2015

Iowa’s 1st Congressional District is home to one of the most fascinating primaries in the country. With Rod Blum widely seen as the country’s most endangered Republican incumbent, Democrats are eager to retake Bruce Braley’s old seat. Here’s how we see the race shaping up right now: 1. Monica Vernon The second place finisher from…

Martin O’Malley entered the room to hoots and hollers at his Des Moines rally the evening after his official presidential announcement in Baltimore. The crowd was eager to see the former Maryland Governor (or perhaps just any Democratic candidate), and O’Malley returned the enthusiasm with a high-energy speech of his own. “When a country reaches…

“Lemonade for Bernie!” read the sign held by some pint-sized entrepreneurs across the street from Bernie Sanders’ event in West Branch on Friday night. The Senator from Vermont happily obliged the young girls as his red SUV pulled up on the tree-lined street. Sanders paid his 50 cents, drank a cup of lemonade, chatted with…

We hear all kinds of interesting things here at Starting Line, and figured it was about time for another fun Rumor Roundup. Here’s the latest political chatter making its way around Iowa: Super PACs Coming in 1st District Primary All the cool kids these days are getting their own Super PACs. Starting Line hears that…

While the Iowa Legislature continues to struggle to find consensus on school funding, some state representatives seem fixated on other issues. Starting Line obtained from a number of sources an email that Republican Representative Greg Heartsill sent to what appears nearly every public school superintendent in the state. Attached is a letter requesting information about…

For those who have written off and ignored Rick Santorum as a past-his-prime player in the country’s social conservatism movement, you might want to tune back in to his 2016 campaign. He’s quickly become the Republican field’s uncomfortable-truth-teller, urging his party to move on from Reagan economics and adopt a message aimed at the working…

Welcome back to Starting Line’s Power Ranking series! This week we take a look at the very crowded Republican race (last week we did the Democrats). This one is obviously a lot tougher, especially figuring out how to rank 2 – 5. You could easily make the case that any of them are in 2nd…

Here’s a tip: if you’re running for president, don’t strongly publicly defend a child molester. Mike Huckabee didn’t seem to ever get that memo. On Thursday he posted to Facebook an inexplicable defense of the Duggar family, following the revelations that oldest son Josh had sexually molested some of his young sisters. For those who…

It’s do-or-die time for the Iowa Straw Poll. The Republican caucus tradition hasn’t attracted many major participants yet, with Mike Huckabee and Jeb Bush already ruling the event out. While the other White House hopefuls gather with their campaign teams to decide whether or not to attend, press stories abound about the Straw Poll’s shortcomings.…

It was not a banner night in the Iowa House for Republicans debating LGBTQ issues and young people struggling with bullying. Up for debate was a high-profile piece of legislation on anti-bullying measures, which had previously passed the Senate 43-7 in a bipartisan fashion. However, the most unbelievable moment came earlier in the evening, during…