Iowa Dems Socked With Libel Judgment

Image via WikipediaIn the 2008 presidential election, President Barack Obama bested Sen. John McCain in Iowa by a margin of 54 percent to 44 percent. His prospects of carrying the state in 2012 aren't as certain, and if one believes in omens, a $50,000 libel judgment against the Iowa Democratic Party last week isn't a good sign.

According to an Associated Press account, the Daily Nonpareil reports that a  Pottawattamie County jury found  plaintiff Randy Higginbotham was defamed by the Iowa Democratic Party in a 2008 campaign pamphlet. According to the AP story, the campaign literature from the 2008 House seat race between Democrat Paul Shomshor and Republican challenger Scott Belt described Higginbotham as a convicted sex offender whom Belt allegedly had bailed out of jail in 1994.

Unfortunately for the Iowa Dems, who relied on an independent research firm for the pamphlet's content, Higginbotham, though arrested, was never convicted of any sex-related crime, his lawyer told the AP.