Trump ads featuring black women during

Beat Bobby Flay.

One was a conversational group that started and ended with a black woman. Also had a few white men talking about the economy and keeping his word. White woman said Biden will raise taxes and socialism. The black woman at the end said Trump understands people like her.

Second was a lone black woman from Altoona (IA) with a back drop of riots. She said we need Trump to keep us safe in our neighborhoods. She’s identified so I’ll try to catch her name the next time.

Top election forecaster shifts Senate races away from Republicans Susan Collins and Lindsey Graham

by ROGER SOLLENBERGER, Salon, 9/23/20

With the Senate poised to begin likely explosive confirmation hearings over President Donald Trump's nominee to replace former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, top election expert Larry Sabato has swung his projection for two critical contests to the left. Their outcomes could determine wether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is leading the charge to fill the seat amid the election, retains control of the upper chamber.

Maine's Senate race has switched from "toss-up" to "leans Democratic" as incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins continues to struggle in the polls. Sabato also nudged South Carolina's Senate race in the direction of Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison, moving incumbent Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's seat from "likely Republican" to "leans Republican."

Judge: Dubuque doctor ignored ban on elective procedures, citing 'no consequences'

Iowa Capital Dispatch
By Clark Kauffman -September 22, 2020

"A Dubuque plastic surgeon knowingly violated the governor’s ban on elective medical procedures, telling a colleague there would be “no consequences” for violating the order, an administrative law judge has ruled.

The judge’s findings spring from an unemployment claim filed by Jolene Patterson, a registered nurse in the office Dr. Erin Kennedy of Plastic Surgery Aesthetics in Dubuque.

According to state records, Patterson was hired by the clinic on Aug. 29, 2019, as a full-time registered nurse. The clinic performs reconstructive surgery, cosmetic surgery, liposuction, laser surgery, Botox injections and other services, with Kennedy overseeing the business and performing medical procedures. . . .

https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2020/09/22/judge-dubuque-doctor-ignored-ban-on-elective-procedures-citing-no-consequences/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=3fa57dcc-6bfe-4153-b3d8-47950b1bf79a

Iowa Poll: All four of state's congressional races close heading into final stretch of campaign

"Statewide, likely voters in Iowa have a slight preference for Democrats in Congress with 47% preferring those candidates. Republican candidates win support from 45% of likely voters.

“Not one of these races looks all that solid," said pollster J. Ann Selzer of Selzer & Co.

The poll shows Republicans gaining a little ground statewide since the summer — a June Iowa Poll showed Republican candidates trailing 42% to Democrats' 47% support."

"Each of the four races falls within the margin of error of up to plus or minus 8.7 percentage points for district-level results. Democrats still hold an advantage in Iowa's 1st, 2nd and 3rd Congressional Districts, and the Republican still has an edge in the 4th Congressional District.

The district-level poll results:
1st Congressional District: 47% Democrat, 41% Republican (plus or minus 7.8 percentage points margin of error)
2nd Congressional District: 50% Democrat, 46% Republican (plus or minus 8.7 percentage points)
3rd Congressional District: 48% Democrat, 42% Republican (plus or minus 7.7 percentage points)
4th Congressional District: 44% Democrat, 49% Republican (plus or minus 7.5 percentage points)
The party advantage has shrunk since June in three of the four districts. Then, a Democrat was preferred over a Republican by a double-digit margin in the 2nd and 3rd Congressional Districts. In the 4th Congressional District, a Republican was preferred over a Democrat by 22 percentage points."

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/iowa-poll/2020/09/20/iowa-poll-all-four-iowas-congressional-races-up-grabs/5829937002/

New Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll will dribble out starting Saturday at 6pm

What do Iowans think about the U.S. Senate, presidential races? A new Iowa Poll will offer answers

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/iowa-poll/2020/09/18/iowa-swing-state-des-moines-register-mediacom-iowa-poll-answer-trump-biden-ernst-greenfield-election/3491844001/

"Starting Saturday night at DesMoinesRegister.com and in the Des Moines Sunday Register, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll will check the pulse of Iowans on the upcoming election and other issues.

Full polling results will be released over the coming week.

The first release, at 6 p.m. Saturday online, will report likely Iowa voters' opinions on the race between Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst and her Democratic challenger, Theresa Greenfield, as well as the voters' responses to questions specific to each candidate.

The release Saturday of the Senate race poll results, which will also appear in Sunday's newspaper, will be followed with results on likely Iowa voters' opinions on a question related to the U.S. House elections and then on the presidential race.

The presidential race, between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, has been competitive in Iowa, according to past polls. An Iowa Poll conducted June 7-10 showed Trump leading Biden by just 1 percentage point, 44% to 43%.

Gov. Kim Reynolds orders state flags at half-staff in honor of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader

from the Des Moines Register. . .

"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dedicated her life to passionately serving her country through the law,” Reynolds said in a news release. “From caring for her family while working her way through law school to reaching the highest court in our land, she blazed a trail that inspires others to answer the call to serve."

Flags will be at half-staff on the State Capitol Building, Capitol Complex and on all state-owned public buildings, grounds and facilities throughout Iowa. Flags are to be lowered until interment.

The governor also encourages individuals, schools, municipalities, counties and other government subdivisions to do the same."

The Trump Boat Parade in Polk County Iowa - Fail!

From the Polk County Weekly email:

You may remember that the Trump campaign announced a boat parade to compete with the Polk County Democrats Steak Fry at Saylorville Lake on Saturday. Well, they lost. Though they had promised to have a big parade with the thousands of boats they claimed to have at Okoboji, an embarrassing 75 boats showed up. Their drone video had to show different shots of the same parade to try and make it look bigger.

The owner of the infamous “Trump tractor,” Gary Leffler was apparently so disappointed with the turnout at their boat parade that he hauled it from Saylorville to Des Moines Water Works Park and tried to crash our event. You can see us politely letting him know we’d rented the whole park and offering him the best of luck in November. Bless their hearts.

[/blockquote

Water Works Park is a 1,500 acre park near downtown Des Moines, Iowa. It is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. And the Dems rented the entire park!

Polk County Iowa Steak Fry 2020 (drive-in style) another success!

I'm so proud of my county organization. They pulled off another successful Steak Fry with 900 in attendance and 300 watching virtually. From the Polk County Democrats Weekly Update:

The 2020 Steak Fry
After three days of miserable set-up in three days of miserable rain, our 2020 Steak Fry defied weather reports and wound up being a gorgeous day just in the nick of time. The result was unprecedented organizing and a breathtaking shot of energy for everyone involved because of the tireless work of more than 150 volunteers. 1,200 tickets were sold. 900 people attended our big day in person and 300 people watched on our virtual link. You can see all the coverage from the Des Moines Register, KCCI, and WHO.

When the gates opened at 4, our parking crew led by Tom Leffler, Pat Walters, and Dave Vawter, guided attendees down two lanes of traffic without any more than momentary back-ups. There were signs all along the way courtesy of John Kaiser. Our stations led by LuAnn Pedrick and Rosie Thierer ensured that everyone got their tickets and were checked in. Deb Hansen spent countless hours in the weeks beforehand to create an individualized dashboard food ticket for every attendee. Our food crew, expertly led by Jason Krull, safely packed 900 hot meals in just two hours. Our 16 delivery carts of food and beverages led by Ruth and Scott Thompson made sure that everyone received their meal without having to wait long for delivery to their vehicles.

The pre-program started at 5:00 with videos of campaigns from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama. We also filled it with videos from many of our local and statehouse candidates here in Polk and from across Iowa. It was all produced by the amazing Maryfrances Evans for those in the park and the hundreds watching online. The stage was managed by Jason Crowley and our announcer was the legendary Mary McAdams. Caroline Jones jumped in on social media to make sure we were connecting with all the coverage buzzing around the state through the night.

As always, the entire event was managed from the idea phase several months ago to the clean-up yesterday morning by our Steak Fry leadership team of Lindsay Paulson, Judy Downs, and Peter Crane. Skylar Adamson helped a great deal, too. Because of their work, the Polk County Dems beat our fundraising goals. That will help us to do even more in the final weeks of the 2020 campaign.
Frankly, no one knew how an event like this would work. Other than the DNC, this was certainly one of the largest Democratic events since the pandemic began. The massive 2019 Steak Fry was really just a much, much bigger version of the ones that came before it. We could plan all we want (and we certainly did), but there really wasn’t much precedent for parking a drive-in event with this many cars and this many delivered meals and this many virtual attendees and so much else. It all went off without a hitch. That proves how exceptional our volunteers are. It also shows how serious every single person was about delivering our last big celebration before the general election in a safe way. Thank you to everyone who gave so much to make it possible.

Our Guests
We were fortunate to have a rockstar lineup of both in-person and virtual speakers. The Queen Tina Haase Findlay opened with both “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and the National Anthem. Mary Chapman led our Pledge of Allegiance along with a beautiful letter from President Barack Obama which you can read below. Connie Ryan with the Interfaith Alliance led us for an invocation and Iowa State Education Association President Mike Beranek reminded us of the sacrifices being made by Iowa students and teachers. We were joined in person by our Congresswoman Cindy Axne and our U.S. Senate candidate Theresa Greenfield. J.D. Scholten joined us for a stirring virtual speech on the need to focus more outreach on rural Iowa.

Congressman and First Vice Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Ruben Gallego spoke of the stakes before us as both a son of immigrants and a veteran. Mayor Pete Buttigieg spoke fondly of his time in Iowa and why he was committed to helping take back the White House this fall. Our Speaker Nancy Pelosi reminded us that she’s joined us so much each of the past three years that she’s starting to feel like a regular. She praised our volunteers for all their hard work and reminded us to “keep calm and carry on.” Our final headliner was our vice presidential nominee, Senator Kamala Harris. She talked about her commitment to the Iowa ticket and reminded all of us why we’ve admired her so much over the past few years. As always, Representative Ako Abdul-Samad brought the house down with his call to action in the way only he can do. We closed it all out with some good, old-fashioned red, white, and blue fireworks.

Our Big Community
Like it does every year, the Steak Fry reminded us why we work so hard as Democrats. All the organizing from so many people paid off in a big way. We got to see our kids enjoy the fireworks and people of all ages enjoy the meals and an amazing program. For the first time in more than half a year, many of us got to see each other for the first time.

Our little community all came together in a big way. As in years past, we built a temporary mini-city and tore it all down until next year. Because of the generosity of both our small and bigger donors, everyone who needed a ticket got one. That includes 40 student tickets that we were able to provide for free.

So many of our elected officials pitched in to make it work, too. Urbandale Councilwoman Bridget Carberry Montgomery and Des Moines Councilman Carl Voss delivered meals on golf carts. Amy Tagliareni with the Ankeny School Board helped serve meals. Johnston City Council members Rhonda Martin and Suresh Reddy and County Supervisor candidate Betty Devine helped park cars. Our sisters and brothers in labor pitched in big time as well. The IBEW was a major event donor and their members volunteered throughout the day. The Des Moines Firefighters Local 4 helped build the event and loaned their Biden firetruck.

In a weekend where Donald Trump was holding shoulder to shoulder rallies without masks, we showed how folks could still gather in a safe and fun way. It was a smashing success, but I truly hope we can be back to normal for a big Steak Fry next year when we’ll be gearing up for at least a gubernatorial and Senate primary for 2022.

Typical pandemic day -

USPS, UPS, and Prime delivery trucks all pulled up in front of my neighbor’s house at the same time. It looked choreographed.

And she says she’s working from home!

Neighbor with trump flag on a 2-story pole in his front yard, has added a Biden sign.

I did a double take because it was an official "Biden Works for Iowa" sign except he changed it to "Biden Works for Biden". I guess that's the best he could come up with.

I wish I lived next door and not 4 blocks away because a trump sign with "Trump Works for Putin" would be delicious.