Hanson wins special election in HD 90

[rurallib]

http://iowaindependent.com/19382/hanson-bests-burgmeier-in-hd90

The National Organization for Marriage bought more than $80,000 in ads to support Burgmeier, an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage rights. Two other groups — Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowa Family Policy Center — seemed to play a central role in the Republican’s campaign, which spent more time criticizing Gov. Chet Culver and Democratic bigwigs than talking about Hanson.
<snip>
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Michael Kiernan was quick to release a statement after the results were in. “Democrats have been successful in the last two election cycles and tonight because we have recruited great candidates, followed through on the promises we’ve made and are governing the state responsibly,” he said.

Republicans downplayed the result, implying that they never should have won the race anyway. “While we are disappointed, the fact that Republicans nearly won a solid Culver-Obama legislative district shows that Iowans are not pleased with the status quo and one-party rule in Des Moines,” said party chair Matt Strawn. (what a lying asshole)

[Cairycat]

1. Congratulations to Mr. Hanson and to the district

so glad it's remaining Democratic.


The Waterloo Courier reported:

The two political parties had poured more than $300,000 into the race, most of it for advertising.


Link: www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2009/09/02/news/breaking_news/doc4a9e304d59e33671431932.txt

Damn, that's a lot of money for a state house seat, isn't it? (Or am I stuck in the past price-wise, like when I take my kids clothes shopping?) Assuming an even split (perhaps not a reasonable assumption), over half the R's money was from this one, national, anti-gay marriage group. Mind-boggling.



oops, had to fix typo