Bacon gooes way in depth on his thoughts in regards to yesterday's county convention, but in the first line, he calls on me to do the same. Iowa Ennui name drops me too.
I'd like to stress that I'm only writing this post because these other bloggers warrant a response...let me explain to you why.
We've all know for a while that Chris Woods is with Culver, and it appears that his status changes between "on the payroll" and "volunteer only" on a relatively regular basis. I think Bacon said it best:
Chris over at Political Forecast seems to have a good handle on politics, and I know I've been hard on him the last couple of weeks, but he is so unapologitically biased toward his boss, Chester, that I've stopped taking his analysis very seriously. If Culver was constipated Chris would tell anyone who listened that the great thing about Chet is he never has to wipe his ass.
Please see the comments for more on this.
I'm trying very hard not to become that. I could write glowing endorsements of Ed everyday. I would enjoy doing it, but it certainly wouldn't be impartial analysis, and there could be questions about my motives in doing so. As such, I usually try to keep a fair distance from campaign matters in this space, especially positive news, and let someone else cover it. I don't need conflict of interest questions.
With that said, I spent over 10 hours yesterday at Valley High School in West Des Moines, in fact, I chaired the Fallon preference group. Some thoughts:
Even I was a little surprised by the strength the Fallon delegation showed yesterday. I knew a fair portion of our delegates by name/reputation, if not personally, but nonetheless, to see over 160 people show up to support a candidate, more supporters than any other candidate could muster, was encouraging at least, and emboldening for sure. If anyone is reading this who was there yesterday, thanks for your assistance, your support, and your patience.
I think Blouin's inability to form a viable group in Polk County is notable. This is a major candidate, supposedly a frontrunner, who is coming off a major news week, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and has practically immersed himself in high-profile endorsements. The fact that his campaign couldn't muster 65 people to show up to support him in the state's largest county should be a large red flag to his supporters and staff. I'm not expecting him to drop out or change course, in fact, if I worked with or for him, I'd encourage him not to.
I think more people should be paying attention to yesterday's results. I would agree that convention attendees are possibly more liberal than most, but let's make this perfectly clear: If you were looking for a group that represents the Democratic base, convention attenders in Polk, Johnson and Story county would be a very good place to start. Fallon received more support than any other candidate in all three of those counties. All told, between the three, you're looking at nearly 1000 almost certain primary voters polled. Fallon won handily.
I'm not going to go off on a diatribe here about the lack of press for yesterday's results. Instead, I'll send you to Joe, who does a great job making that point and does so without my biases.
Anyway, thanks for indulging me, and thanks again to Bacon and Ennui for asking.
KL
3 comments:
Kyle, things between myself and the Culver camp haven't changed on a relatively regularly basis. I worked from late December to mid-January. That was it. Since then I've been a volunteer.
If you don't like my blogging, tell me. You've got my email address. Taking what Bacon says and just moving on from there I find a bit insulting--like you just threw it in there as a personal dig, which I don't believe you did. I like getting criticism and dealing with it in a positive way. All I know is that you've been pissed at me since I decided to endorse Culver and have seemed to question my intentions since. Look, we in the Iowa progressive blogosphere shouldn't create these hostilities towards each other because of assumptions.
As for your comments about impartial analysis, if people come to my blog looking for that specifically, they've probably come to the wrong place. Certain blogs can claim to offer that kind of objective stuff--I'm trying to use my blog to articulate what I feel and let those who are interested read it. I'm also trying to use my blog to build a progressive blogosphere in Iowa--that's why I link to so many different blogs so quickly and why I link to the folks who think differently than I do.
I respect your work for and your support for Ed Fallon. He's a great guy, an amazing Democrat, and he'd be a great governor. And so would Chet, in my book. We've picked different candidates to support in the primary and that's ok in my book. It can create good discussion and debate. And that's what I'd love to do.
But I don't want to become persona non grata simply because I'm a Culver supporter.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts, they're always interesting to read.
Chris,
I'm emailing this to you and posting it in the comments so I know for sure both you and anyone else who reads the comments will see this.
I'm sorry if it looked like I'm singling you out. My point in the post is that I'm trying to avoid what you've been accused of, much less so than what you're actually doing. I respect your work, enjoy your blog, and have nothing personal against you. I'm not pissed at you, as you say, as much as I'm wanting to make sure people know you're not an impartial source, and when you come out in favor of Culver repeatedly, it shouldn't be treated as something unexpected.
Again, my apologies for what you viewed as a personal attack. I certainly didn't mean for it to come off that way. You're just the best example of the situation I am trying to avoid.
KL
Thanks for clearing things up, Kyle.
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