WELCOME to the debut of “The Truth Is!”, a blog of reporting and commentary that aims to be informative, thoughtful and provocative. At least initially, the blog will have a strong heartland flavor by virtue of the connection of a number of us to Cowles family journalism. I am former editor of the Des Moines Register’s opinion pages. Another contributor, Michael Gartner, is former editor of the paper; he later served as president of NBC News. Another former Register editor who has agreed to contribute, Geneva Overholser, is director of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg school of journalism. Followers of the blog will have access also to the work of Herbert Strentz of Des Moines, a close Register and other newspaper watcher who once headed Drake University’s journalism school. Bill Leonard, a longtime Register editorial writer, will add insights.

“The Truth Is!” will be supervised by my daughter, Marcia Wolff, a communications lawyer for 20 years with Arnold and Porter (Washington, D.C.). Invaluable technical assistance in assembling and maintaining the blog is provided by my grandsons Julian Cranberg, a college first-year, and Daniel Wolff, a high school senior.

If you detect a whiff of nepotism in this operation, so be it. All of it is strictly a labor of love. —Gil Cranberg

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Gilbert Cranberg: BLOOD BATH AHEAD IN IOWA?

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin’s decision to not seek another term will deprive the U.S. Senate of a reliable liberal vote. Much depends, of course, on who replaces him.

Until now, Iowa Democrats and Republicans have followed a live-and-let-live policy. Republican Charles Grassley and Harkin have filled the state’s Senate seats without much fuss. It’s as though the parties have tacitly agreed to leave the status quo intact by not making serious efforts to dislodge either incumbent. Whether intentional or serendipitous, the division of the state’s Senate representation has served Iowa well. Grassley and Harkin piled up seniority with each election and earned the state influence it could not have hoped for otherwise.

Grassley is conservative, but not obnoxiously so. Harkin’s liberalism is of the low-key sort. The pair makes kind of an odd Senate couple. The Iowa equilibrium could undergo a drastic change, however, if the right-wing firebrand, Steve King, decides to run for Harkin’s seat. A six-term member of the House, King enjoys making outrageous remarks. The larger audience a Senate seat could offer just might appeal to him.

My own personal favorite to succeed Harkin is Tom Vilsack, President Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture. I have no idea whether he would be interested, but he did a fine job as a two-term governor of Iowa and I am confident he would perform well in the Senate. Besides, he is a former next-door Des Moines neighbor of mine.

Iowa politics are in flux. A formerly moderate Republican party has been taken over by rabid right-wing reactionaries who just might regard Tom Harkin’s seat as a prize. If they go all-out to capture it, look for blood over Iowa’s once-lovely landscape.

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