Winners

Sen. Barack Obama took a historic step in his bid to become the nation’s first black president by securing the Democratic presidential nomination, setting up a showdown with Republican Sen. John McCain for the White House. Look for Obama to further expose McCain’s temper and ineffectiveness as a speaker, but don’t declare him the winner just yet. Meanwhile, it took Obama’s egotistical Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, a whopping five days to publicly concede her defeat. A real class act, that Sen. Clinton. Apparently all that experience she touted on the campaign trail has served her well.

While most Iowa Democrats voted for change by nominating Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton in the Iowa Caucuses, the same can’t be said when it came to last week’s Democratic primaries for the Iowa Senate and House. Democrat incumbents like U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell and state Rep. Wayne Ford cruised to easy victories. Perhaps we’re not as progressive as we would like to think. On the other side of the political aisle, Republican newcomers like Chris Hagenow, Christopher Reed and Erik Helland won their primaries, though Republican voter turnout across the state was down.

These things look better on the city’s Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Web site, but we would be remiss if we didn’t report that the July issue of Kliplinger’s Personal Finance magazine ranked Des Moines as the ninth best city in the nation to live, work and play. Sleep better at night friends.

It is a thankless job, but we know there are many fathers deserving of accolades for the work they do to help raise their children and support their families. So this weekend, if you are lucky enough to have him around, take time to thank dad for everything he has done for you.

O.K., we’ll play along. Here’s hoping the Anaheim Ducks have better luck than the Iowa Stars did at trying to spark interest in the American Hockey League. But it’s going to take more than deeply discounted ticket prices to get local sports fans off their fat asses and into those narrow seats at Wells Fargo Arena.

Losers

While many Iowans have rolled up their sleeves and opened their wallets to help victims of the tornado that hit Parkersburg and nearby northern Iowa towns, we are reminded that such scenes of devastation also attract miscreants. Case in point, Lloyd Bonjour, 68, of Dows. Bonjour was arrested May 30 and charged with fourth-degree theft after Butler County Sheriff’s Office deputies found Bonjour in possession of several items from homes in Parkersburg hit by the tornado, including furniture, a computer monitor and a television. Stealing is bad enough, but stealing from those in their hour of need is inexcusable.

In lieu of recent financial woes, Regency Homes has rescinded its offer to pay $15 million to Iowa Health-Des Moines for the naming rights of a $118-million hospital to be built in West Des Moines. The move doesn’t come as a surprise, though we can’t help but wonder if rival Mercy Medical Center, which is also building a hospital in West Des Moines, might have quietly celebrated the news. Besides — and we mean no disrespect to the Myers family — wasn’t the idea of naming a hospital after someone named Michael Myers a tad bit creepy? Even if he was a great guy? We’re sure we weren’t the only ones who thought of the classic horror flick “Halloween” every time the name came up.

We always suspected 59-year-old Robert “Mutt” Lange was in over his head, but the record producer appears to be out of his head to leave 42-year-old country music singer and super-babe Shania Twain after 14 years of marriage and a 6-year-old son to be with some hussy. Sure, Twain’s music sucks, but just look at her, will ya? By the way, guys, you don’t have a chance.

We like it when fathers play an active role in the lives of their children, but we won’t be sending a “Father of the Year” award anytime soon to Randall Lee Popkes of Urbandale. Seems Popkes, 41, and his 22-year-old son, Joshua James Williams, have the wrong idea about quality father-son time. West Des Moines Police arrested the two men for third-degree burglary after an investigation revealed they allegedly broke into the Des Moines Golf and Country Club. A security guard at the club spotted a suspicious SUV driven by two males. When the suspects realized they had been observed, they fled the scene, but not before the guard wrote down their license plate number. When the subjects left the area, several items which had been taken from the club fell out of their vehicle, including a Sawzall they used in an attempt to open the club’s safe. Frustrated by their unsuccessful attempt to crack the safe, the would-be robbers left a note behind cursing the safe and country club management. Popkes and Williams turned themselves in and returned the majority of the property to police. CV

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