Chuggin' along

Who knew that I would draw more cartoons about the Department of Agriculture than, say, the State Department?

This is another cartoon about Sen. Tom Harkin's retirement. Late last week, current Secretary of Agriculture and former Governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack, said he won't be running for the now available Senate position, even though he would have a lot of support. This makes it easier for U.S. Representative Bruce Braley to take the primary in the Senate race.

Wrestlemania

The news that the International Olympic Committee is dropping wrestling from the Olympics is pretty bogus.

It especially hits home here in Iowa, where the University of Iowa has been a wrestling powerhouse for a while. The governor and one of Iowa's U.S. Representatives have vowed to respond to the IOC's decision.

Hence, today's cartoon in The Daily Iowan:

So, I'm sorry to say that even after living in Iowa for more than six months, only now as I was preparing this cartoon did I learn that our governor, Terry Branstad, looks gloriously cartoony. I'm going to have to incorporate him into more cartoons in the future.

Little known fact: I actually used to wrestle. Well, just one year. For some reason, the sports schedule my eighth grade year did not have basketball and wrestling at the same time. I had a couple of friends who wrestled, and I decided to try it out. I never won a single match, but I went from knowing absolutely nothing about wrestling to knowing how to beat someone by the end of the season. I was named "Most Improved" on the wrestling team that year.

It's a mudbath

In searching out local stories to turn into cartoons, I looked up the current U.S. House race in Iowa City. I'm glad I did, it was very educational. Iowa City is in District 2, out of four districts. After the 2010 Census, Iowa actually dropped a representative in the House. (Utah gained one after that census.) The current representative is Democrat Dave Loebsack, and the Republican running against him is John Archer.

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of interesting news going on between those two, other than some negative ads. So it turned into a pretty generic cartoon. (One thing I did to make it unique was to give Archer a bow and arrow. He uses a bow and arrow as part of his logo on all his signs. 'Cause his last name is Archer. Get it?)

Travel Lightly

Here's today's column:

Travel lightly

Last Friday, I was browsing around looking for something to discuss in today's J Squared. Soon before clock out time, I found it.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi To House Members: Fly Coach

It sounded interesting to me, and it reminded me of something I saw on Anderson Cooper 360° a few weeks ago. Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz, who just began his first term last year, opted to not buy a place in Washington, D.C. and instead spends weeknights in his office. He would rather save the taxpayer's money and sleep on a cot. So I connected Pelosi's new rules and Chaffetz's sleeping habits into one column.

From the little I know about Chaffetz, he seems to me to be a typical "party of no" Republican. But I did admire this about him. Maybe it's just a political stunt, but I'm falling for it.

There was something else about Chaffetz I thought was interesting but couldn't fit into my article anywhere:

"The only good place for a sage grouse to be listed is on the menu of a French bistro."

And here are the other sites I used to research for my article on Chaffetz:

Freshman Congressman Sleeps on Cot
A politician hits the cot?
A fitful night's sleep on a cot in the Capitol
Congressman sleeps on cot to save cash

Comedian-In-Chief

The first 16 minutes and 30 seconds are President Barack Obama showing his funny side. He jokes about Scott Brown, Eric Massa and even Jay Leno (who speaks after him at the dinner). I haven't watched Jay Leno's speech, but you should be pretty entertained with just the President.

The Child's Play of Politicians (March 16, 2010)