A gentle warning this morning from the Iowa Department of Transportation:

Iowa DOT reminds campaign supporters about

placement of political signs on highway right-of-way

AMES, Iowa – Aug. 30, 2007 – The Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) is issuing this notice to remind campaign supporters about Iowa’s law regarding the placement of political signs and requirement to remove those improperly posted.    

Signs, including banners, are not allowed on any state highway right-of-way, including: roadway shoulders, medians and ditches; bridges; trees and other natural features; traffic control signs and devices; and posts, gates and fences. 

If a sign is improperly posted on state highway right-of-way and it constitutes an immediate and dangerous hazard, it will be removed by the Iowa DOT without notice.  

Improperly placed signs in the roadway right-of-way can reduce a driver’s view, distract from his/her attention, compound damages or injuries in the event of a crash, endanger the safety of individuals who are erecting the signs along busy highways, present obstacles to crews who maintain roadways, and force pedestrians and bicyclists into dangerous areas close to the road edge or onto difficult terrain alongside the road shoulder.

It’s a good reminder for overzealous sign-spreaders. I live in Ames and awoke on the morning of the GOP straw poll to find an unwanted “Support the Troops, End the War” sign stuck in my lawn. It’s still laying back by my trash cans if anyone wants to claim it.

It was perhaps fitting that state Sen. John Putney, R-Gladbrook, announced his retirement from the Legislature Wednesdsay during a week when students all over Iowa were dismissed from school early due to humid heat.

Putney has crusaded for years to push school districts to start the school year in late August rather than mid-August. Iowa’s current law requires schools to start after Labor Day, but the statute is meaningless because the Iowa Department of Education grants waivers to every district seeking an earlier start.

Putney wants to end the waiver and extend the summer. I’s true he has a vested interest as president of the Iowa Stat Fair’s Blue Ribbon Foundation, but he makes valid points about how a shorter summer costs the state tourism dollars and deprive children of a few more fleeting days to spend with friends and family. Not to mention that August school days often end early anyway due to heat.
Putney’s view is hardly fashionable. Education leaders are pushing for longer school years, school days and even year-round schooling. They make valid points about the need for Iowa kids to get ready to survive in a very competetive global economy.

But every year, Putney tried hard, and failed, to get his plan for a longer summer passed. He’ll probably try again in 2008, his last session.

So students sprung from hot classrooms this week should raise a cold glass of lemonade to John Putney. Then get your homework done.

Don’t have any Labor Day plans? Bill and Hillary are coming to Iowa Monday, according to a release from the campaign this morning. No details yet on where and when.

The happy couple last visited Iowa over the July 4th holiday. Some folks point to that trip as the start of a Clinton upswing in the state. She’s leading narrowly in a few recent polls after trailing John Edwards and Barack Obama for much of the year.

Presidential hopefuls are marking the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in different ways. First, here’s Rudy Giuliani — the candidate who is running largely on his abilities as a disaster manager — commenting on arguably the worst-managed disaster in U.S. history.

“On this anniversary, Americans come together to remember all those who lost their lives, suffered or were affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.  We must now use the lessons learned to ensure we are better prepared in the future. By building on the courage and skills of all our citizens, America will become a stronger, more resilient nation.” 

Next is Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who gives us a little more detal.

NEW HAMPTON, IA — Governor Bill Richardson released the following statement today regarding the second anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy:

“The administration has failed to keep its promise to the residents of New Orleans and the American people. Katrina now stands as a monument to incompetence and arrogance. The citizens of this great country expect and deserve more from their President and their government. We need bold, dramatic change to ensure this never happens again.

“I have proposed a comprehensive plan to create an emergency response structure, able to respond immediately and effectively, that will restore the nation’s confidence and peace of mind:

• We must pull FEMA out of the Department of Homeland Security and place it directly under the office of the President,
• Unlike the current administration, we must put competence ahead of cronyism. We must appoint the best qualified people to lead our important national agencies,
• We must eliminate bureaucracy and make sure assistance immediately gets to the people who need it most,
• We have to end predatory practices in lending, insurance, and rental housing which are outrageous, un-American, and intolerable,
• We must also guarantee a right of return for those who want to go home to New Orleans. We should allocate funding and create programs to facilitate the quick return of the thousands who want nothing more than to go back home,
• Furthermore, we have to guarantee residents and returning citizens first priority for jobs, job training, and contracting opportunities, and,
  
• We have to fully rebuild the great city of New Orleans and cities and towns all along the Gulf Coast.
• As President, Bill Richardson will make this a top priority.

“Two years ago, the President vowed to rebuild the city better than it was before and promised to restore our broken faith in his leadership. Like so many other promises he has made, this too was just empty words.

“New Orleans is still suffering and is far from being rebuilt. Many residents have not returned. The resilient people of New Orleans have put life back in the city, but they have done it mostly on their own.

“As a nation, we are no better prepared now to handle a disaster like Katrina than we were then. Presidential leadership is nowhere to be found.

“We need to change course.

“Today, let us take a moment to remember and pray for the victims of this tragedy. In their name, let us renew our promise to rebuild New Orleans, and together, rebuild the promise of America.”

So is the second anniversary plans or platitudes? I thought it was paper, or maybe wood. I’ll have to consult Hallmark.

For Barack Obama, it’s not easy being green.

Virtually every day one of Obama’s rivals is takes a shot as his alleged lack of experience. Just mention his name and the e-word follows within 9 seconds, on average.

The overriding assumption is that voters will feel more comfortable handing the reins to Hillary Clinton than to the young first-term senator from Illinois. And that’s why she’ll win.

But not everyone is buying the experience line

Ann Applebaum of the online magazine Slate says experience is overrated. You can read the whole piece here.

“Clearly you don’t have to know very much of anything about foreign countries in order to become president, this not being a criterion that matters much to most U.S. voters. Famously, candidate George W. Bush not only couldn’t identify the Pakistani president (and thought Greeks were called “Grecians”), he’d hardly traveled abroad. Candidate Bill Clinton had traveled abroad and knew the names of lots of international politicians, but he had never been required to use them, the governorship of Arkansas not being a job that involves much interaction with foreign heads of state. By contrast, the elder George Bush had plenty of foreign-policy experience—CIA boss, ambassador to China—none of which helped him get re-elected in 1992.”

And Washington Times columnist Tony Blankley doesn’t even buy the argument that Clinton brings vast experience to the table. The whole column can be found here.

“She joined the Senate Armed Services Committee as a freshman seven short years ago and has managed to pick up enough military jargon to sound like an Army major on his third tour of duty in the Pentagon’s administrative office. She has taken on the world-weary sound of a veteran European diplomat — although she has not carried out even one day’s duty as a diplomat.”

But Obama is buying into the storyline. He told AP’s Ron Fournier this week that he understands it’s a “stretch” for voters to think of him as president.

“… People have to feel comfortable that, ‘You know what? This guy can handle the job,’” he said between campaign stops last weekend in Iowa.

“It’s a stretch for them because I haven’t been on the national scene for long and haven’t gone through the conventional paths that we traditionally draw for our presidents, so they’ve got to stretch a little bit during a period where there’s a lot of stuff going on internationally, right?” said the unusually self-aware Obama.

The whole Fournier piece can be found here.

Every campaign comes with its own set of buzzwords. They go from novel to annoying in 3.6 seconds.

  At the top of 2008’s tiresome litany is the so-called “narrative.”

  Every campaign and candidate must have a “narrative.” For example, Hillary Clinton is experienced but disliked, politically masterful but not necessarily electable.

  Barack Obama is fresh but inexperienced, intriguing but untested.

  And so on.

  In elections past, such shorthand sketches fell under the umbrella of “conventional wisdom.” At best, they are shaped by observing the candidates over the course of a grueling campaign. At worst, they are weak, preseason prognostications used by reporters and others to shape coverage. In reality, the campaign is a mix of both.

  Obviously, a campaign’s whole job is to shape its own narrative and to influence the picture painted of others. John Edwards’ backers are working hard to dress him up as a hard-charging, tough-talking populist forged from humble beginnings. They’re also portraying his leading rivals as special-interest-loving Washingtonians.

  Expensive haircuts, hedge funds and high fees for poverty speeches made him look, at times, more Trump than Truman.

  Some of that criticism is superficial and unfair, but the healthy give and take between his backers and detractors is giving voters a fairly accurate view of Edwards’ strengths and weaknesses. In Edwards’ case, his narrative has been shaped and re-shaped by the ebb and flow of months, actually years, of campaigning.

  That’s not always the case.

  When Obama said he’d be willing to meet face-to-face with unfriendly leaders and attack terrorist targets in Pakistan, his remarks were swiftly squeezed into a convenient “Obama is naïve” package – with a big assist from the Clinton campaign. Obama was labeled as damaged political goods even though what he said was hardly dramatic or naïve.

  Chances are the U.S. will have to talks with its rivals as part of efforts to stabilize the Middle East. And which president wouldn’t strike inside Pakistan if, say, Osama Bin Laden were in U.S. sights? They all would.

  Obama was also hit for saying he wouldn’t use nukes against terrorists. So who would?

  At the bottom line the disagreements between the rivals were small and semantic. But the story grew big because it neatly fit the narrative – Clinton is experienced and Obama is inexperienced. It’s a nice, tidy package.

  Also weak is the Clinton-isn’t-electable narrative, based largely on early, unreliable polling and the slanted opinions of analysts and consultants. Remember how electable wealthy war hero John Kerry looked to Democrats in the winter of 2003-2004? By the following August, he was toast.

  Any pronouncements on general election prowess or weakness made now should be taken with a grain of salt. There’s no way of knowing for certain what voters will want 14 months from now.

  Here are a few other suspect narratives.

   Rudy Giuliani is the most electable: Again, says who? Giuliani has attributes, to be sure, but he’s also the Republican with the best chance of being swift-boated, only this time by firefighters and others who don’t hold fond memories of his honor. This narrative also discounts the formidable skills of Rudy rival Mitt Romney, who leads in Iowa.

  Clinton is the inevitable Democratic nominee: National polls show Clinton with a commanding lead. But she’s in a tight dogfight in early voting states. Historically, the polls in early states, where the candidates are actually campaigning, are a more accurate picture of the race.

  The “top tier” is set in cement: Lightning could still strike for candidates such as Bill Richardson on the Democratic side and Mike Huckabee in the GOP race. Richardson turned in a solid debate performance over the weekend and Huckabee paid a discount price for his straw poll win.  Even if it was a  downsized event, it showed his rising strength among conservatives.

Batten down the hatches. I just received a press release with this headline:

Richardson Gains Strength on the Seacoast

Has FEMA been contacted? Should we be buying plywood?

So much of Iowa officials’ insistance that New Hampshire is still standing with us in the calendar fight. This is an editorial from Sunday’s Manchester Union Leader.

Poor Friendless Iowa: The Hawkeye State learns a lesson.

Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007

Top 5 things Fred Thompson – the Tennessean will be making his first trip to Iowa Friday – must do to win the drawl caucus over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee – the straw poll-anointed southern up-and-comer.

1. Get more grizzled. Huckabee often tells the hardscrabble story of how the only soap in his house growing up was Lava, so that his dad could get the workingman’s grime off his hands. Huckabee says he didn’t know taking a shower wasn’t supposed to hurt until he got to college. Top that, Fred.

2. Get musical. Hands down, Huckabee’s band did a rendition of “Free Bird” at the straw poll that drew raves. I reached for a cigarette lighter to wave even though I didn’t have one. Sure, Fred’s been on TV and in the movies, but can he give us three steps, give us three steps mister?

3. Get funnier. For campaign trail yucks, nobody can beat Huckabee.  “Sometimes I know that a Republican in my state feels about as out of place as Michael Vick at the Westminster Dog Show,” Huckabee said to sustained laughter as he opened his straw poll speech Saturday. Fred’s got to hone his funny bone.

4. Get more `governorey.’  Huckabee’s executive experience as governor gives him an advantage over opponents who are too congressey. Fred once was the voice of Andrew Jackson in a film, but it’s not the same.

5. Get into the race. Like my grandpappy used to say, watcha waitin’ fer?

Iowa’s caucus date is getting shoved toward December, leading Republicans defiantly skipped the straw poll and both parties’ national front-runners may not need a caucus-night stamp of approval to capture the nomination.

 Perhaps it’s the heat. Perhaps it’s too many funnel cakes. But Iowa politicos are starting to get woozy about the future of the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.

  On the surface, they’re putting on a brave and defiant face. No problem, they say, we’ve been through this before.

  Gov. Chet Culver has vowed that no matter how hard other states push, the caucuses will be held in January. No TV network will have to break into “It’s a Wonderful Life” to deliver caucus results.

  Even if the caucuses have to be held on the heels of New Year’s Day, even if they’re mixed in with BCS bowls, Iowans will deliver the first presidential verdict.

  It’s easy to understand Culver’s concerns about December. Regardless of who’s at fault, moving the 2008 caucuses into 2007 would immediately make Iowa the poster state for an out-of-control election process. Pundits and politicians who already loathe the caucuses would surely pile on.

  Even if the caucuses stay in January, the date dance is embarrassing for everyone concerned. It only fuels the growing argument that the whole ridiculous front-loaded system needs to be thrown out and traded for something new.

  Will Iowa still bat in the leadoff spot if the lineup changes? Who knows?

  Iowa’s effort to remain on first could be hurt if the state plays a diminished role in picking the parties’ nominees.

  On the Republican side, straw poll winner Mitt Romney may win Iowa, New Hampshire and other early state contests before riding that momentum to the nomination. Mike Huckabee could emerge, or straw-poll-skippers such as Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson could fire up their Iowa efforts, finish strong and grab the pennant.

  Or Giuliani could spend token time in Iowa, wait out early state setbacks and run the table of bigger, more politically moderate states. Iowa would turn out to be an odd footnote in Giuliani’s triumph.

  On the Democratic side, maybe an Iowa win catapults Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama to the nomination. Or maybe Clinton comes in third in Iowa and still gets the nod after sweeping everything else.

  The biggest reason not to skip Iowa is that nearly all the candidates who took that fateful step failed to win their party’s nomination. Take away that reason and the caucuses could take a hit.

  The next president will have a key role in shaping his party’s primary calendar. Will a winner who didn’t need the caucuses go out of their way to save them?

  Candidates willing to skip the straw poll today could get bolder in 2010 with high-paid strategists and the New York Times op-ed page egging them on.

  The caucuses’ list of friends seems to be shrinking while its list of enemies is growing. Notice how South Carolina announced its date change at a news conference in New Hampshire. Iowa wasn’t invited to the get-together.

  That old iron alliance between Iowa and New Hampshire may have been tarnished when Iowa signed off on a primary calendar that wedged Nevada’s caucuses before the Granite State’s hallowed primary. Iowa leaders insist that’s not the case.

  And Iowa activists who cherish their traditional clout had better pack those school cafeterias and community centers to the rafters on caucus night. Low turnout would offer more ammunition to critics.

  And buy “It’s a Wonderful Life” on DVD, just in case.