Obama: ‘Senator Harkin Will Be Missed’

[ProSense]

Obama: ‘Senator Harkin Will Be Missed’

President Obama released a statement late Saturday praising the work and career of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), who announced earlier in the day that he plans to retire at the end of his current term.

The President’s statement:

By the time Senator Harkin finishes his fifth term, he will have represented the people of Iowa in the United States Congress for an incredible 40 years. He has served in the U.S. Senate longer than any Democrat in Iowa's history. During his tenure, he has fought passionately to improve quality of life for Americans with disabilities and their families, to reform our education system and ensure that every American has access to affordable health care. Senator Harkin will be missed, and Michelle and I join Iowans in thanking him for his long-standing service and wish him and his wife, Ruth, all the best in the future.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-senator-harkin-will-be-missed

Read Harkin’s Full Statement On 2014 Retirement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022264341

[femmocrat]

1. That's an understatement.

Are there any democrats who could potentially win his seat?

[Proud Public Servant]

2. Christine Vilsack

She ran a decent campaign against Steve King.

[femmocrat]

4. Yes! She would be great.

I hope she is considering it.

[moondust]

3. Chet Culver?

He was governor and his dad was a senator.

[cascadiance]

5. I'm a little ambivalent about the current set of Democrats in Iowa...

They are OK, but not sure they will be the big leaders we need to replace someone like Harkin and at the same time get elected.

If we could recruit some Iowans, or former Iowans to get in to the political mix that I might want to hear more from, perhaps we could look at:

- Colleen Rowley - the former FBI Whistleblower that fought hard but unsuccessfully to get Massaoui caught before 9/11. She went to school at University of Iowa. She's been a good activist for government accountability since that time. Looks like she ran for congress in Minnesota in 2006 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleen_Rowley ).
- Ann Williams - who's a rep in Illinois' House of Representatives sounds like she might be a good candidate since she also went to school at Univ. of Iowa and Drake ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Williams_(politician) )
- Nicholas Meyer - former FCC Commissioner lives in Iowa now. Might be a bit old though
- Douglas Jones - Is an electronic voting expert currently living in Iowa, and would be a good advocate for reform of our electronic voting systems. He was the technical advisor to HBO's "Hacking Democracy" amongst other things... I've talked with him personally, and he would be good if one could persuade to get in to politics, though a senate seat would probably be too big of a jump. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_W._Jones )

It will be a tough order to find someone with some Iowa affiliation that will be a worthy replacement for Mr. Harkin!

I'm sure many here will have some more good ideas!