Last night, I spent two hours with Steve Deace on WHO Radio talking about TheIowaRepublican.com, and Iowa politics in general. I appreciate Steve’s willingness to have me on his show, which is really a lot of fun and a great way to spread the word about the site.

Steve called me to set up the interview last Wednesday when I was in Washington DC for the CPAC conference. He interrupted a very enjoyable cab ride from the Reagan International Airport to the Marriott at Wardman Park (where CPAC will be next year).

I’m not joking, the cab ride was enjoyable. When the cab pulled up it looked like it might have served a couple tours of duty in a war zone. The cabbie looked like an NFL defensive tackle, and I couldn’t understand him very well. I thought to myself, “this could be interesting.” Then I noticed that he has a McCain sticker on the dashboard above the glove box. I then hoped that my ride to the hotel would be smoother than John McCain’s campaign was.

As we rocketed out of the airport, he flipped the radio on and switched it to a country music station. Toby Keith’s, As Good As I Once Was, was on and the cab driver started singing. As the chorus approached he asked me to join in. So as we drove past the Lincoln Memorial I obliged him by joining in. Then Deace interrupted with his phone call…

Anyway, yesterday as I was driving to the WHO studios, I started getting a little nervous. I’ve been to the studios before, but I’ve sat in the control room, not in the studio. My only other time on the radio was when I was 17 years-old and was promoting a high school play, and I did a little 3 minute interview with NRA News about the Iowa Republican last Friday. This was two hours, on Iowa’s largest radio station.

Steve didn’t help any when he teased that I would be coming on the show by saying, “A buddy of mine is starting a new business and wants free airtime, go figure.” Thankfully, Steve was joking and we probably had more fun talking off the air, than when were on air.

Steve and I have been friends for almost two years now. We agree on a lot of thing, but not everything. If you listened to last night’s show, you probably realize that the biggest source of disagreement between us isn’t our principles; it’s about how we operate within the political system. I think that is always a healthy debate to have.

If you missed last night’s show, you can listen to the podcast here.

The Grand Old Blog

Ed Tibbetts of the Quad-City Times gave The Iowa Republican a shout out the other day.

A new blog called The Iowa Republican popped up today. You can find it here. It’s run by Craig Robinson, former political director of the Iowa GOP. Robinson also went to St. Ambrose University in Davenport.

Thanks, Ed! I love living in Central Iowa, but I really miss living near the Mississippi River. I’ll be back in Davenport on Monday.