Mike Carberry quoted in the Iowa Independent.
 
Wally Taylor
 
 
_Could Steve King be the Democratic Party’s 2010 savior?_ 
(http://iowaindependent.com/13160/could-steve-king-be-the-democratic-partys-2010-savior) 
Controversial western Iowa congressman set to speak at anti-abortion meeting 
in eastern Iowa; Democrats salivate over possibility of a statewide run for 
King
 (http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php)  By _Lynda Waddington_ 
(http://iowaindependent.com/author/lwaddington/)  4/1/09 12:52 PM 
 
Democrats and their advocates may be disenchanted with Gov. Chet Culver’s 
2008 veto of labor legislation. They might even be disappointed with the 
inability of the Iowa House Democratic Caucus to sound a unified voice during this 
session. And the battles between “Obamacrats” and “Democrats” are already well 
under way. 
 
U.S. Rep. Steve King
But all that could vanish with a single sentence: “I’m Congressman Steve 
King and I want to be Iowa’s next governor.” 
The Democratic salivating began in February when King, a Republican from 
Kiron, _refused to rule out a gubernatorial run_ 
(http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2009/02/10/news/iowa/62fd3062b90bc2748625755900099b43.txt)  on Iowa 
Public Television. It’s escalated to full-frontal lip smacking with news that 
King, whose congressional district covers western Iowa, plans to headline an 
anti-abortion event in eastern Iowa next week. 
Residents of eastern Iowa, who have never had an opportunity to cast a ballot 
based on their displeasure of King’s extreme social conservative viewpoints, 
are especially relishing the idea of being able to vote against “the state’s 
cancer,” as King has been referred to on more than one occasion. 
“It’s never enough to just limit cancer,” explained Allan Hale, a resident 
of Ely. “You have to eradicate it. You have to destroy it. If you don’t, it 
will fester and spread. Even if I’ve never had a chance to vote against him, his 
policies and his stupidity impact me.” 
Those that believe such statements to be too inflammatory for proper 
political discourse need look no further than King’s own statements. 
“What kind of a nation are we if we can’t have open dialog?” King _asked_ 
(http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2008/03/25/news/local/a3cf7e8a82027a4b8
6257416007ad75b.txt)  members of the Sioux City Rotary Club last year while 
defending his own controversial rhetoric. 
Mike Carberry, a Johnson County Democrat, likens the Democratic want of a 
persona like King on the 2010 gubernatorial ballot with the same push Republican 
pundits gave to then-New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. 
“They saw her candidacy as an opportunity to motivate their base because of 
all the negative bias against her,” Carberry said. “This is the same 
principle. 
“Steve King never misses an opportunity to embarrass himself or Iowa. While 
our state used to be known as the place of corn and hogs, now we are nationally 
associated with ignorance and intolerance because of King. The bottom line is 
that Iowans will line up to vote against him.” 
Even within the predominantly conservative counties that make up Iowa’s 5th 
Congressional District, some residents have not only voted against King, but 
created _a Web site_ (http://www.kingwatch.org/)  declaring that King does not 
represent Iowa values. The group points to King’s continued quest to _raise his 
congressional pay_ (http://www.kingwatch.org/payraise.html) , _his inability 
to pass a major federal bill_ 
(http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2008/06/29/news/local/0c6700f4b752aa83862574770000a40d.txt) , and even his _possible 
quest at a gubernatorial run_ 
(http://iowaindependent.com/5036/king-sees-2010-guv-race-as-possible)  as reasons King should be known as an ineffective 
lawmaker and an embarrassment to the entire state. 
When King _described military service members who married foreign spouses as 
drunks_ 
(http://iowaindependent.com/2600/commentary-king-maligns-mixed-race-military-families)  on binge — in addition to saying that foreign widows of 
fallen U.S. soldiers exploit the U.S. immigration system — the former president of 
the Reserve Officers Association of Iowa said that King “wraps himself in the 
flag at every opportunity, and yet has chosen to malign the loved ones of 
deceased service members.” 
Such statements, which King himself has described as calculated, have drawn 
to his side a negative national following as well. When he declared in March 
2005 that “Congress created all of the courts” and that “whatever Congress 
gives, they can take away,” he _came under intense scrutiny_ 
(http://thinkprogress.org/2005/04/01/even-more-threats-to-the-judiciary/) . 
Nearly every feminist in the world tied King to a verbal whipping post in 
June 2006 when _he said_ 
(http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2006/06/22/news/latest_news/b7a475f3072172f386257195004bcd13.txt)  that deceased terrorist 
leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi probably wouldn’t have “72 virgins in the hell he’
s at,” but, “if there are, they probably all look like Helen Thomas,” 
referring to the legendary White House correspondent of more than five decades. 
From describing the events at Abu Ghraib as “_hazing_ 
(http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ia05_king/pr_040513.html) ,” to describing _war-torn Iraq as 
safer than Washington, D.C._ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/26/AR2006092600180_pf.html) , to _equating immigrant people with 
livestock_ 
(http://thehill.com/under-the-dome/cunningham-to-be-honored-2006-07-13.html) , to proclaiming that terrorists and their sympathizers would be “
_dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11_ 
(http://www.carrollspaper.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=5629&SectionID=4&SubSectionID
=4&S=1) ,” 2001 if Barack Obama was elected president, King has touched 
nearly every public interest group with a sharp tongue. 
Although the eastern Iowa event featuring King is an anti-abortion “
educational” meeting hosted by Linn Area Pro Life United at the Crowne Plaza in Cedar 
Rapids on April 6, King even has his dissenters within that community. 
“He takes every opportunity he can to put down the poor and the oppressed and 
expresses only what we consider contempt for the people whom Jesus said ‘are 
the least of these,’” Frank Cordaro, a former Catholic priest and human 
rights activist, _said in February_ 
(http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/feb/09/news/chi-ap-ia-king-iptv)  when King spoke at the statehouse on behalf of a 
Catholic-backed gathering of anti-abortion activists. “It humiliates Catholics 
who work among and struggle for the poor and disenfranchised in this state.” 
When looking at King’s motivations for wanting to headline an event on the 
opposite side of the state from his congressional district, there is no denying 
the possible longer term impact of reapportionment and redistricting, which 
will almost certainly include the loss of one of Iowa’s federal representatives 
in 2012. While it is much more likely that Democrats Bruce Braley, who 
represents the 1st District, and Dave Loebsack, who represents the 2nd, will be 
placed in the same congressional district, there remains a possibility, depending 
on how the new four districts are drawn, that King and fellow Republican Tom 
Latham could reside in a newly drawn district. 
It would be close to impossible, however, to draw a district that would 
include King’s home in Kiron with Cedar Rapids, the site of King’s upcoming 
appearance. Given that, there is no reason to place King’s visit in connection with 
redistricting concerns. 
“The chances of seeing a district slice across the center of the state like 
that are extremely slim,” said David Redlawsk, a political science professor at 
the University of Iowa. “The code charges that districts should be compact, 
and although the exact meaning of ‘compact’ has been debated, I think that a 
district spanning from one side of the state to the other would clearly not 
meet that goal.” 
Any political capital King might garner from his upcoming eastern Iowa visit 
could only be spent on a statewide race — which can only be described as music 
to the ears of Iowa Democrats

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