Ernst sets record straight on bread bag story

CEDAR RAPIDS - U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst has provided some clarity to her story about wearing bread bags to protect her shoes while growing up in rural Iowa.

'We were raised to live simply, not to waste,” Ernst said as she delivered the Republican response to the State of the Union address in late January. 'You see, growing up, I had only one good pair of shoes. So on rainy school days, my mom would slip plastic bread bags over them to keep them dry.”

The story from her childhood near Red Oak in southwest Iowa touched off a torrent of comment, some supportive, some ridiculing her story. Ernst was depicted in one cartoon wearing a T-shirt saying, 'Je Suis Breadbags.” Raygun, a Des Moines clothing company known for its snark, quickly produced an 'Iowa! You say bread aisle, we say shoe store!” T-shirt.

Some Iowans recalled wearing bread bags, but inside their winter boots to prevent leaks and keep their feet dry. However, they questioned Ernst's suggestion she wore bread bags over her boots.

She didn't, Ernst said Tuesday on Iowa Public Radio's 'River to River.”

'No, the point was I didn't have the boots,” she told host Ben Kieffer.

Ernst explained she had either a 'nice pair of tennis shoes or a nice pairs of shoes” to wear to school.

'So to protect those nice shoes, we wore bread bags over those shoes to protect them from the mud and the rain,” she said.