Culver Justices, Jobs

Culver TV: Iowa Governor Chet Culver supported justices and jobs during his stop at Channel 13 today. I don't want to give it all away, but John Bachman and I sat down with governor for his first appearance on Channel 13's "The Insiders" show since he became governor. Culver said he thinks the three Iowa justices up for retention this November should be retained.

I also revisited a topic with him for which I have struggled to get information throughout the year: his I-JOBS program. I looked up unemployment rates since I-JOBS began and compared that to the national average during that time. Here's what I found:


July, 2009 Iowa Unemployment rate: 6.1% Latest report: 6.8%

U.S. Unemployment rate 9.4% Latest report: 9.6%

Iowa has had Culver's I-JOBS program and the federal stimulus program going on during that time. I wanted the governor to tell us why the Iowa rate has gone up despite that millions of I-JOBS money spent. The governor never really gave us an answer. His campaign later told me the unemployment rate would be worse if it weren't for I-JOBS.

You can see the entire interview on "The Insiders" on Channel 13 this Sunday at 9:30a.m. Did I mention it will be in high-definition (the bosses like it when we mention that:)

Lean Forward: That is MSNBC's new slogan. Can someone please explain what it means? Sorry, I just don't get it.

Rabbitson Cooper: I wondered why Anderson Cooper wasn't live on CNN from Chile from the site of that amazing miners' rescue. It turns out he came to Des Moines. And he dressed up like this?

Cooper is doing a piece at the Great Ape Trust. He tweeted this picture of himself. This story offers a little background for your obvious question...WHAT is he doing?