Muscatine

[iowasocialist]

Hi, all.

There is a possibility (remote?) that I will be moving from Des Moines to Muscatine.

Can anyone tell me what the political climate there is? Bright red? A tinge of blue? Purple?

What about the general level of "redneckiness"?

Thanks!

[pstans]

1. Rurallib will be able to fill you in

Rurallib will be able to fill you in. Grab a chair, it might take awhile.

[rurallib]

2. Rurallib here and proud to discuss Muscatine county

I live in West Liberty which is halfway between Iowa City and Muscatine.
Muscatine used to be a very republican county. Muscatine is the home to David Stanley. Stanley is one of the heirs to the Stanley Consultant and Hon Industry money. While his parents were very liberal, David turned the other way. He was in the Iowa legislature in the 1960s and lost a hotly contested US senate race to Gov. Harold Hughes. Since then Stanley has become one of the major sugar daddies of the IRP. He funds the Octagon Press and pumps big money into the republican party.
Muscatine is home to some major global industries such as Bandag, Hon Industries, Carver Pump, Musco Lighting and Grain Processors (Kent Feed).
All that being said, Muscatine is becoming democratic. The Muscatine city council is ostensibly non-partisan but according to my friends most members are moderate repubs. At higher levels however the last 6 years has seen a change from 40 + years of Republican domination to democratic control.
Dems won their first county supervisor seat in decades about 8 years ago. Now 4 of the 5 supervisors are Dems. Nate Reichert was the first Dem elected as a representative from Muscatine county in 50 years 4 years ago. He trounced the sheriff in his re-election. We have a very good shot at winning the state senate seat. Nate should be re-elected. Culver won Muscatine county in 2006 and Dave Loebsack only lost to Jim Leach by about 4%. Leach was like a God down there.
The Stanleys had a major lawsuit concerning how David was possibly illegally taking money from the Stanley Foundation and directing to evangelical churches and republican causes. That seems to have been thwarted. (BTW David's brother Dick is a bigtime Dem and huge Obama supporter.)
In sum, Muscatine was red, is now pretty much purple but heading blue. But there is much, much work to do.
If you move down and want to meet some Dems, PM and I'd be happy to introduce you.

Edit to add - cyberswede and Rambis live down here also.

[cyberswede]

3. A little rednecky

...but then, I'm from Iowa City. :)

Some things I like about Muscatine:
- Arts are taken seriously - http://www.muscatineartcenter.org/
- The Center for Social Action is admirable - http://www.machlink.com/~mcsa/
- The New Iowan Center helps immigrants - http://tinyurl.com/6m9flv
- The Stanley Foundation does some cool stuff - here's my favorite: http://stanleyfoundation.org/earthballoon.cfm
- Environmental Learning Center - http://www.co.muscatine.ia.us/departments/conservation/dis.shtml
- Muscatine Books and More - http://www.muscatinebooks.com/

I don't live in Muscatine, but we go there for various things (especially Democratic Party stuff). http://www.muscatinedemocrats.org/

There are a couple antique shops downtown, and a few OK places to eat/drink. There are some nice parks, and of course, the Mississippi River. :)

Muscatine is about an hour from Iowa City (I live half-way between Musc and IC), and about a half-hour from the Quad Cities, if you want additional cultural things to do. I know several people who live in IC and commute to Muscatine, if you prefer a more liberal area to live.

thx - cs

[bullwinkle428]

4. "I know several people who live in IC and commute to Muscatine,

if you prefer a more liberal area to live."

Actually, that's exactly what I do! :thumbsup:

[cyberswede]

7. Highway 6?

I bet we pass each other on the road! :)

[Hardrada]

5. So essentially the Left here objects to people who park

old pickups on the lawn and listen to Garth Brooks? Some
of those folks might actually support Dem candidates! We need to beware
that Dems and the rest of the Left don't act and sound like some Homeowners Association in a gated suburb.

[cyberswede]

6. That's your definition of Rednecky, not mine

I think of "redneck" as an attitutde, not external trappings.

I also think of homeowners associations as fascist. :)

[Hardrada]

8. Probably true. I lived in IC for quite awhile off and on

and I found it to have some liberal aspects and many that were definitely not. I am sure there is still a considerable amount of racism there and I was trying to do some radical organizing and found that to be very difficult with the current students. The task is made especially difficult because of the absence of the once highly visible counterculture (and of course the lack of a draft). It has also been almost notoriously hard to get the professors to take active antiwar stands. This was true in 1968 and is true today. God knows we tried.

[cyberswede]

9. minor success in the 80s

We had a good group protesting apartheid in the mid 80s, back in my day.
Demonstrations, occupied buildings (Jessup was renamed "Biko Hall"), camp-outs on the Pentacrest (with cops and everything).
The UI divested its $ from South Africa, if I recall.
*ahh...good times...* :)

Oh - and Iowa Book & Supply and EPB have the type of windows they do because of all the rock throwing in your day (late 60s-early 70s). Sorry I missed that (we moved to IC in 1970, but I was a little kid).