Vice Prez Biden to Coralville Mayor Lundell: Congrats on Beating Back Americans for Prosperity!

Yesterday was Election Day in various corners of the country. Iowa City had a city council election, but nothing too terribly contentious -- though two of my three picks ended up winning their seats! Nearby Coralville, on the other hand, found itself in the midst of a city council take-over bid funded by Americans for Prosperity (i.e., the infamous Koch Brothers!). There are all sorts of reasons being bandied about for why they got involved in the local election of a town of 20,000 people. Most of it has to do with a desire for cheap property sales. Americans for Prosperity did a poor job of reaching out to the people of Coralville and their candidates ended up losing.

But check this out. Last night, as we learned the results of this election, Vice President Joe Biden ended up making a personal call to Coralville's new mayor, John Lundell. His message? Good job!:

John Lundell, winner of the mayoral position, received a unique surprise when answering a phone call from Vice President Joe Biden. “He’d been following the race because of the [American’s for Prosperity’s involvement],” he said. “He wanted to congratulate the city of Coralville because ‘there was no place for that in politics.”

It's been suggested elsewhere that Biden, in addition to enjoying a little anti-Koch push-back, is shrewdly keeping the local Democratic leadership happy by acknowledging their wins. There's a Caucus coming up again in a couple years, after all!

Still, it's neat that this local election was important enough for the second-most-powerful American leader to take a moment to celebrate!