Tom Harkin

I think I do, having seen the destroyed industrials system of that state and the decline of union power and whatever else.

I don't understand how Iowa became so far out of reach for the Democrats, the state that used to send Tom Harkin and John Culver to the Senate.

Is there an Iowa? I'm missing here, EJ.

What...

I was in the room where the thing was happening, and we included a provision in those reforms that said that certain folks, big institutions, what was called eligible contract participants, could enter into swaps both on an exchange and off an exchange.

This was a big debate, and there were people like Senator Tom Harkin, who chaired the Senate Ag Committee and then moved on to chair the Senate Health Committee.

Tom said nobody should trade these things off exchange, and we had to convince Senator Harkin, no, the big institutions should be able to do interest rate swaps even if they were bilateral.

But the compromise was that non-eligible contract participants, you might call it the retail public, but I would note you had to have $10 million of liquid assets to be an eligible contract participant.

I salute the good men who were my companions on the campaign trail.

Tom Harkin.

Bob

Kerry.

But instead of saying any of that, I said- I said, I saw you at the 2004 Iowa State Fair.

And he said, I met Tom Harkin that day.

And that was it.

Oh,

God.

You know, and what a day.

You would never want to forget the day you meet Tom Harkin in Iowa.

At least, I mean, I am sad that you didn't meet him at the Field of Dreams so that you guys could talk about all the Field of Dreams conversation that you guys could have.

Interestingly, they withhold the naming of the Grassley Center until he leaves office.

I don't know if any of you remember, that became an issue with the regents when Tom Harkin was originally going to put his center at Iowa State.

And there were some regents who voted against that because They were going to name it for him.

They felt it was inappropriate to name it for a sitting senator who obviously could have the ability to be raising money for the center while serving in office, thought it was an ethics issue.

the creation of a Justice Department that's more independent from the White House.

Those were post-Watergate reforms pushed by Congress, pushed by new members of Congress like Tom Harkin and Don Frazier and people like that.

But they proved short-lived because the pressures towards an imperial presidency, the pressures toward hegemony, as we're talking about it, were still there.

In the mid-1970s, the Soviet threat created again a very important and legitimate concern that we needed stronger military, that we needed a president who could react faster, and that we needed more secrecy to protect what we were doing and to spy on the bad guys.

So he guides these American politicians.

And by the way, this included a young aide named Tom Harkin away from the main pathways.

He's basically navigating this massive labyrinth of walls.

Right.

It really is.

So a congressional delegation is sent to South Vietnam to assess the situation.

And this delegation includes future politicians like Tom Harkin, who was an aide at the time.

Right.

... that's part of our goal, and our job is to make sure voters know what's actually going on, where does my opponent Rob Sand stand on the issues, 'cause he's not being honest about who he is.

This is not Tom Harkin's Democratic Party.

If Iowans-

[laughs]

I don't think it's a big issue, a voting issue for many people, but I think it fits well for Josh Turek.

First of all, this is a stance that Tom Harkin took back in the day.

He's running for Tom Harkin's old Senate seat with Tom Harkin's support.

And it's also just an easy thing for Democrats to say, look, millionaires and billionaires aren't paying their fair share.

And so it fits in with that constellation of issues.