Living in a Red State (formerly Blue) really sucks

[Blue Gardener]

And it's getting a little tiresome reading all of the "Boycott the Red States" posts. Western Iowa is red and always has been. Eastern Iowa is for the most part blue. I don't like NW Iowa because it kind of creeps me out, so I don't go there. But, I live in the Iowa City area, and there are many wonderful people here that tried very hard to get Kerry elected.
And if you really think there was voter fraud in the swing states, and Kerry really got more votes, how does it help to boycott these states? Aren't you punishing them for something they have no control over?
Fellow Iowans? How do you feel?

[Skittles]

1. I lived in Decorah Iowa when I was a teenager

can't believe that such down to earth folk could be red

[2sheds]

23. When did you live in Decorah?

I grew up in Waukon!

WRT being red . . . as I was watching the election returns, Allamakee (the county Waukon is in, the farthest NE county in Iowa) started out blue, but ended up red. Fooey.

[IowaGuy]

2. Yeah, I have been kind of bummed....

but the more I look at things, the more I'm convinced it isn't as bad as it seems. Bush is in a box, largely thru his own incompetent policies - everything that caused 49+% of the population to vote against him is still true today, and conditions are likely to get worse. He's never really has been able to lead even within his own party, many in his own party voted for him even with their own growing discomfort over economic issues and Iraq. The repug congress is not afraid of him and does not respect him. This is not likely to turn on a dime for him. The Congress is just as polarized and arguably more partisan and extreme on the edgesas ever. The Dems made a lot of advances in the states, including Iowa.

I'm feeling more and more energized every day to take it to them again in the upcoming mid-term elections - we'll be able to say mandate, my ass with a lot of certainty after that.

[lovedems]

3. When I was in college, Iowa city was the place to be.

I went to college in Vermont which is obviously very blue but alot of us would take road trips to Iowa City because it was just as liberal and alot of fun (plus we had friends there.) Is it still the same?

[Blue Gardener]

7. If you are college age

It probably is still the same downtown. Since I haven't seen my twenties in quite some time, I don't venture down to the ped mall much. We have kids just out of college that work for our large corporation and get transferred every few months to "learn the ropes". They all want to get the Iowa City rotation so they can party downtown while they are here.

[lovedems]

11. No, my college days were in the early 90's.

Traveling with the Dead was my college lifestyle. Spring break, summer break, christmas break...hit the shows all around the country. We would always stop through Iowa City though. Great liberal town. Like you, it has been awhile.

[Rambis]

16. Iowa city is the same

Still here collecting dead tapes etcB-)

[Wapsie B]

4. Yeah,

go to a place like Orange City and you'll have a prime example of the rwing mindset. Plunging headfirst into the 1950's. Gives the rest of the state a black eye.
Punishing red states may seem harsh but maybe it's the only way to fight back. I grew up on a farm but I'd say Ag subsidies should be the first to go. All of it. The original intent was to help the small farmer. But now it's anything but that. The huge farms are the one's getting the vast majority of federal $$$. The bigger you can get, the more acres you have under your control the bigger your Ag subsidy will be. I say end it all now.

[Pirate Smile]

5. I feel like sh#$! I am in eastern Iowa also and I miss Iowa City. I went

to undergrad at Iowa. I feel isolated which isn't very reasonable considering half of the people agree with us.

The saddest thing is I've always been an optimist and believed in the collective wisdom of the American people. I couldn't really blame them for Bush the first time because he got less votes but now - to say my faith is wavering would be an understatement.

I actually think at least a quarter to a third of the Bush voters are not lost to us. They are not all that divorced from reality, only a portion are that bad.

There is an overreaction going on in the media about the Democratic party and how it was "rejected" by the public. This was an extremely close election. This was no Reagan or Nixon landslide so we need to make that point clear.

p.s. No one needs to fill me in on all the voter fraud stuff. I am aware of all of that.

[emulatorloo]

10. Read Conason - Dems lost the battle, not the war

well worth reading. . . .a little historical perspective:

<snip>
Democrats lost the battle, not the war
Only people suffering from historical amnesia could believe this election proves that liberalism is dead.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
By Joe Conason


Nov. 6, 2004 |

In the dark post-election mood that lingers, the defeated should find history both restorative and instructive. Restorative because the past reminds us that both victors and vanquished tend to mistake the dimensions of the immediate event, whose true significance cannot be known until years or even decades later. Instructive because the past tells us so much about how the conditions of our present distress came to exist -- and, most important, how we can change them.

So for the moment set aside the triumphal proclamations from the Republican leadership and their echoes in the media, along with the petty recriminations against John Kerry, who has devoted his life to public service and deserves admiration for the honorable campaign he waged against unscrupulous opponents. As a presidential candidate he had his virtues and flaws, which obviously differed from those of George W. Bush -- and will surely differ from those of the next Democratic nominee.

<snip>

http://salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/11/06/history/index_np.html

[FullCountNotRecount]

6. Curious: Do you have optiscan ballots in Iowa?

How many were spoiled? Did you know certain inks don't work on Optiscan? This election isn't over...even in Iowa.

[Blue Gardener]

8. Not sure what it's called where I am

Fill in the little arrow with a pencil, then put it in a blue machine that sucks it in. Is that Optiscan?

[emulatorloo]

9. Johnson County burns BRIGHT BABY BLUE

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/IA/P/00/index.html

[Bluzmann57]

12. You asked how does one feel about living here?

I'm in Scott County and I may or may not move to Illinois, which is a hugely "Blue state". I have lived here my entire life. My tendency is that I do not want to live in a Republican state, but I love Iowa, and feel we can change it back to where it needs to be by 2006, as we now have an even split in the state legislature. So in closing, before I am totally drunk, we can and will take our state back in 2006. At least I hope so. How about Culver for Governor?

[Blue Gardener]

14. Culver is great

Next in line for Governor after Vilsack.

[Rambis]

17. that is the scuttlebutt for sure

I have a meeting next week and I will ask WTF we do now and that is one of my first confirmation questions.

[rurallib]

19. We know Nussle will run for the wingnuts.

Having him as governor is scary. Whoever the Dem is I hope we pull together to keep Terrace Hill Blue. Nussle is a poster boy for the reich wing.

[MasonJar]

13. We worked so hard here in Kentucky and to no avail. We sent

carload after carload to Cincy. We would hav gotten rid of Bunning if that gay amendment had not brought out all the bigots. We used to be blue; also had moderate Pugs as senators. Now we have Bunning who cannot find his own navel and "no campaign finance reform" McConnell. We will not give up; our grass roots group will continue on, trying to take back the state.

[rurallib]

20. Cincy. Spent a lot of time in Cincy.

It's like a time warp there. Heading wrecklessly into the 20th century. That's Cincy. Good luck at turning it blue. How could Jerry Springer have been mayor there?

[rurallib]

15. Draw a line

from Dubuque to Ames to Desmoines to Ottumwa to Burlington. About a third of the stae & 3/4 of the population. Mostly blue. Especially IC, DM & Davenport.

[yellowdog]

18. We busted our butts here in Dubuque County

and Kerry won by over 6,000 votes. The East side of the state pulled Gore through in 2000 but Shrub was able to get more of the western wingnuts to the polls this time.

[Slippery_Hammer]

21. This bothers me

Woodbury County Iowa

Bush
(Incumbent)
22,274 51%

Kerry
21,191 49%

Nader
142 0%

100% of precincts reporting

1,083 lousy votes keeping my county from being Blue on the big map.

[progressoid]

22. Here on the western front

We had a good amount of help from Nebraska Democrats with GOTV etc (I think they correctly saw their efforts being put to better use here than in NE). I've lived here for about 15 years and it seems like it's always been pretty red here. I thought I finally began to see a trend away from the "right".

But there was also a lot of forces against us from Nebraska too. In addition to ground help from Nebraska repubs, most of the media leans or is outright conservative. Especially from the gawdawfull AM radio. There really isn't a good liberal media outlet in western IA. Of course the bozos here think the media is already liberal.

Omaha may think it's a typical growing city but they act like a bunch of good old fashioned hayseeds. Just (Omahan) Alexander Payne's movie "Citizen Ruth". That's what we are up against.