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Old 2nd September 2009, 06:07 AM   #142
Brown
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Join Date: Aug 2001
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Well, here's a new development, from the Des Moines Register:
Quote:
Democrats retained a fiercely contested House seat in a special election Tuesday, turning aside Republican hopes to showcase a victory as a sign that Iowa's political tide has turned.

Democratic candidate Curt Hanson, a retired schoolteacher, won against GOP candidate and Jefferson County Supervisor Stephen Burgmeier by 3,932 to 3,825 votes, according to unofficial tallies.
...
Campaign reports filed five days before Tuesday's election show that Burgmeier and Hanson had raised nearly $313,000 in cash and in-kind contributions. That total doesn't include money raised in the last days of the election or the $86,080 spent on television ads on behalf of Burgmeier by the National Organization for Marriage in Washington, D.C. Both candidates support allowing a constitutional vote on whether Iowa should ban same-sex marriage. (emphasis mine)
So the self-proclaimed National Organization for Marriage didn't get its man elected, but on the other hand, the group's opponent said that he favored letting the citizens vote on amending the constitution.

So more than $400,000 was spent, and fewer than 8,000 people voted. This may be the most expensive Iowa House race in history.

Jefferson County (the part of Iowa where the fictional James Ryan from "Saving Private Ryan" was raised) is hardly a hotbed of political intrigue. The Republicans tried to say that the issues in question were national--spending, bailouts and national health care reform, taxes. The Democrats said the issues were local issues. But apparently same-sex marriage (a local issue with national impact) was not one of the major decisive questions.
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