Appearing at a fundraising dinner for Iowa Democratic Party, Biden pointed to the economic challenges he and President Obama faced when they were sworn into office 10 months ago.

“I, like all of you, hear the pundits on all the talk shows raising doubts about whether or not we can turn this great nation around,” Biden said. “I see the special interests raising tens of millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat our agenda.”

Biden had a simple message for Democrats who have supported President Obama: stick with him.

“I can tell you with absolute certainty, his resolve has never wavered one instant, and neither should yours,” Biden said.

That was the theme of the evening at a dinner attended by close to 1,500 at Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines.

Democratic elected officials stressed the need to continue to push health care reforms after the legislation cleared a crucial hurdle in the U.S. Senate Saturday.

U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley of Waterloo rallied Democrats to fight against what he called a campaign of fear by Republicans.

“We’ve heard a campaign of lies, and a campaign of fear and now is the time for Democrats in Iowa and all over this country to stand up and speak truth to fear,” Braley said.

The annual dinner is one of the biggest gatherings each year of Iowa Democrats, and new candidates used the event to get their names and messages out.

Bill Maske of Truro manned a booth outside the convention hall to promote his run for Congress in Iowa’s 4th District, a seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa.

Maske thinks Democrats are talking about the issues voters care about – health care, veterans’ rights and employment.

“The people are hurting, and they need help. and they need people that are going to go to Washington and work on their behalf, and not just serve special interests and the privileged few,” Maske said.

The event also served as a reintroduction for Des Moines lawyer Roxanne Conlin, who recently announced she would run for Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley’s seat.

“I am sure that together we can send Charles Grassley back to the farm,” Conlin told a group of party activists who packed a reception for her.
Conlin, who made an unsuccessful bid for governor in 1982, joins two other Democrats running for the seat: Tom Fiegen of Clarence and Bob Krause of Fairfield.

Gov. Chet Culver, running for re-election to his second term next year, highlighted efforts by his administration to raise Iowa’s minimum wage, expand access to health care and early childhood education opportunities.

Culver also touted the state’s recovery efforts after last year’s historic flooding.

“I welcome a spirited debate about our record of accomplishment. I welcome a healthy debate about the future direction of this state,” Culver said.

An analysis of data by the Associated Press found that the most common deals replaced old pickups with new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage. However, fuel-efficient car models such as the Honda Civic and Toyota Camry also were among the top 10 new cars purchased through the program.

Braley said data collected showed that the average increase in mileage for the cars that were traded in and the cars that were bought was 9.2 miles per gallon.

“When you multiply that times the 700,000 vehicles that were placed on the road, it has an enormous impact on fuel-efficiency and on the environment,” Braley told reporters after a taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press.”

Braley said most economists who have looked at the program agree that it is one of the most spectacularly successful short-term stimulus programs the federal government has ever passed.

Braley said the program put nearly 40,000 people back to work in manufacturing facilities making automobiles or component parts.

“I think it’s been an overwhelming success, and I’m very proud to have been one of the original sponsors,” Braley said.

When asked whether he would support a second round of Cash for Clunkers, Braley said he didn’t know. He expressed support for a “Cash for Caulkers” proposal that would help people improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

“It’s going to create a lot of economic opportunity for those that are involved in weatherizing and upgrading homes and businesses,” Braley said. “So I think that as we need to focus on creating jobs in this economy that it may be the type of thing that would make sense short term.”

He did not have an estimate of how much the plan would cost.

During the taping of the show, Braley called his recent vote in favor of the health care reform bill “one of the proudest votes I’ve ever taken on the House floor.”

He said it will improve access to health care for thousands of Iowans, increase reimbursement rates for health care providers, and give many seniors security that their drug benefits will improve.

Braley said he didn’t think the vote would make him vulnerable as he seeks re-election in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District.

“If I take a tough vote like the one I did on health care, and it results in me not getting re-elected, I can live with that vote,” Braley said.

The Catfish Bend Casino in Burlington was fined $20,000 for admitting an underage female who played a slot machine and was served an alcoholic beverage. A security supervisor questioned her identification and discovered she was underage.

The Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque was fined $3,000 for admitting a person who had signed up for the voluntary self-exclusion program. The program was created as a way for problem gamblers or anyone to ban themselves from Iowa casinos. In this instance, the individual signed up for the voluntary self-exclusion program and later was allowed to gamble at the facility. The individual enrolled in a players’ club account with the casino. The error was discovered during an audit of the casino’s players’ club accounts.

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission approved the penalties at their meeting today.

The deal with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Iowa Council 61 must still be approved by the union’s membership. Voting is expected to begin no later than Nov. 19.

The agreement includes five mandatory unpaid furlough days between now and June 30, which is expected to save about $22.7 million.

The state’s contribution to employees’ deferred compensation also will be temporarily suspended until June 30, for a savings of $3.7 million.

The total savings of $26.4 million is expected to save 479 AFSCME jobs. Culver sought concessions from the union in order to avoid the layoffs of state workers, especially state troopers and correctional officers working in state prisons.

Under the terms of the agreement, no member of the union who is an executive branch employee can be laid off until June 30, the end of the current fiscal year. Employees outside the bargaining units who are laid off will not be allowed to displace AFSCME employees.

“I want to thank the leadership at AFSCME for joining with us to save these essential public service jobs,” Culver said in a statement. “This understanding will help preserve vital services for Iowans while meeting our obligation to balance the state budget. This is a positive step forward and I encourage the membership to vote yes on this measure.”
Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan said the union worked with Culver to save as many jobs as possible.

“We thank the governor for giving us the opportunity to sit down with him and have input on this issue,” Homan said in a statement. Homan has scheduled a news conference this afternoon to discuss the agreement.

DES MOINES – Des Moines lawyer and Democrat Roxanne Conlin officially filed papers today to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Chuck Grassley.

Conlin, 65, is a well-known Democratic activist who was the party’s nominee for governor in 1982. That year she became the first woman candidate for governor on a major party ticket.

In a video on her campaign Web site www.roxanneforiowa.com, Conlin rails against career politicians in Washington and the bailout they gave banks and financial companies.

“Taking on the special interests has been the cause of my life. I’m running for U.S. Senate to take this fight to Washington,” Conlin says on the video.

The video highlights Conlin’s humble roots, beginning a job as a waitress at the age of 14 and working her way through college and law school.

Conlin highlights her legal career in the appeal to voters, noting that as a federal prosecutor she “took on drug dealers, corrupt politicians and corporations who violated the public trust.”

She said she later started a law firm to give a voice to “everyday people who had none” including fighting banks when farmers were at risk of foreclosure.

“Join me in taking on this fight because the special interests have had their turn,” she said. “Now it’s our turn.”

Democrats Bob Krause of Fairfield, a former member of the Iowa House, and former state senator Tom Fiegen of Clarence also have announced their intentions to run for the seat.

As speculation builds that he will make a presidential bid in 2012, Pawlenty sought to highlight his conservative credentials before a crowd of roughly 700 Iowa Republicans who gathered to hear him and the party’s six gubernatorial candidates.

With unemployment over 10 percent, Democrats in Congress around are messing around with a “miserable” health care bill and a cap and trade bill, Pawlenty said.

“They should be focused like a laser on jobs, not acting like a manure spreader in a windstorm,” Pawlenty said.

As the GOP comes off wins in governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey Tuesday, Pawlenty urged Republicans in the audience to do more than just be critics.

“We have a tremendous opportunity as the country sees now that what Barack Obama, President Obama, promised is not being delivered, and they see the dangerous leftward tilt that he’s trying to take the country, there’s an opportunity for conservatives to rally and show the country a better way,” Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty has recently formed a political action committee and said he’ll make a decision about his future after finishing out his current term as governor.

Former state Republican chairman Chuck Larson, who was a senior adviser to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, said no potential 2012 candidate has an edge with Iowa Republicans.

“At this point in time, Iowans are going to begin the slow process of getting to know all of the candidates and their accomplishments,” Larson said.

What stands out about Pawlenty, Larson said, is that he won re-election in 2006 when other Republicans around the country lost.

“That was like the one bright spot in our country from a GOP perspective was his victory,” Larson said.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said one thing that might give Pawlenty an advantage is that he is a fellow Midwesterner, as well as a fiscal and social conservative.

Grassley had this advice for Pawlenty if he chooses to compete in the Iowa caucuses: “He needs to be ready to put as much work into Iowa, because it’s early and because it’s retail politics, as he might put in ten other states,” Grassley said.

State Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, said he is impressed with Pawlenty, but hasn’t started looking at whether he is the right candidate for the top of the party’s ticket.

Johnson caucused for Mitt Romney in 2008, but thinks he may avoid competing in Iowa in the future. Johnson said he’s wide open to in deciding who he will support in 2012.

“It’s still early, but we’re going to need a very strong candidate in 2012, there’s no question about that,” Johnson said.

Andrew Phillips, a Des Moines Republican and Drake University law student, said although it’s still early, he’s beginning to look at candidates for 2012. Phillips, 24, thinks Pawlenty’s position as governor of a Midwestern state will play well in Iowa.

“One of the reasons I like him, he’s fiscally conservative obviously compared to the current administration,” Phillips said.

Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Michael Kiernan sent out a statement in the hours before Pawlenty’s speech slamming him as an insider who has embraced the comforts of Washington.

“Pawlenty’s top advisors are the same Bush/McCain/Swift Boat characters voters have rejected,” Kiernan said.

If Pawlenty were to seek the GOP nomination for president, a poll released in recent days shows he could face a difficult time against some other well-known Republicans.

A USA Today/Gallup poll found 71 percent of Republicans would seriously consider voting for Mike Huckabee, compared to 65 percent who say they would seriously consider Mitt Romney or 65 percent for Sarah Palin. Another 60 percent said they would seriously consider voting for Newt Gingrich.

In comparison, just 32 percent of Republican said they would seriously consider voting for Pawlenty.

Harkin floated the idea with reporters after a taping Friday of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press.”

“It’s not going to happen overnight. I just think it’s something that we ought to be talking about, and we ought to debate it. And we ought to see what’s the cost, but what’s the savings,” Harkin said.

The Democrat, who is chairman of the Senate committee leading health care reform efforts, said it would help solve the problem of children moving on and off the Medicaid rolls based on their parents’ income.

The Medicaid program has income guidelines for eligibility, while Medicare coverage would not be reserved for low-income families under Harkin’s scenario.

Putting children in the federal Medicare program also would help take the financial burden off states, which pay for a share of Medicaid costs, Harkin said.

He spoke of the administrative problems these state programs face when Medicaid families see a job loss or changes in their income.

“They’re in and out, and in and out. Every time that happens, it’s an administrative nightmare, and it costs a lot of money,” Harkin said.

He compared the idea of opening up Medicare to children to American public schools – available to all regardless of income.

Another idea he said should be discussed is allowing Americans over the age of 50 to buy into Medicare. He used the example of people who work physically demanding jobs and retire early.

“I think that deserves to be discussed too,” Harkin said.

He also talked about allowing states to develop their own single-payer health care system, considering states are often testing grounds for policies.

“This might be a good test to see if it works or not if a state wants to do it,” Harkin said.

He expects the idea will be offered by someone in Senate floor debate.

Harkin predicted that the long-awaited health care reform legislation would land on President Obama’s desk by the end of January.

That’s later than Harkin’s prediction earlier this year that a bill would be finished by Christmas. But Harkin said he believes the plan Congress will pass will include a strong, public health insurance option, which he said has shown support in polls.

“The American people want this,” Harkin said.

In recent weeks, Pawlenty has launched the Freedom First PAC, fueling speculation that he is gearing up for a presidential run in 2012.

Pawlenty appears Saturday at a Republican Party of Iowa gathering at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, where he will keynote the event.

Pawlenty said he’ll make a decision about his future shortly after he finishes out his current term as governor.

“But I haven’t ruled anything in, and I haven’t ruled anything out,” Pawlenty told Iowa reporters on a conference call Wednesday. “I really don’t know the answer to what I’m going to be doing after I’m done being governor.”

Pawlenty said he will speak to issues he thinks are important for the country and on how the Republican Party and GOP candidates can do better.

He said he’s learned lessons being elected and re-elected as a mainstream conservative in Minnesota, which he described as a “pretty liberal state.”

Pawlenty said he’s alarmed by the rate of growth of the federal government, its spending and debt.

“It’s unsustainable, it’s reckless, it’s irresponsible and it needs to stop, and those of us who are concerned about it need to rise up and fight it,” Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty, who serves as vice-chairman of the Republican Governors Association, said GOP wins in Virginia and New Jersey governor races Tuesday were an affirmation of the candidates’ economic policies.

“They spoke to the importance of jobs and the economy, particularly as it relates to training and educating the work force and trying to create an environment where people could have access to a job,” Pawlenty said.

Next year, Pawlenty expects many of the 37 governor’s races on the ballot to be competitive, especially in swing states.

Pawlenty and Sarah Palin were not so lucky after shunning their party’s candidate to back Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in a New York U.S. House race.

Hoffman lost to Democrat Bill Owens Tuesday.

Pawlenty said Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, a moderate who dropped out of the race in the days leading up to the election, had “embraced” the stimulus bill, the bank bailout and “card check” for union elections. He also objected to her selection, which he said was done by a small group of people and was not transparent.

Pawlenty said he doesn’t intend to endorse other conservatives who don’t run on the GOP ticket in 2010.

A registered lobbyist at the Iowa Legislature has been arrested, accused of threatening to extort $1 million from the conservative Iowans for Tax Relief, authorities said today.

Mary Katheryn Moravek, 51, of Mechanicsville, Iowa, was charged Tuesday with extortion, a Class D felony.

The Muscatine County Attorney’s office said Moravek tried to extort money from the group and its chairman, David Stanley.

The release did not indicate what wrongdoing was being alleged, and an assistant county attorney declined to be more specific.

Ed Failor Jr., president of Iowans for Tax Relief, said today, “All I can tell you is somebody did try to extort our organization, and we turned it over to the authorities.”

Alan Ostergren, an assistant Muscatine County Attorney, said contact in the incident was first made on Monday.

Stanley talked with Moravek on the telephone this morning, and she agreed to accept “$30,000 in lieu of making false allegations of wrongful conduct,” according to the county attorney’s office.

Two Iowans for Tax Relief employees were to meet with Moravek, authorities say. Instead, an undercover sheriff’s detective arrested her about 1 p.m.

Moravek was being held in the county jail while awaiting an initial appearance before a judge.

Ostergren said that wouldn’t happen until Wednesday.

“She was threatening to accuse them of all sorts of things that were false and demand payment not to make those accusations,” Ostergren said today.

He added he didn’t think there was any political motive behind the attempt.

“I think it was more personal for her,” he said.

Moravek was registered as a lobbyist for the Iowa Commission of Persons with Disabilities during this year’s legislative session, according to the legislature’s Web site.

She also is listed as being a member of the organization’s board. The Web site said she was appointed to a two-year term last July.

The penalty for a conviction on a charge of extortion is up to five years in prison and a $7,500 fine.

Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, specifically cited problems regulating the clinics in the Los Angeles area that dispense medical marijuana.

Kerlikowske recounted going to Venice Beach and seeing people holding signs advertising marijuana and ads in newspapers.

He also pointed to reports of robberies and assaults that have occurred in and around medical marijuana dispensaries in the Los Angeles area.

“I would say that the recommendation for any state that’s considering moving to medical marijuana is to look very closely at what’s been occurring in California,” Kerlikowske said.

Kerlikowske, the former police chief in Seattle, reported better results for the medical marijuana law in Washington State.

“It was not as significant a problem for law enforcement as it was in, as it is in, Los Angeles,” Kerlikowske said.

Iowa’s pharmacy board is holding hearings around the state to collect input on the medical use of marijuana and could decide to make a recommendation to state lawmakers.

Kerlikowske said his office had in the past has given its opinions to states opposing medical marijuana, but he stopped short of making such a recommendation Monday.

Kerlikowske was in Iowa for a roundtable and series of events with Iowa treatment providers and law enforcement officials as he seeks input for a national drug control strategy due out next year.

One of the participants included Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals, who doesn’t think people should be allowed to smoke marijuana for medical conditions.

“How are you going to enforce that? You know, you’re going to see people out in public smoking a joint. I’m not sure we’re ready for that or that it’s needed,” Pals said.

Kerlikowske also listened to Iowa’s experience in battling drug abuse, especially problems with methamphetamine. A report issued Monday found that methamphetamine activity in Iowa, after declining for five years, is now on the rise.

The Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy said there have been small increases in the number of meth-related treatment admissions, meth labs and manufacturing meth in the presence of a minor cases. Although the numbers are up, they are still well below their levels five years ago.

Kerlikowske detailed some of the strategies that have helped reduce the illegal manufacturing of meth in other parts of the country.

One state that has had success is Oregon, where pseudoephedrine is available only by prescription. The drug, found in cold and allergy medications, is a key ingredient in making meth.

“Not only are their laboratories significantly reduced, but also the number of people coming into the jail system with a problem for methamphetamine is significantly down compared to other places,” Kerlikowske said of Oregon’s regulation.

Gary Kendell, director of Iowa’s Office of Drug Control Policy, said the state has seen a resurgence of methamphetamine labs, although not to the extent that other states have.

Kendell said an electronic tracking system for pseudoephedrine that should be up and running next year should be given a chance to work.

“We think that that’s going to provide us with a good tool to reduce access of these cooks to the pseudoephedrine products,” Kendell said.