. And the party healed. Lincoln assembled his team of rivals into his cabinet, another act of a secure leader. Both Lincoln and Obama had the confidence to know that in the end they would emerge. Obama did that Thursday night. His speech, his moment, his call for all of us to take back our country will resonate for the ages.

Report from Denver

2008-08-27T04:09:00.000-07:00

Sioux City's Tim Bottaro is an Obama delegate, and his daughter Anne is serving as a page for the Iowa delegation. Tim just emailed his experiences from the Democratic National Convention in Denver:

Sunday we attended an Italian-American Democratic Leadership Party and met Nancy Pelosi. We told her we were from Sioux City and that we were working to defeat Steve King. She said Please Do!!!

Also on Sunday, we sat down and met a wonderful woman from American Samoa (the smallest delegation). Her plane ticket cost $1,300.00 and it was a 12-hour flight. American Samoans can not vote for President but she is here to help elect Barack Obama.

We also met an African American woman from California who kissed and hugged us when she found out we were from Iowa. She said that we would never know what we did for African Americans when Obama won the caucuses. She told us that her father told her that never in her or his life time would we see an African American President and that he called her on caucus night crying. She told us that she will always love the people of Iowa.

On the first evening of the Convention we spoke with Richard Gephardt, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and former Vice President Walter Mondale. We went to a great party on the executive cars of the Union Pacific Railroad just for the Iowa delegation. We are averaging 4 to 5 parties a day.

We also heard some great speeches from Nancy Pelosi, Craig Robinson, Jesse Jackson Jr., Tom Harkin, Claire McCaskill, Ted Kennedy, and of course Michelle Obama, along with many others.

Luke Russert has been hanging around the Iowa delegation. We told him how much we thought of his father. Today our own Gov Culver spoke at the convention as well as Hillary Clinton and Mark Warner. Gov. Culver told us that he had a great time at the Woodbury County event. His aide told us that the Governor said that he wanted all of his future events to be like Sioux City’s.

It has been an unbelievable time and we have yet to meet anyone that had been supporting Hillary that is not going to vote for Barack. We are coming together as a party to end the awful Bush-Cheney-McCain policies.

House McCain

2008-08-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

You think THIS guy's gonna be good for the economy?

Senator John McCain, Republican presidential candidate, recently said that if you make $4.9 million per year, you're middle-class. You're not rich unless you earn over $5 million a year, in McCain's mind.

Boy, I can't wait to be middle-class!

If Republican Senator McCain didn't seem to be out of touch with THAT remark, how's this... In the economy today many people are having trouble making their house payments. Foreclosures are happening all over the place. Things Are Not Good. Hard-working, honest people are losing their homes. (I almost said, "middle-class," but I guess I'm not sure what that means any more.) In the midst of all this, McCain (R) was asked how many homes he owns.

Turns out he owns so many houses even HE doesn't know!

I have nothing against rich people being rich, but if you're rich AND in power, you'd best quit voting to deny benefits to veterans, don't tell people that in your world $4.9 million a year is middle-class, and don't forget how many houses you own! Especially when they look like this:

I've worked hard all my life, went to college, got a degree, served in the Guard and was fortunate enough to find a house I could afford ($40,000). I hate to say it, but John McCain will never understand my situation, my point of view. He's too insulated from us average people. And by "average" I mean those of us making less than $5,000,000 a year. Sure, the "Country Club economy" is working for him. Is it working for you?

Not First Draft Talk From McCain

2008-08-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

Many journalists are scoffing at the notion that John McCain embraced bringing back the draft at a town hall meeting yesterday. They say McCain was agreeing with a woman's comments before she said a draft might be needed to hunt down Osama bin Laden. But McCain said he supported everything she said. "I don't disagree," McCain replied to the woman's comments.

To be fair, the woman rambled a bit and addressed a number of issues in her statement. But McCain could have easily agreed with only part of her statement. So did he have trouble hearing her? Did he tune her out at the end? Is he used to saying whatever someone wants to hear without being called on it? Or does he really favor bringing back the draft?

I'm sure the media won't stop until we know the answer. Riiight.

But people should consider this is not the first time McCain has raised the prospect of a draft.

According to Democracy now, McCain said during a campaign event in New Hampshire last September: “One, this is the best military we’ve ever had, and it’s just not big enough. Two, there has never been a draft that I have ever heard of since World War II that was fair. What we’ve done is we find rich people find a way out and lower income people are the ones that serve. So the thing—if you could design—I might consider it. I don’t think it’s necessary. I might consider it, if you could design a draft where everybody equally would serve.”

No matter what his explanation this isn't good stuff for McCain. Eventually, he will be revealed for his shameless pandering.

My Phone Call from Newt

2008-08-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

I received a call this morning at my office from "Newt Gingrich." Of course, it was a fundraiser for Gingrich who asked if I would listen to a very short message from Newt. I agreed, and heard him tell me that "China is getting ready to drill for oil off the coast of Florida," and that he was forming a committee called "Drill Here Now, Pay Less." He wanted to spend a few hundred thousand dollars to get the word out NOW.

Then the fundraiser came back on the line, and gave me a spiel. She said that "China is getting set to drill for oil 50 miles off the coast of Florida," and asked for $500 - said it could be in two payments or be paid with corporate funds. I declined. She then asked for $200. I declined. She asked for $100. I declined. Then she asked if they could use my name on their petition to Nancy Pelosi. I declined.

Keeping her on the line and saying NO four times made my day.

How long will they get away with the BIG LIE that "China is getting ready to drill for oil off the coast of Florida"?

Click for cash for Hubler

2008-08-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

Here's an easy way to help raise money for Rob Hubler in his race against Steve King for the U.S. House. Click on the link below and vote for Rob! The link takes you to the Progressive Patriots Fund web page. The group is dedicated to helping advance a progressive agenda for the United States. Senator Russ Feingold is the honorary chair. If Rob receives the most votes, he'll receive a $5,000 contribution from the fund!

Click here to go to Progressive Patriots Fund website

Vote early and often! Okay, that's not allowed. But you can email all of your friends and tell them to vote for Rob!

Enthusiasm for Obama High

2008-08-18T14:12:00.000-07:00

A friend and I canvassed for Barack Obama and Rob Hubler votes in the near-northside of Sioux City yesterday afternoon. Undoubtedly, this is a very Democratic district. But the enthusiasm for Obama was very high. We talked with mostly young and middle-aged voters and about 90 percent of them were eager to sign up for an absentee ballot. Some of them had to fill out a voter registration card first.

It was obvious that most of these people are not regular voters. One even asked if she could legally vote because she moved recently. These are exactly the voters the Democratic Party needs to reach through personal contact. We need to talk with them, encourage them to vote, explain the process, answer all of their questions and address all of their concerns. If you can commit a few hours each week to walking through these Democratic areas, you will help lock up votes that we might not otherwise harvest. And that's ballot box gold.

Iowans Attemtp 'Citizens Arrest' of Karl Rove

2008-07-26T06:43:00.000-07:00

SECOND ARREST ATTEMPT ON KARL ROVE IN IOWA LEADS TO 4 ARRESTS

Four Iowans were arrested today while attempting to make a Citizens' Arrest of Karl Rove in Des Moines, Iowa. Citing Iowa Code provisions for making Citizen's Arrests as well as citing Federal Statute violations they claimed Rove had violated, the four were stopped at the gate of the Wakonda Country Club in Des Moines where Rove was scheduled to speak at a Republican Fundraiser.

The four arrested were retired Methodist minister and Peace and Justice Advocate, Rev. Chet Guinn, 80, as well as three Des Moines Catholic Workers, Edward Bloomer, 61, Kirk Brown, 25, and Mona Shaw, 57. All four were cited for trespassing and released.

The four maintained that they were acting within the guidelines of Iowa Code that obligate private citizens to make such an arrest if they believe a felony has been committed and turn Rove over to police officials to bring Rove before a judge for formal indictment. By law, a federal judge should consider the charges and determine if an indictment should be made.

Brown and Shaw made a similar attempt last March when Rove spoke at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. Brown and Shaw were arrested and released without charges following that attempt. Deaths in the Middle East since the March attempt number in the thousands including, 151 more US troops have been killed in Iraq, and 284 killed in Afghanistan as well as far more citizens of those two nations.

Rove remains unindicted and recently refused to cooperate with a Congressional subpoena in the Valerie Plame leak investigation. Despite mounting evidence of Rove's wrongdoing concerning leading the U.S. to war as well as other actions, Congress and the U.S. judicial system remain reluctant to bring charges against either Rove or the Bush administration. Recent evidence includes Articles of Impeachment that will again be presented by Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich tomorrow. Vincent Bugliosi's new book "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder" carefully lays out a case against Bush and his administration for war crimes and felony murder. Bugliosi was prosecutor for the Charles Manson Family murders and author of the book "Helter Skelter," which dealt with that crime.

To date there have been 4125 US Military deaths in Iraq, 896 in Afghanistan, 66,775 casualties (wounded as well as those removed for other injuries and illnesses), and more than 200,000 Iraqi and Afghani citizens killed and many, many more wounded.

Contacts:
Mona Shaw MonaShaw@aol.com
Kirk Brown kbmw36@yahoo.com
Chet Guinn CLGuinn@mchsi.com
Frank Cordaro frank.cordaro@gmail.com
Phillip Berrigan Catholic Worker House
713 Indiana Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50314
515-282-4781
www.DesMoinesCatholicWorker.org

Presidents Do Matter on Economic Affairs

2008-07-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

Some people would have you believe the president has very little to do with the economy. The titans of private industry make all of the key decisions, they argue. This aligns well with John McCain’s self-professed ignorance of the economy. But there’s one major difficulty with this contention: It’s wildly and dangerously off base.

I was reminded off this yesterday while listening to “Talk of the Nation” on NPR. The guest was Paul Maeder, co-founder of Highland Capital. He talked about how his biggest economic concern was that he did not know where the next wave of innovation would come from in the United States.

Why is innovation important? Because it drove the three biggest booms in the history of the professional venture capital industry in the U.S. And as Maeder pointed out, the basis for those innovative periods was government spending.

The first came in the early 1980s when computers became personal thanks to the integrated circuit developed by NASA. The second came in the early 1990s in the form of biotechnology thanks to academic research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. The third came later in the same decade with the online boom thanks to the Internet which was developed at first by the military.

Maeder added that the U.S. missed a chance to fund research that could have led to the next wave in innovation in alternative energy eight years ago. He says that’s why we trail European nations in this industry.

We also have seen some major reductions in research funding since the War in Iraq cost slightly more than the Bush Administration guessed. In fact, the American Association for the Advancement of Science reports we are retreating in research funding while other countries, like China and South Korea, are boosting their support by 10 percent or more annually.

Presidents do matter to the economy. For one thing, they can start seemingly endless and massively expensive wars that drain resources for research necessary to spark the next economic boom.

McCain scary for farmers

2008-07-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

An interesting article on MinnPost.com points out that John McCain isn't playing well in rural Minnesota.

U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, the chair of the House Agriculture Committee, is as blunt as ever. "Farmers in my state are scared to death of McCain," Peterson said. "He's never liked anything that we've done. I think he's going to have a hard time with farmers."

The article points out that McCain voted against the 2002 Farm Bill. It neglects to mention McCain's flippity floppity view of ethanol. But there's little doubt McCain's weakness in rural areas will hurt. It could be pivotal in western Iowa.

Peterson: Farmers fear McCain