January

January 10: Matt Strawn becomes chair of the Republican Party of Iowa, defeating former State Representative Danny Carroll of Grinnell by a vote of 10-7 to replace Stewart Iverson. Strawn, the Iowa Barnstormers co-owner and former state director for John McCain, takes his dark-horse candidacy on the road in the months after the November election. Members of the Republican State Central Committee attributed Strawn's win to his ability to use fresh approaches to bring in new members and said his state listening tour helped him gain credibility in his quest for the position.

According to two recent polls taken by Rasmussen Reports and one by the Chicago Tribune, Governor Pat Quinn has a detectable and significant problem with women voters, but a new development in the campaign might help the governor overcome this gender gap.

Rasmussen recently matched Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Jim Ryan against Democrats Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes. Ryan outpolled Quinn by seven points (46-39), but the former Republican attorney general trailed Hynes by two points (40-42).

What's going on? Well, the poll's internals show a stark difference among women voters. Ryan leads Quinn 45-36 among women, but Hynes reverses the result and leads Ryan 42-32 with women. That's a huge difference, but it seems to hold up when compared to other recent polling.

The 2010 legislative session will be dominated by budget cuts, government consolidation, and reorganization when state lawmakers return in January with what some say is a $1-billion shortfall and a midterm election just 10 months away.

Rather than a 100-day session, lawmakers will aim to have an 80-day session to do their part to cut spending. Shortening the session will save about $40,000 a day.

During a recent IowaPolitics.com legislative forum, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (D-Council Bluffs) warned that it will be a painful session as lawmakers work to realign state government with revenues. House and Senate Democratic leaders have vowed not to increase taxes in 2010 but have repeated that everything is on the table for cuts.

Governor Chet Culver used a speech before the Iowa Taxpayers Association to unveil 90 cost-saving recommendations proposed by consultant Public Works of Philadelphia that he said have the potential to save $341 million in the first year, and nearly $1.7 billion in the next five years.

Many of the proposals call for consolidation. They include consolidating the state's 223 data centers, 23 e-mail systems, and $2 million in wireless-equipment contracts now purchased from seven vendors. They also call for consolidating mailrooms, Department of Natural Resources offices in Des Moines, and administrative functions at Department of Human Services institutions.

The report also calls for reducing the state's car fleet, consolidating property management, and selling surplus properties, including 5 to 10 percent of the 8,000 acres of state-owned prison farms that are no longer mission-critical.

And it calls for reducing human-resource staff in departments, using state master contracts for commonly purchased goods, negotiating Medicaid durable-medical-equipment prices, increasing efforts to collect debt, and making it easier to collect unpaid taxes.