Monday, October 16 is...

Updated below:

World Food Day (UN)
Heroes Day (Jamaica)

Some food for thought today:

The third district race just gets worse and worse, but today Jane Norman reports that over $3 million has now been raised between the two candidates. If you're looking for someone to blame for all the negative ads in this race, blame the candidates, for sure, but also bear in mind that none of it would be happening if not for their donors.

UPDATE: The First District race, which sounds equally nasty, has also topped $3 million.

Here's a lesson from Politics 101: When a candidate drops out, it helps the other candidates. Go ahead and read this Register story if you're new to the concept.

This editorial though, outlines one of the biggest problems with the Department of Human Services. None of us would get away with waiting months to pay our bills, but the DHS often sits on bills for subsidized child care for months.

Also, when parents apply for help with child care, it takes months to find out if they've been approved. Since they still need child care during that time, many child care providers do a good deed by taking care of children and waiting until later to get paid. And when the DHS turns parents down, many of these child care providers get stiffed. There's no reason it should have to be that way. Kudos to the Register for shining some light on that.

I know Chet Guinn. He's one of my favorite people in politics. I was severely disappointed when Tom Latham decided to attack him, but I was glad to see Marc Hansen step up to the plate on his behalf in this column.

There's an interesting note on Register polling and an update on the Appels in this post at Iowa Ennui.

And finally, I've added Bill Dix and Dave Nagle to the blog listings on your right. I haven't read much from either yet but I'm giving them a shot.

KL