I agree with MOST of what you say here(minus the Christian “Fundamentalist” “Thing”. Iowa have NOT been right since that BASTARD Hughes was Governer/Senator. Ever wonder WHY Iowa now has 4 Congessional Disticts?
Fair enough. I consider myself a "Christian fundamentalist," but the term is admittedly pretty broad; in any event, I do not cut my co-religionists any more slack than anyone else.
Harold Hughes was a MAJOR figure in the turning point of this state, and certainly not for the better. Unfortunately, the Robert D. Ray years were not unalloyed sweetness and light, especially in view of how many skids were greased up during those years so that Terry Branstad's signature was something akin to a foregone conclusion. The Iowa GOP-e (who always got along well enough with the Dems off-camera) helped lay the groundwork for a lot of garbage that came to fruition in Branstad's term(s).
(BTW, I'm not a big Terry Branstad fan either. Tom Vilsack and Chet Culver managed to make the guy look almost Washingtonesque by comparison, but Vilsack and Culver would make a lot of people look Washingtonesque by comparison.)
Mr. niteowl77