Mo, momentum, mo fun
...Jerry Crawford, Better Call Saul, and Roxanne
Welcome to our many new subscribers! You will understand why this is called a Potluck, as it’s a bit of this-and-that. Some opinion. Lots about Iowa and the people who live(d) here and a plug for the annual Okoboji Writers’ Retreat. Julie believes there is a story in everyone, and she gathers like-minded journalists, authors, literary agents, poets, and otherwise fun, smart people to help participants tell their truths (and untruths). It will be a blast. Click here to learn more: www.okobojiwritersretreat.com
An Iowa angle to the Kentucky Derby
“This is my fourth Kentucky Derby and the best chance I’ve ever had at winning,” said Des Moines attorney Jerry Crawford about the prospects his horse, MO DONEGAL, has in securing the ultimate prize of horse racing.
Others in the industry think so, too.
MO’s closing speeds are head-turning. He’s been called the fastest three-year-old alive regarding his closing times. He flies in the high 30-40 mph range.
On May 7th, in Louisville, Kentucky, there will be 160,000 in the stands screaming when the starting gate opens, and Mo will embody the cliche ‘taking it in stride.’
Here’s an excerpt from an article by J. Keeler Johnson for a story in America’s Best Racing:
There’s a lot of data to digest here, but we have to begin by highlighting the incredible closing fractions posted by Mo Donegal when winning the Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino. A tremendous rally from last place allowed Mo Donegal to gain 4 1/2 lengths through the final three-eighths of a mile and prevail by a neck over Early Voting.
This was an impressive effort visually, and it’s even more stunning by the numbers. If the clock is to be believed (and two different timing systems recorded almost exactly the same results), Mo Donegal sprinted the final three furlongs in :35.61 (fastest on our chart by 0.73 seconds) and his final furlong in :11.97 (fastest by 0.29).
For the rest of the impressive story: America’s Best Racing.
A tad ironic, the democratic activist, Crawford, would have a horse besting another horse named Early Voting.
More about Crawford and Mo: https://www.americasbestracing.net/the-sport/2022-owner-jerry-crawford-chats-mo-donegals-development-and-kentucky-derby-chances
Editors Note: Julie referred to Mo as a ‘she’ in the first version of this column. Mo is a he.
Crawford kindly pointed out the error, which he thought was funny, considering stud fees of upwards of $20mm are not unheard of. The columnist did not find the error was one bit funny, but an indication of how little she knows about horse racing. Thus she provided links to stories written by those who do. Sigh.
Speaking of ‘Mo,’ Cullen says Franken now has it…
…momentum, that is.
Art Cullen writes what activists are now saying about the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Click here: Cullen on Franken.
It’s all good, man. According to Open Secrets fundraising reports, Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk contributed $1000 to Franken’s campaign.
Speaking of the U.S. Senate race, Richard Gilbert contributes this tidbit:
This past week, the Iowa Supreme Court was in the news with a 7-0 ruling which kept Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Abby Finkenauer on the June primary ballot. The judges, led by Chief Justice Susan Christensen, unanimously overruled a district court judge who had sided with a Republican challenge to a few signatures on the candidate’s nomination petitions. Had the challenges prevailed, Finkenauer would have been out of the race.
While the high court ruling certainly had a political impact, the decision favoring a Democrat was welcomed by many who have an ongoing concern about politicians putting slimy thumbs on election scales. Some had seen Iowa’s high court as a “Republican court” that would likely support the district judge’s narrow interpretation of election law to back the Republican’s challenge.
Interesting background of Iowa’s current Chief Justice Susan Larson Christensen, known in her native Harlan as “Suzy”. She’s a second-generation Larson from Harlan on Iowa’s highest court. Her dad, my friend, the late Jerry Larson (1935 to 2008) was the Shelby County attorney in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, then on the district court until appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court in 1978 by Governor Robert Ray. Jerry served 29 years on Iowa’s highest court, longer than any other justice. His daughter, who began her law practice with her father in 1991, later became a district court judge like her dad until Governor Reynolds tapped her as a Supreme Court justice in 2018, sadly about six months after her dad had passed. Her colleagues on the court elected her Chief Justice in February 2020.
Justice Christensen is only the fourth woman in Iowa history to be elevated to the high court but is not the first woman Chief Justice of Iowa. That recognition goes to Marsha Ternus, appointed by Governor Terry Branstad in 1993. Justice Ternus and two other justices lost retention votes in 2010 as voters, energized by a national backlash against rulings supporting same-sex marriage, exacted revenge at the ballot boxes. —Richard Gilbert
Roxanne’s Book Signing
I was honored to be invited by Roxanne Conlin to facilitate her book signing, hosted by Beaverdale Books Tuesday, April 19. Here’s a column I wrote about the book when it was first released: GAMMACK ON CONLIN
Conlin had told me when I interviewed her that she had a Bucket List to complete - skydiving, riding a motorcycle, hot-air ballooning. In the past year, she has done all of the above. And, no doubt more.
The trouble with having a biography written about Roxanne Conlin is that there will need to be a Volume II. Are you listening, author William B. Fredricks?
Several attendees spoke up to tell Roxanne what her life has meant to them, including State Representative Marti Anderson.
So many of us have been inspired and empowered by Roxanne’s leadership. At a fundraiser for Rep. Cindy Axne in Roxanne’s home, former Iowan and Axne’s colleague from California, Rep. Katie Porter, told how Conlin touched her life as a youngster.
During Conlin’s run for governor in 1982, 8-year-old Katie Porter waved to the then-candidate as she appeared in a parade in a small Iowa town.
Porter has become famous for using a whiteboard when grilling powerful business leaders during congressional hearings. Here’s one of my favorites. You gotta see this exchange with JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon if you haven’t already: PORTERGRILLSDIMON. She brings her real-life experience as a single mother to these hearings.
“If I had anything to do with Katie Porter running for office, my life has been worthwhile,” said Conlin.
Watch this space for Potluck news. I’m toying with the idea of creating lunch-and-learns, or evening conversations with notables via Zoom. I’m asked regularly to offer a paid tier for this column, but I’ve resisted because I don’t want to lose any of you. There’s a raging debate about writers offering free content when other writers need to be paid to make a living. I get it.
As a Des Moines Register columnist, I held Monday Lunches in Younkers Tea Room with influencers and up to 10 readers. It was ‘reader engagement’ before reader engagement became cool.
So, if I do create a paid subscription level, all funds would go toward scholarships to the Okoboji Writers’ Retreat. You would still receive this column at no charge, but paid subscribers would be invited to the Zoom conversations, from which I would probably write a column.
It’s an idea in the embryonic phase. If you have an opinion or a suggested ‘notable,’ please let me know in the comment section or send me a private email. Would you pay $7, $8, or $10 a month to support the scholarship fund and be able to participate in these Zoom conversations? No hard feelings if you are already over-subscribed to paid content. It adds up!
JulieOkobojiWriters@gmail.com
This column was written by both Julie Gammack and Richard Gilbert.
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I love these stories. This column is the very definition of Potluck!! Well done, Julie and Richard!