Who You Need To Follow For Iowa Caucus Coverage

Now that we’re 4 months out from the Iowa Caucus, and the political silly season of summer has finally dissipated, all eyes turn increasingly to Iowa. But who really has the advantage here? Who’s connecting with caucus-goers and who’s just coasting on publicity?

The best way to learn what’s actually happening is to follow the reporters covering these candidates and the voters on the ground every single day. Some of them aren’t the big names you’ve heard of on TV, but their reporting and analysis is often much more accurate and informative than what you hear in the larger national media narratives. So Starting Line is putting together this list of everyone you need to follow on Twitter to get the best Iowa Caucus coverage and perspectives.

Follow the entire list easily here

I will selfishly mention myself first since I made the list, though I do think I live-tweet Iowa Caucus events more than anyone else (and I don’t know which section I fit under anymore):

Iowa Starting Line – Pat Rynard (@IAStartingLine)

The Iowa Press Corp

ABC 5 (Des Moines) – Sabrina Ahmed (@SabrinaAtiya) & Amanda Krenz (@ACKrenz)

Associated Press – Catherine Lucey (@catherine_lucey) & Tom Beaumont (@TomBeaumont)

CBS 2 (Cedar Rapids) – Kevin Barry (@KevinBarryCBS2) & Steffi Lee (@SteffiSLee)

Cedar Rapids Gazette – James Lynch (@jamesqlynch), Rod Boshart (@rodboshart), Jessie Hellmann (@jessiehellmann)

Iowa Public Radio – Clay Masters (@Clay_Masters) & Joyce Russel (@russell_ipr)

KCCI (Des Moines) – Cynthia Fodor (@CFodorKCCI)

Lee Enterprises – Erin Murphy (@ErinDMurphy)

Quad City Times – Ed Tibbets (@EdTibbetts)

Radio Iowa – Kay Henderson (@okayhenderson)

Roske on Politics – Brent Roske (@brentroske)

Sioux City Journal – Bret Hayworth (@SCJBretH)

Waterloo/CF Courier – Christinia Crippes (@ccrippes)

WHO TV (Des Moines) – Dave Price (@idaveprice)

The Des Moines Register Team – The Register has a large Iowa Caucus reporting team, assigning individual reporters to certain candidates. (this is a little outdated since several have dropped out, but you should follow the whole Register team!)

Joel Aschbrenner (@JoelAschbrenner) – Chris Christie

Kathy Bolten (@kbolten) – Mike Huckabee

Courtney Crowder (@CourtneyCare) – Carly Fiorina

Kevin Hardy (@kevinmhardy) – Bernie Sanders

Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) – Donald Trump

Tony Leys (@tonyleys) – Hillary Clinton

Tim Meinch (@timeinch) – Ben Carson

Jason Noble (@jasonnobleDMR) – Jeb Bush & Rand Paul

Kim Norvell (@KimNorvellDMR) – Jim Webb

Matt Patane (@mattpatane) – Ted Cruz

Bill Petroski (@WilliamPetroski) – John Kasich, Rick Santorum

Brianne Pfannensteil (@brianneDMR) – Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, Lincoln Chafee

Grant Rodgers (@GrantMRodgers) – Martin O’Malley

Mackenzie Ryan (@Mackenzie_Ryan) – Marco Rubio

Linh Ta (@linhmaita) – Bobby Jindal

Annah Backstrom (@AnnahBackstrom) – coordinates the Register’s caucus coverage

Kathie Obradovich (@KObradovich) – political columnist

The Iowa Blogosphere

Bleeding Heartland – DesMoinesDem (@desmoinesdem)

The Iowa Republican – Craig Robinson (@IowaGOPer)

Caffeinated Thoughts – Shane Vander Hart (@shanevanderhart)

John Deeth Blog – John Deeth (@johndeeth)

Blog For Iowa – Paul Deaton (@PaulDeaton_IA)

National Reporters On The Ground (or who are here a lot)

New York Times – Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel)

Huffington Post – Samantha Jo Roth (@SamanthaJoRoth)

Washington Post – John Wagner (@WPJohnWagner) & Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker)

Buzzfeed – Evan McMorris-Santoro (@EvanMcSan)

Bloomberg – John McCormick (@McCormickJohn)

NRO – Alexis Levinson (@alexis_levinson)

NRO – Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta)

The National Embeds – All of the major networks have reporters placed in Iowa who attend every caucus event they can.

ABC – Josh Haskell (@joshbhaskell)

CBS – Kylie Atwood (@kylieatwood)

CNN – Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein)

Fox News – Lauren Blanchard (@LaurenBlanch12)

NBC – Danny Freeman (@DannyEFreeman) & Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard)

The Clinton Traveling Press Corp – Hillary Clinton has the largest contingent of reporters who cover her campaign. They’re here in Iowa a lot, so you should follow all of them as well (follow the full list easily here).

ABC – Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz)

Associated Press – Ken Thomas (@KThomasDC) & Lisa Lerer (@llerer)

Bloomberg – Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps)

Buzzfeed – Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer)

CBS News – Hannah Chanpong (@hannahfc)

CNN – Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN)

MSNBC – Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald)

NBC – Monica Alba (@AlbaMonica)

New York Times – Amy Chozick (@amychozick)

Politico – Annie Karni (@anniekarni) & Gabe Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti)

Reuters – Amanda Becker (@AmandaBecker)

TIME – Sam Frizell (@Sam_Frizell)

Wall Street Journal – Peter Nicholas (@PeterNicholas3)

Washington Post – Anne Gearan (@agearan)

by Pat Rynard
Posted 9/30/15