AP reports that Iowa’s casino industry is booming, and the figures they offer are pretty astounding. Over $740 million is being invested in casinos in Iowa right now:
Iowa’s casino industry is in the midst of a multi-million dollar expansion boom. Four new riverboat casinos will open in the next 14 months, while ten existing casinos are adding more space. The total is about $742 million.
About 18 million people visit Iowa’s existing riverboat and racetrack casinos each year, leaving behind more than one billion dollars. The new casinos are expected to generate an additional $200 million a year in gambling revenue.
And then there’s TouchPlay, that political football that has gotten more attention than really anything else in the Iowa media (check today’s Des Moines Register for a decent summary of the issue up to now). Political Forecast quotes the Cedar Rapids Gazette:
Blouin said that although he wished the games hadn’t been installed in about 2,900 Iowa businesses, “”it’s kind of hard to pull the plug.”
Culver urged the Legislature to move quickly to enact the safeguards recommended by Vilsack’s TouchPlay task force. He’s concerned that banning the games would negatively affect small businesses that have invested in the machines.
Nussle, who participated through a previously videotaped interview, has said he prefers the machines be banned.
Fallon said he would vote to ban the machines when the Iowa House debates the issue Tuesday.
Our good friends at the Hindu Business Line recently covered Vilsack’s visit to India, and it’s kind of funny:
Indian businesses can invest in a lot of sectors such as agriculture and software in US province of Iowa, the industry chamber FICCI said on Monday.
“Iowa offers opportunities for Indian companies to invest in sectors such as biotech, agriculture, real estate, defence, banking, telecom, infrastructure, manufacturing,” Mr Saroj Poddar, president, FICCI, said at a function to welcome the visiting Iowa Governor, Mr Thomas J Vilsack.
It’ll be interesting to see if Indian money flowing into Iowa might start to compensate for American money flowing into India (in the form of outsourcing) sometime in the future. Either way, what was Vilsack doing in India?
The Des Moines Register put a piece up yesterday summarizing the good number of county conventions that happened over the weekend. Complete results weren’t available when the article went up, but they do summarize the previous weekend’s (much larger) delegate totals, and Fallon made out well:
Last weekend, delegates voted at three larger county conventions — Johnson, Polk and Story. Fallon won support from 130 delegates. Culver was supported by 90 delegates, and Blouin was supported by 28. Ninety-one delegates listed themselves as undecided.
If none of the six Democratic candidates for governor receive 35 percent of the vote in the June primary, the election would be determined at a state convention populated by the same county delegates who met Saturday.
For a good roundup of last weekend’s totals (although it still may not be complete), check Drew Miller’s blog.
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Hurray for a birthday spent at the Poweshiek County Dems Convention! Some candidates’ spokespersons dropped by, and Andrea McGuire professed that she had forced Blouin to swear to support choice if he wanted her on board. Right, I bet that’s how the conversation went.
We broke into preference groups, and Fallon and uncommitted each received 3 delegates. Blouin and Culver each got 2, but I’m pretty sure the Blouin people had to convince some uncommitteds to come over in order to be viable.
At one point Danny Carroll wandered into the hall lost, but I’d still say the high point of the day was probably the announcement that someone had found a pack of unmarked pills in the bathroom. Multiple attendees offered to take them and see what happened.
As the Des Moines Register reports, the Democratic Party has kept the Iowa Caucuses as the first primary contest for its presidential nomination, but it has shifted others around. It seems that they want to compensate for Iowa’s ethnic homogeneity by moving other states up closer to Iowa: “Contenders include Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada and South Carolina.” And this is apparently good news to Vilsack:
The additional primaries and caucuses could assist Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack should he decide to run for president, by giving him a chance to demonstrate that he has appeal in similar-size states. Vilsack would be expected to win the Iowa caucuses. Vilsack is scheduled to headline the premier Democratic Party banquet in South Carolina next month.
I guess Paul Begala will have to drive his CNN RV out here again after all.
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