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Dear Friends,

If Iowa is to retain its first-in-the-nation status in the presidential nominating process, this year’s caucus debacle demands dramatic action. An edgy, decisive plan is needed, and I’m happy to announce that I have it. Here’s a step-by-step guide to the impeccable logic behind my thinking:

1. Ballots were unable to be counted in 8 of 1,774 Republican precinct caucuses. That’s a failure rate of .045% — unacceptable when dealing with something as important as voting, or caucusing, or electing delegates . . . or whatever it is we do here in Iowa to help pick the leader of what used to be called, charmingly, “the free world.”

2. Presumably, precinct chairs and/or secretaries counted the ballots in each precinct, with interested (often suspicious) rank-and-file caucus goers looking on.

3. The chair and secretary were presumably Republicans at all precinct caucuses. All but one, that is . . .

4.  That’s right. As previously reported, Republicans in Des Moines 66 elected this former Democratic legislator as caucus secretary. I was a registered Republican for all of 60 minutes before I got to count ballots (and money!). There were no errors in the vote tally in Precinct 66 (and every red Republican cent was accounted for too, in case you’re wondering).

5. Therefore, since the error rate among Republicans counting votes is an unacceptable .045% vs a spotless performance among Democrats counting votes, I call upon Matt Strawn, chair of the Iowa Republican Party, to immediately announce to the world that, beginning in 2016, only Democrats will be allowed to count ballots at Republican precinct caucuses.

And given the extent to which Presidents Reagan, Bush I and Bush II ran-up the federal debt, it might not be a bad idea to keep Democrats in charge of managing the federal till as well.

That said, we have some great conversation brewing for you this week. And I hope you’ll not only tune-in, but call-in — everyone but Frank, that is.

Monday, Charles Goldman and I read tea leaves as we attempt to find meaning in the craziness of the recent South Carolina primary. We’ll also talk about SOPA and PIPA. And no, SOPA and PIPA aren’t characters in a new Disney film.

Tuesday, we talk with Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development, about the $809 million in state money that has gone to just 50 companies over the past seven years. Debi and I are unlikely to agree on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, which should make for some provocative conversation.

Speaking of being unlikely to agree, also on Tuesday, Dave Williams, President of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, will gab with me about the State of the Union address, which airs live at 8:00 pm central time.

Wednesday, we talk nuclear power, and Sonia Ashe of the Iowa Public Interest Research Group joins us. Apparently, even the Iowa Utilities Board is raising concerns about MidAmerican Energy’s proposal to soak rate-payers with the cost of building a new nuclear power plant.

Thursday, Speaker of the Iowa House, Kraig Paulsen, is our guest for the opening segment of the show, which will focus on matters before the Iowa Legislature this session, obviously.

So, tune in at 98.3 WOW-FM and online. You can download the Fallon Forum as a podcast, too.  And don’t forget to visit The Fallon Forum website at fallonforum.com.  Thanks!

Ed