Perhaps Iowa-hating was too strong a characterization (and I don’t necessarily think Kieran was being mean-spirited), but the title of his post was “Iowa to do time warp on felon voting?” I thought that implied Iowa’s politicians (and voters, considering the additional references to Mauro’s race and the state Supreme Court vote) are backward knuckle-draggers.
I didn't read anything remotely meanspirited toward Iowans in the original post by Kieran. (I was born, raised, and went to college in Iowa....if that matters and I don't see why it should.)
However, confusing Iowa with Kansas....that's just East Coast elitism! (Tongue in cheek.)
No. That's the Kansas SOS, Kris Kobach.
To respond to Kieran's Iowa-hating, I don't know if Kieran is from Iowa or
not-or if he's familiar with the state's politics. However, it's worth
noting that Mauro, though indeed highly regarded, barely campaigned for
reelection. His challenger and successor, Matt Schultz, was an extremely
aggressive campaigner, despite operating on a shoestring budget and living
out of his parents' basement.
Kieran's post seems to assume Iowans are backward hicks who couldn't fathom
Mauro's brilliance, but there were other factors at play.