Would someone please move to Des Moines and start writing for Skinny?

[Debi]

So I could post more than a few sentences each week????

http://www.dmcityview.com/skinny.shtml

<snip>

...The filing deadline for seeking office now has passed, and Skinny’s Panel of Political Experts says it looks as if Des Moines and its suburbs are becoming one-party areas — but different parties. The Democrats can’t seem to scrape up anyone to run for the Legislature in the suburbs. Even Brad Zaun, the Republican senator from Urbandale, is running unopposed. So is Pat Ward, the only other suburban Republican whose Senate term is expiring. Bob Brownell, a Republican supervisor from the suburbs, has no opposition, either, though suburbanite E.J. Giovannatti will have an opponent for his supervisory seat. In the House, Democrats couldn’t find anyone to run for the seat being vacated by Republican Walt Tomenga, though Republicans will have a primary to see if Al Lorenzen, the former University of Iowa basketball player, or Erik Helland, the candidate of the anti-tax crowd, will get the seat. The June 3 primary is likely to be close. And while the well-connected young Pete Cownie faces token opposition from a Democrat for the House seat being vacated by Libby Jacobs, Cownie is a shoo-in — with backing from influential Democrats as well as his father’s Republican friends. The well-respected Scott Raecker of Urbandale has no opposition. … In Des Moines, it’s a different story. Democrat Aku Abdul-Samad is running unopposed for his House seat from the inner city, and East Side Democrat Rick Olson is similarly unopposed. No Republican is taking on Altoona’s Geri Huser, either, although she faces a primary fight. But her father, Ed Skinner, will see that she doesn’t lose. …

Statewide, the Democrats surely will pick up a couple of seats in the Senate, where they now have a 30-20 edge, and probably a few in the House, which they also control. Of the 25 Senate seats on the ballot, 15 are held by Republicans and 10 by Democrats. Six of the Republicans running for re-election have no opposition, while only the venerable Jack Kibbe among the Democrats is getting a free pass. ...

<snip>

++++++

Yeah, there's more, but why bother??? :eyes:

[IA_Seth]

1. How sickening...

There is nothing worse than leaving a seat unopposed, IMHO. It had better be a VERY dominate district for us to ever give any of these yahoos a pass, and even then..

Can't we, as a State Party, start focusing a little more on candidate recruitment and development? I understand that we may not be able to sink a bunch of dough into a likely-to-lose race, but not fielding ANYONE? That just seems counterintuitive to me.

Can anyone explain why we wouldn't be more active with this? It can't ALL be because of money, there are plenty of activists within the county parties that would help with this i'd think.

[Kare]

3. State House?

Don't you have to live in a particular area to run for those seats?
And isn't there a certain amount of relevant experience that you need to have? I wouldn't think that you could just run any old slob who is interested and call it good.

Just curious....

[Debi]

4. Yes, and it's the job of the local legislators and party chairs to recruit people

to run for office.

As for the 'run any old slob who is interested' comment - have you NEVER heard of Steve King?

[Counciltucky]

11. Not to defend my friend Steve King...

...but he won a hotly contested four-way primary the first time he ran for Congress. (Course he got the backing of the God group, which put him over...)

[IA_Seth]

5. Curious about what?

Yes, State House. Yes, you have to live in the District. Yes, there is a certain amount of experience that would be desirable in a candidate (although the exact type of experience may be debatable. We don't have to field cookie-cutter good ol' boy candidates).

So, what do you think? Do you think that within these districts there are no Democrats that would be qualified? I find it hard to believe that there isn't a single person in any of these districts that would identify with the Democratic party and not be qualified to run. It is the State/County Party's responsibility - dare I say obligation - to find, recruit, and assist these candidates.

Otherwise, what the hell good are they? If we don't work to make sure we are represented by Democrats in all instances, aren't we giving up?

[cyberswede]

7. From what I've seen...

...it's left to the couty parties to find peolpe to run. The state party is NO HELP until a candidate can prove a certain amount of support (expecially financial). And even then, they really only help candidates who toe the line. Maybe Broke Dad could add a little info about this.

[Debi]

9. I know here in Black Hawk our legislators are sent out to recruit candidates to run

then, if someone agrees, the Party steps in to talk about money. Ugh, money money money x(

[DU9598]

2. You know it Debi

Is Skinny now written at the republican party headquarters and faxed over for publication? The author certainly has a slantly - an often inaccurate - view of what is happening within the Democratic party and caucus on the hill.

As for uncontested seats, I too cannot fathom why the party cannot talk someone into being on the ballot ... if nothing else, it makes the RPI waste money by sending out a mailer to each district at least once, just to be careful.

[Hardrada]

6. I ran for state rep in 1980. I got clobbered of course but

I tied down my popular opponent so he wasn't able to go and help out other repug campaigns as he could have done and they had to put money into the race which could have been used elsewhere also. It is a great strategy to always run someone otherwise you often get people in uncontested seats for years and years. And the repugs don't get a free ride. I thought this sort of thing was common knowledge but I guess not!

[haroldgiowa]

8. Primary elections

You can always do what the Lee County republican party did in 2000. They ran a person in the primary against democratic incumbents. Making them spend money for the primary as well as the general election. They then would pick their general election candidates by party. Dirty politics at its best, but the Lee County republicans have a PHD in dirty politics.

[Hardrada]

10. I had a primary opponent who clearly proclaimed he was a

Libertarian! Some of them were running in the Dem primaries since they sensed some weakness in certain areas. There was a good deal of frustration with Jimmy Carter and this translated in some measure to a certain disorientation in state parties. I did beat my primary opponent who later on supported the repug of course! Disgusting.