Iowa Poll

The political types are anxiously awaiting their morning paper in Iowa. The Des Moines Register puts out its new Iowa Poll. I'm told no sneak peaks on-line tonight. We will have to wait for the hard copy in the paper. What will the numbers show for Governor Chet Culver's popularity? He's already run political ads, he starting meeting more with the media and he's stepped up his public appearances lately. Will that help him in the polls. I know Democrats who are very nervous right now. Republican candidate Terry Branstad even mentioned the poll to me when I interviewed him in Osceola Wednesday night.

Thanks to those of you who have emailed about this week's Purple Matters internet show. Usually I can post the archive of the show right away. But they are putting in new software, which is greatly delaying the process. So I'm still waiting on the archive before I can post it. In the meantime, I hope you will vote in our weekly Purple Poll. Our question this week is whether lawmakers should ban texting and driving. What do you think? You can leave your comments below and cast your vote on your cell phone by dialing 72466 and texting the word, matters.

Canada didn't exactly have a good opening night Friday for the Winter Olympics. Obviously, it would seem to be premature and possibly wrong to blame Canada for that horrible luger death. But the ceremonies themselves don't seem to match what I remember from Beijing. Blame Canada.

Purple Matters this week

Eastern Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley is pushing his COOL for Fuels plan (knowing which country produces your gas). Juice's Young Professional of the Year Andrew Allen tells us how he overcame a lot of mistakes as a youth and how he works so others don't repeat his problems. Rod Roberts, GOP candidate for governor plays "7 things inside my head". Has he ever lied in office? What grade does he give Governor, Culver on money management? Who is the worst father, Tiger Woods or John Edwards? We covered it all.

We also give the results of our weekly Purple Poll where you tell us what the priority should be for our national leaders now. If health care is a big one for you, you might have special reason to care about these results.

Our question for this week has nothing to do with politics. Who will win the Super Bowl? Text the word, matters, on your cell phone to 72466 to vote. Remember, do it before kickoff Sunday!

Thanks for reading and thanks for listening.

Here's this week's Purple Matters show. Click this link (it's just audio this week, no video until they get the new software up to speed). By the way, you can hear the show live at 8pm central on www.desmoineslocalive.com.

Purple Matters

If you live in central Iowa, good luck getting around today without falling on your a#$! It's picturesque to see looking out your window. But seeing all that ice glaze in person isn't nearly as fun.

Here's what happened on my Purple Matters internet show Tuesday night. We talked with 3rd District Republican candidate Jim Gibbons about what the Massachusetts Republican senate upset means, what it's like to have to take on so many fellow Republicans in a primary, what kind of "X" factor the tea partiers will be this year and why Iowans should push out a long-time incumbent like Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell.

Sec of State Michael Mauro also talked about why incumbents across the country should be worried (he's one of those incumbents up for re-election this fall), why he is intrigued with the Saturday caucuses in Iowa this weekend and whether moving to that day is a good idea and what he thinks of the Republican criticism of what he has and hasn't done on the job.

We finish up with our new sensation (I'm calling it that to see if it catches on:), "7 things inside my head"...the fast, furious and fun grilling of a guest.

Watch it here.

Our Purple Poll question of the week is, how would grade President Obama on his first year in office? Text the word, matters, to the number, 72466, on your cell phone to vote.

Thanks for voting and thanks for reading.

Purple Matters 1/12/10

How did Governor Chet Culver do in his big speech Tuesday? What's it like to be a black woman in a mostly white room and state? What's it feel like to walk through one of those body scanners? And what do I think of Big Mac?

Those were some of the topics we talked about during this week's Purple Matters internet show on www.desmoineslocalive.com.

We also had the results of our weekly Purple Poll. Here was the question: Should gay couples be able to adopt? The vote was lop-sided. I hope you'll sign up for our weekly Purple Poll. It's pretty simple you text the word, matters, to the number, 72466. Then we'll send you the question of the week and you text back the answer. I hope you will check it out.

And Iowa Representative Helen Miller tells us what she thought of Governor Chet Culver's condition of the state address. She likes some of what she heard. But she's not so sure about a couple ideas he mentioned.

Watch it here.

So what is it like to go through a body scanner at the airport? A metro woman unexpectedly found out on a trip back from Russia. She shares her experience. What do you think? Should we have those scanners that just might show some of your most private parts to the screener checking you out? Is a little peep show worth trying to keep us safe from underwear bombers?

Watch that part here.

Last week, we debuted the segment, "7 things in my head". It went so well, we brought it out again. This time, not so good. It's 7 rapid fire questions, fun/personal/professional/whatever they may be, to a person, so he can't think about it...just react. Well, technology got the best of us. But here it is and my disgust and hope for Mark McGwire.

Watch the final part here.

Purple Matters show 1/5/10

Pretty sure we were probably missing some Hawkeye fans for our Purple Matters internet show tonight:) Why would they schedule the Orange Bowl during our show? But we still had a good time. Hawks fans, you can catch the archived version. It's almost as good:)

We started off veering away from politics for a bit. For all of us who "chubbed up" a bit over the holidays and, perhaps, made a little healthier diet part of our new year's resolution, we brought in an expert. Anne Cundiff (sister-in-law of former Drake University star placekicker Billy Cundiff--we talked about that, too) is a dietitian at one of the Des Moines Hy-Vee stores. She offered some help that won't cost you a ton and won't mean giving up everything you like to eat.

Here's the link to this part.

University of Iowa Professor Ellen Lewin left her Hawkeye Orange Bowl watch party to talk about her new book. It's called "Gay Fatherhood". It's about, well, I guess, the title makes it rather obvious. But she interviewed about 100 gay men on the challenges of trying to adopt. The topic of gay adoption will also be our Purple Text Poll powered by Catchwind for this week. Text the word, purple, to 72466. It will send you your choices on whether you think gay couples should adopt. We will announce the results during next week's live show at 8pm central on http://www.desmoineslocallive.com/.

Here's the link to this part.

And we started a new segment this week. It's called "7 things inside my head". We talk to people you may know and ask them fun, personal and professional questions to give you a little insight into what they are all about. And we do it rapid-fire, so hopefully, they don't have time to over-think it. They just say what's in their head.

Here's the link to the final part.

ETC...

I'm still trying to fully figure out what I think of my St. Louis Cardinals dropping some major cash to re-sign left-fielder Matt Holiday. 7 years for about $119 million. That's some serious money and a major commitment to a 30-year-old. They line up one star for years to come. Now can they find the dough to convince the star of all stars, Albert Pujols, to re-sign alongside Holliday? I sure hope so.

Thanks for reading. And thanks for watching. As always, I welcome your thoughts.

Purple Matters Tuesday night

Was President Obama silent for too long about the underwear bomber? (I heard one radio host call him the "dingaling bomber", but I'll stick to underwear for now) Should he have spoken publicly sooner than three days after the Christmas attack attempt? Message and strategy expert, Matt Paul, from Link Strategies, gives his message about the terrorist attack on this week's Purple Matters internet radio show on www.desmoineslocallive.com. Here's the link.

Watch live streaming video from desmoineslocallive at livestream.com

Are blogs about to go bye-bye? One professor at the University of Dubuque thinks, while they won't disappear altogether any time soon, he thinks they may start going away. Here's the link.

Watch live streaming video from desmoineslocallive at livestream.com

Here were the results of this week's Purple Poll. The question was who do you think is Iowa's celebrity of the decade? The votes came in like this:

Kurt Warner 12%
Shawn Johnson 40%
Tom Vilsack 3%
The Iowa Caucuses 33%
Ashton Kutcher 3%

Thanks for watching. Catch us next week live Tuesday night at 8pm central on www.desmoineslocallive.com

Purple Matters

It's been over the river and through the woods, so sorry I haven't posted this week's "Purple Matters" until now. We're enjoying some much-needed warmth in Florida with family. Wouldn't you know it, they're having a cold spell here? It's only supposed to be in the 50s during part of our trip. But I guess I shouldn't complain after the Blizzard of 09, huh?

Our "Purple Matters" internet radio show is broken into three parts, in case you can't watch it all in one sitting.

We begun with Bill Maske. He's a school superintendent, who is giving up his job, so he can run for Congress in Iowa's 4th District. By the way, it's pronounced like "mask", not "mas'-kee".

Here's the link:

Joel Smits of Cedar Falls didn't like what he saw when he went to meetings, or more appropriately, he didn't like what he didn't see. So he decided to start of group to get more people like himself out and about and involved. He wants to take back America.

Here's the link:

Do you hold grudges against an ex who screwed you over or that neighbor who doesn't take care of his lawn? An Iowa professor completed some research that shows that grudge could kill you, so you better start forgiving!

Here's the link:

We won't have a show next Tuesday night at 8pm central. But we will be back the following week. Have a Merry Christmas!

Sarah Palin's book

Hey purple friends,

This week we're debuting our Purple Matters text poll by Catchwind. Here's this week's question: If someone gives you Sarah Palin's new book, "Going Rogue", for Christmas, what would you do?" You have 5 choices.

A. Read it right away. You betcha!
B. Maybe read it later.
C. Won't read it.
D. Re-gift it
E. Burn it!

Here's what you do...Dial the number 72466 on your cell phone. Then just text the word, matters. Only that word, matters. Nothing else. No quote marks around it...just the word, matters. After you send it, you will then get the question sent to you. Then you reply with your vote using the letter a,b,c,d or e.

Just so you know, we're not selling your cell phone number to crazy telemarketers, annoying political groups or anything like that. We won't share it with anyone.

Someone will win a $25 gift card from Starbuck's just for voting. We'll have one of these text polls every week. Maybe I should come up with a cooler name than "Purple Matters text poll". I'll get working on it:)

Thanks for voting. Please pass this along to friends and co-workers, so we can get the most people possible to vote. And we'll see you this Tuesday at 8pm central for our next show on www.desmoineslocallive.com...unless another blizzard of the century hits.

Thanks!
Dave

Purple Matters

Thanks for checking in on "Purple Matters" our internet radio show on Tuesdays at 8pm central on www.desmoineslocallive.com.

Former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker talked about his old life and new life. Now that he has left his post, he talks about the behind-the-scenes decisions about that raid on a Swift meatpacking plant in Marshalltown. He said, despite media reports, officials gave very serious attention beforehand to make sure children wouldn't be separated from their families. He said they even planned out how to care for animals that might be caught up in the process before they made it through to slaughter.

Whitaker also talked about running for office. He said it became clear to him a while back, though, that Terry Branstad would run and would be a force. He also expressed concern about "the bench" for Republicans in Iowa, not that there aren't people on the bench, but rather that the people on the bench don't get a chance to get in the game.

AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan also joined us. He thinks it's ridiculous that critics say state workers make too much money. And he doesn't see how Governor Culver or state lawmakers can come back next year and ask state employees to give up more.

Here's the link for their part of the show:

http://bit.ly/8SW7mu

Christian Fong dropped out of the race for governor. He said it was all about the money. He won't rule out joining Terry Branstad's ticket or any other candidate, for that matter. Fong also wouldn't rule out running for office again. In fact, far from it. He also talks about what will be the best thing about leaving the race.

Here's the link to his appearance on the show:

http://bit.ly/5CPpr4


Thanks for listening. Please vote on our War Tax Poll at the top right of the web page. And please keep your comments coming as we keep working to improve our show! See you next Tuesday at 8pm for "Purple Matters" on www.desmoineslocallive.com!

Purple Matters

Here's the lineup for "Purple Matters" Tuesday night on http://www.desmoineslocallive.com/

Jonathan Narcisse started off coming after almost everyone. Narcisse, the controversial former Des Moines school board member, is traveling the state with Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Rants. It's a conversation, debate, whatever he prefers to call it. On our show, Narcisse ripped on the Republican candidates and the Democratic Governor Chet Culver. Narcisse is a registered Democrat, but he said he doesn't want to "be put in a box". He also danced around when I asked his real motive for doing this.

What do you think? Does he want to be governor? Should he be?

Here's the link:

Watch live streaming video from desmoineslocallive at livestream.com

Are the peace lovers on the left getting a little miffed at President Obama these days? They say the Prez spent a lot of time promising Iowans he would change foreign policy. But they're not happy he's thinking about sending more troops to Afghanistan. Kathleen McQuillan of the American Friends Service Committee talked about why she and others are getting so impatient with the Prez.

Plus, when is it o.k. for politicians to go shirtless? Or, perhaps, better stated, when is it o.k. for the media to show shirtless pols? And was Newsweek wrong in trying to "sex up" Sarah Palin with its cover picture? Iowa State University Professor Michael Bugela, journalism and media ethics expert, said, it depends. Do you want to see political skin?

Here's the link:

Watch live streaming video from desmoineslocallive at livestream.com

Purple Matters Tuesday night

Here's what you need to know from my "Purple Matters" internet radio show Tuesday night.

Pastor and host of the popular conservative Iowa blog, Caffeinated Thoughts, Shane Vander Hart, talked about his private meeting, along with about ten other Iowa religious leaders, that he had with former Governor Terry Branstad. The short of it...Shane wasn't too impressed. He recorded the encounter.

He is a big early backer of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. He's not buying the story that Palin wanted 100-grand or so to speak to the Iowa Family Policy Center. But he also doesn't sound like he thinks it's the best idea for a possible presidential candidate to ask for a huge chunk of change to come speak to Iowans. His interview is in the first video segment below.

University of Iowa Professor Marshall Poe also described a horrifying experience he and his family had when a drunken student came pounding on his family's door in the middle of the night recently. Poe wrote an op-ed piece in the "Des Moines Register" Sunday. He wants the university to crack down on all the binge drinking that's going on. He recommends the university start suspending students for serious alcohol incidents. That, he believes, will get people's attention that the university is serious. Poe's interview is also below. By the way, on the side of his work as a professor, he also runs a website to highlight historical works (he's an accomplished author himself). Check it out here. His conversation with us is in the second video segment.

New York Times political writer Jeff Zeleny just finished a big project on how Iowans view President Obama since they helped elect him a year ago. Jeff knows Iowa well. He used to write for the Des Moines Register. He went back and interviewed several dozen of the same Iowans he interviewed before the election. He asked the Democrats, Republicans and purple Independents what they think of the Prez's performance. It seems some of the luster of the hope and change has worn away as reality has set in. Here's his piece in the NY Times. Jeff describes what he learned in his project in the second video segment below.

During the show, I asked for your opinions on whether it's o.k. to show a woman's breasts in a television story. WJLA-TV, the ABC station in Washington, D.C., aired bare breasts in video of a story showing how women should check for breast cancer. It is good journalism or is it just a ratings stunt for the "November sweeps"? Here's the story. What do you think?

As always, please share your news,views, questions, comments and suggestions.

Purple Matters

"Purple Matters"...did you miss it this week? Here it is...two parts.

Here's the rundown...

Des Moines Senator Matt McCoy wants to get rid of a bunch of superintendents. He wants one per county. How would that work? Could it actually happen?

Tom Shaw wants a job at the Iowa Statehouse. He is going the non-traditional route, as an Independent. He left his party. Actually, he believes the Republican Party left him.

And a West Des Moines businessman who has been satisfying Iowans' sweet tooth for chocolate now has a way to help you save money and help other local business owners stay alive.

Watch and enjoy. I look forward to your opinions!

Purple Matters

With all my pursuit to find out what was going on with former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, I forgot to post this week's "Purple Matters" internet radio show. Oops. It's all things Kay in the first hour. Radio Iowa's O. Kay Henderson address the Branstad situation, Christie V, the mystery candidate, budget cuts and more. After Kay, it's one of Iowa's most appropriate festivals: a bacon festival. It's sizzling and getting even bigger! Enjoy. And, as always, please send your thoughts...

This is in two parts...

Purple Matters

Here is this week's "Purple Matters" show.

The highlights...
One guest compares Governor Culver's office to Richard Nixon's
Another guest gives a behind the camera insight into the state film fiasco
And our final guest talks about how he's become a professional mountain climber...after getting his start in Des Moines. Yes, Des Moines!

Enjoy. And please excuse the technical issues. Other than those issues, please let us know what you want to hear during the show. What do you like? What don't you like?

Thanks.

Purple Matters Show 9/29/09