Governor Jindal Visits Iowa

On Thursday, July 26, Iowans were informed of a speech being held by Governor Bobby Jindal at the Kum and Go Headquarters in West Des Moines, Iowa. Never one to miss an opportunity to meet with my political friends and hear from a leader, I jumped at the chance.

I arrived early to make sure I could get a seat (as I'm 9 months pregnant), had a chance to visit with some folks I haven't seen in a while, and, of course, made a few new friends while waiting for the program to begin. The Iowa GOP Co-Chair Bill Schickel introduced Governor Jindal and shortly thereafter, he took the stage.

Governor Jindal joked how it was cooler in Baton Rouge, Louisana than it was here in Iowa (we've been dealing with 100+ temperatures for a few weeks now). He discussed how important it was for everyone to come together to elect Romney as President.

The biggest laugh from the crowd came after Governor Jindal said, "A couple of things about President Obama. One, he's the most liberal President we've had since Jimmy Carter and two, he's the most incompetent President we've had since Carter--no offense to Carter."

Governor Jindal discussed that we need to make sure our Nation is handed to our children better than when we received it. He said his daughter came home from school and said, "Dad, can you make sure no one tells Obama what comes after trillion?" Governor Jindal's daughter is only 10.

It was a short but rousing speech that really energized the base here in Iowa. After the event, the crowd filtered out and I noticed the Romney bus in the parking lot with a line starting to form. As I got closer, I noticed that Governor Jindal was talking to people and taking pictures. I waited in line and when it was my turn, I introduced myself and that I was the Communications Director for CAPE PAC. He thanked me for my work and asked me when I was due. I replied, "Oh, any day now." Governor Jindal asked, "Is this your first," to which I replied, "No, my fourth. Boy number four. So I understand what you mean when you talk about leaving the world better for our children. It's why I do what I do." Governor Jindal nodded, smiled and said, "Wow. Four boys. Bless you." At that point, we posed for pictures, he thanked me for attending the speech and for working to get Romney elected.

I was impressed that Governor Jindal, a rather busy man, would take time out to talk to everyone waiting. He gave every person his full attention, answering questions and inquiring about their profession, whether is was a CEO or a farmer.

Could he be Mitt Romney's VP pick? Possibly. He seemed rather Vice-Presidential. Only the Romney camp really knows who they'll be picking. But I do know that Governor Jindal fired up the crowd!

By Sarah Bowman

Director of Communications

CAPE PAC

FACT VS FICTION: JOHN BOEHNER

CAPE PAC presents the eigth episode of the new CAPE PAC series "Fact Vs Fiction". This episode focuses on the facts about Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. #VoteBoehner

FACT VS FICTION: DENNY REHBERG

CAPE PAC presents the seventh episode of the new CAPE PAC series "Fact Vs Fiction". This episode focuses on the facts about Denny Rehberg of Montana. #VoteRehberg

LIFE OF JULIA: A CONSERVATIVE PERSPECTIVE

I’m No Julia

By Sarah Bowman

We’ve all heard about Barack Obama’s campaign and their “Life of Julia” creation; but have you really looked at it? I did. It’s insulting to all women. Thanks but no thanks, Barack. I’m no Julia.

On their website, they state it explains how Barack Obama’s policies will help Julia through her life. Really? I don’t think Obama (or his administration) are giving women enough credit. We’re strong people.

It begins with “Julia” starting her life at Headstart, funded by the Government. No offense to the Government, but I could read before Preschool, because my parents worked with me. And my parents paid for my pre-school just as I’ve paid (out of my own pocket) for my child’s preschool.

It continues with Julia attending public school, and taking the SAT. I can identify with this (although living in Iowa, we take the ACT). Next, Julia goes to college, just as I did. However, I took no grant money, only student loans, which I am now paying off. Sorry, Julia. Here’s where we differ.  It was my choice to attend college, it was my choice to take out loans and I understand it is my responsibility to pay them off. I don’t think taxpayers should be forced to pay for my decisions.

Julia is covered under her parent’s insurance until she’s 26. Really? 26? I was covered under my parent’s insurance until I graduated from College but after that, I was on my own. At one point, worked for an employer who didn’t offer insurance, I had to find it myself and I did. Again, it comes down to personal responsibility. And I was only 22 at the time. Not 26. Sorry, Julia, but it looks like we’re different again.

Julia gets a job and “because of Obama gets equal pay”. Here’s the deal, Julia. You want to earn more, you work harder. But it seems that because her boss is required to cover birth control, Julia can focus on her work. Again, I ask, really? She couldn’t focus on her work if she wasn’t on the pill? This connection makes no sense to me.

When Julia is 31, she decides to have a child. “Under Obama” her prenatal care is covered. I’m 32 and expecting my fourth child. Not once has my prenatal care been denied and all of my pregnancies have been covered. Then again, when I knew I wanted children, I made sure it was covered before getting pregnant. But here comes that “personal responsibility” issue again.

At 37, Julia’s son starts Kindergarten. First of all, where’s Julia’s husband (or partner)? He (or she) is never mentioned in Julia’s life. Julia is either a single mom or the Government is her baby’s daddy. And that’s the way it is starting to sound.

They continue that the Government helps Julia start a business because as Obama just told all of us, “you didn’t build that” and that when she decides, with Social Security she can retire. Come on, Julia. You and I both know that when we’re old enough to retire, Social Security won’t be there. In my mind, I’m paying for my parents. If I want to retire, I know that I need to contribute to a 401k.

It seems that the Obama Administration wants women to believe if it wasn’t for Government, they couldn’t take care of themselves, which we all know couldn’t be further from the truth. Ladies, we shouldn’t tolerate this. We’re strong, independent people. We don’t need the Government holding our hand every step of our lives.

“The life of Julia” is highly insulting to women all over America. This isn’t the America Susan B. Anthony envisioned for women. We need to tell Obama, “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m not Julia. I can do this myself,” and vote for Romney.

FACT VS FICTION: JOSH MANDEL

CAPE PAC presents the sixth episode of the new CAPE PAC series "Fact Vs Fiction". This episode focuses on the facts about Josh Mandel of Ohio. #VoteMandel

FACT VS FICTION: TED CRUZ

CAPE PAC presents the fifth episode of the new CAPE PAC series "Fact Vs Fiction". This episode focuses on the facts about Ted Cruz of Texas. #VoteCruz

FACT VS FICTION: ALLEN WEST

CAPE PAC presents the fourth episode of the new CAPE PAC series "Fact Vs Fiction". This episode focuses on the facts about Allen West of Florida. #VoteAllenWest

FACT VS FICTION: OBAMACARE

The second episode of the new CAPE PAC series "Fact Vs Fiction". This episode focuses on ObamaCare.

FACT VS FICTION: BAIN VS SOLYNDRA

The first episode of the new CAPE PAC series "Fact Vs Fiction". This episode focuses on Bain Capital and Solyndra.

CAPE PAC Communications Director, Sarah Bowman, Shows Support For Latham

On Saturday, June 23, the Iowa GOP Victory office opened in Urbandale, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines. Attending office openings is always like a family reunion for my family (but a family reunion you really want to attend).

My boys get to see their "two year friends", children of other volunteers, and it's always fun to see how much they've grown. What is interesting is that other than the children growing, it seems that time doesn't pass. We're always working towards the same goal and while the candidates change, we know we're doing this for our children. We're working together to leave a better future for our kids.

Our family managed to get out the door and to the opening only 15 minutes late. With three boys ages 6 and under, this was a miraculous feat. My boys went running to the office, an office my oldest son knows well, as it was in the same location as the McCain Victory headquarters 4 years ago.

Entering the building could be a scene from "Cheers". You walk in the door and everyone says your name. My poor husband, at least at political events, is known as 'Sarah Bowman's husband'. But he's okay with that. He jokes that he's my trophy husband.

In traditional Iowa opening form, there was no catered meat and cheese trays, but a military veteran, Lee Booton, working the grill cooking burgers and brats for the crowd. I was approached and congratulated by Kim Lehman, our current National Committeewoman and former head of the Iowa Right to Life on the upcoming birth of our son. "We need more Conservative babies," she said, and I agreed.

As soon as Congressman Latham was available I approached him. I was greeted with a joyful, "Hi, Sarah!" Congressman Latham and I go way back to my days working for the Agribusiness Association of Iowa and my work as Co-Chair of the Polk County GOP, even though until the most recent redistricting, he hasn't represented our district.

I asked him if he would be willing to pose for a picture with my youngest son, Brendan, who is almost 2. Congressman Latham reached his arms out, and to my surprise, called him by his nickname "Baby B." Again, I shouldn't have been surprised that he knew B's nickname, but I was. I was able to take a few great pictures of the Congressman with B and thanked him.

I informed him that I was working for CAPE PAC and said, "We wanted you to know that we're running a positive and hard campaign for you, because CAPE PAC knows you're my guy." He laughed and said, "Tell your bosses thank you very much. It's going to be a tough campaign and I appreciate their support. They're lucky to have you in their corner and I'm lucky you're with them!" I laughed and told him that he'd be a great representative for me and my boys and I will do what I can to get him elected.

We continued mingling with our friends and political family. They joked it will only be a few years before my boys will be working the phones for support and yard sign locations. I agreed. My kids will probably have the most extra-curricular political credits than any other family in school.

Looking back at the day, some friends I haven't visited with since the Iowa Straw Poll and I love how everyone has come together. Less than a year ago many of my friends were wearing Bachmann, Pawlenty, Perry and Cain stickers but now everyone was wearing Romney stickers. It's great to see how we've all come together, as we always do.

Onward to Victory!

- Sarah Bowman
CAPE PAC
Communications Director
@capepac

CAPE PAC Wishes Americans a Happy Flag Day

By Sarah Bowman

Communications Director, CAPE PAC

Today is Flag Day, but what does that mean? 

It’s a day to reflect on the history of the flag and what it means to you. Each American looks at the flag differently, but it should instill the same feelings of pride, joy, hope and patriotism.

Our flag has an interesting and detailed history. Our colors are pulled from the colors of the British flag, but as Americans, we’ve made it our own. We’ve all heard the story of Betsy Ross, of Francis Scott Key and the Star Spangled Banner. Each stripe represents one of the original 13 colonies and each star represents a State in our great Nation.

My personal view of the flag has changed overtime. As a kid, I recall my parents proudly displaying the flag on our front porch, and how I would get into trouble if they came home from work and it was raining on the flag. My dad, a son of a Canadian immigrant, taught me the correct way to display, handle and respect our flag.

When I became a teenager and inquired my maternal grandfather about his service in World War 2, the flag became an even larger source of pride for me. My Grandfather would get teary eyed when he would talk about having to throw his bomber jacket (and everything else that wasn’t nailed down) off of their plane so they could land on a ship designed for smaller aircraft in the South Pacific. When my Grandfather passed away, the sight of a flag would take me back to seeing his flag draped coffin.

A few years later, I met and married my husband, an Army Reservist, my pride for the flag and our Nation increased even more. My former boss, Senator Charles Grassley sent us a flag that had flown over the US Capitol on our wedding day as a gift, one of the most thoughtful wedding gifts we received.

When my husband was deployed to Iraq, the American flag made me feel proud to be an American, knowing my husband, while in harms way, was helping all Americans keep their freedoms. Before my husband left for Iraq, he taught our son (only 1.5 years old) to salute the flag as he believed it was never too early to teach respect for our Nation and the flag that represents it. That son, now 6, has been taught about the flag, what it means and how to take care of it.

“The flag still stands for freedom, and they can’t take that away!”-Lee Greenwood

Happy Flag Day! From all of us at CAPE PAC!

WE MUST NEVER FORGET THE “GREATEST GENERATION”

On this day, in 1944, Operation Overlord was launched by Allied forces.

America will never forget the sacrifice by the “Greatest Generation” of Americans.

"You are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months.

The eyes of the world are upon you...I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle."

- D. Eisenhower

Happy Memorial Day - CAPE PAC

"What Memorial Day Means to Me"

From the point of view of a Veterans Wife & Granddaughter of a WW2 Veteran

As the wife of an Iraq War Veteran, Memorial Day is bitter sweet for me. I love spending the holiday with my family and friends. I love seeing the flags raised, the red, white and blue coming out and people being patriotic. I always feel a little sad for the spouses of the soliders who didn’t come back from war, and I think about them too.

My husband was in the Reserves when I met him, so I knew what I was getting into, and I loved it. Being a solider ran in his family. His father served in Vietnam. His grandfathers had served in WW2 and Korea. It seemed to be his destiny. He signed up at a time of peace, May 2001. He was in his advanced training on September 11^th. When we met in 2004, he had not been deployed. That all changed in November of 2006. He got his deployment orders.

He told me that he signed up because, even though we hadn’t met yet, he said that he was serving in the hopes that one of his children wouldn’t have to.  Being a family of soldiers, I can imagine at least one of our four boys will be in the military.

Being the spouse of a solider is a hard job. You’ve got to hold the home fort down. You’ve got to be brave in public, even if you cry every night. You have to be brave for your soldier, either on the phone or Skype, keeping the news of home happy and worry free. They’ve got plenty to worry about over there; they don’t need to worry about what’s going on at home. You’ve got to manage your full time job and raise the children, again, all with a smile and chin up, never knowing if you’ll hold your loved one again.

Memorial Day is about those who have given all for our freedoms, not just about grilling, the beginning of summer and being able to wear white.  So when you’re spending time with family and friends this weekend, take a moment to stop and think about the soldiers, their wives and their families.  Remember. 

By

Sarah Bowman

CAPE PAC

Communications Director

Palin & Hannity Talk Super PACs

Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin sat down last Monday (05/21/12) and discussed their frustration in the recent actions taken by Mitt Romney's campaign and many in the GOP to not allow Super PACs the freedom to speak out on certain subjects regarding Obama. Palin and Hannity believe if Republicans want to win in November there should be NO issue left off the table.

CAPE PAC Thanks SEAL Team 6

The Obama campaign has made a political mockery out of the tremendous termination of one of the world's greatest threats. We all know who the real heroes are. We all know who the credit belongs to. We will not be fooled by claims of bravery and guts from a man who made the following statement before he took over as President:

2008: "Navy Seal Team 6 is Cheney's private assassination team. Bin Laden is innocent until proven guilty, and must be captured alive and given a fair trial."

2011: "I put together Seal Team 6 to take out Bin Laden. I authorized Seal Team 6 to kill Bin Laden."

Source: PolitiFact

Please take a stand and spread the word to retire Obama in November. Visit www.StopMrObama.com today and make the pledge.

Thank you,
CAPE PAC