Free Republic

By LYNN OKAMOTO Register Staff Writer 10/24/2002 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iowa Democrats are winning the battle for early votes in the 2002 general election, but their aggressive tactics have spurred complaints from Republicans, who Wednesday launched an investigation into possible fraud. A Des Moines Register survey of Iowa's 10 largest counties, which account for about half of the state's 1.8 million registered voters, found that 62 percent of the 62,451 absentee ballots cast in those counties as of Wednesday came from Democrats. That's 38,970 ballots, or more than twice the 16,933 cast by Republicans, less than two weeks before the Nov. 5...

<p>The race for Iowa governor is tilting strongly in favor of Gov. Tom Vilsack, although there's plenty of time remaining for that to change before Election Day.</p> <p>A new Iowa Poll shows the Democratic incumbent has taken an 18 percentage-point lead over Republican challenger Doug Gross. Three months ago, Vilsack had a 2-point lead.</p>

DES MOINES – Congressman Greg Ganske, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, announced today that he has accepted an invitation to debate Tom Harkin on an upcoming edition of NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Tim Russert. “Meet the Press” is inviting candidates from what it says are “some of the most interesting and competitive races” to debate on the highly-rated Sunday morning news show. The NBC debate series will be moderated by “Meet the Press” host, Tim Russert. To date, Congressman Ganske has accepted five media-sponsored invitations to debate. However, the Harkin campaign has not publicly accepted these invitations. The...

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin's campaign manager admitted Monday night that the campaign had obtained a transcript of a secretly taped meeting of Greg Ganske and his supporters, then passed it along to a journalist. "We made a mistake, and we're sorry," said Jeff Link, who previously had denied knowing where the journalist, Kathie Obradovich, had gotten the transcript. "We take full responsibility for releasing it to the press," Link said. He said a "junior staffer," whom he would not identify, had obtained the material from a person who was promised confidentiality by the staffer. The revelations capped a day of...

<p>The Iowa Farm Bureau's political action committee on Friday endorsed Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa for the first time, but spurned Gov. Tom Vilsack.</p> <p>The move by the influential, often Republican-leaning farm group to give its "Friend of Agriculture" designation to Harkin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, brought howls of protest from the campaign of Rep. Greg Ganske, Harkin's GOP challenger.</p>

Ames, Ia. - Trucks bearing 233 sheep from Vermont that are suspected of harboring mad cow disease or scrapie arrived under tight security Thursday at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories after a 1,250-mile journey.

Perhaps I've made the wrong assumption, but I am assuming that the "Past Middle aged" Babe beside the quote of Hyacinth Bucket is, in fact, Hyacinth. If so, she had a twin. Today's obituary section of the Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette has a notice and photo that appears to be her twin. I cannot find the obits/photos on line and I don't have a scanner, so I am unable to share the photo. I'm hoping someone in the Eastern Iowa area has a scanner (and knows how to use it). Please help the Ole' Granny.