2015

In today’s charged political atmosphere, the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting can turn sharply partisan and accusatory rather quickly. It increasingly seems like both sides are talking past each other, and that no act of gun violence, no matter how horrific, seems to really move the debate forward at all. The frustration is real…

Guest Post from House Minority Leader Mark Smith The night before Thanksgiving, the GOP’s Medicaid mess turned into a scandal. A judge threw out the WellCare contract for Medicaid privatization because Branstad and his GOP friends broke the rules. The judge also said WellCare failed to disclose a $137.5 million fraud settlement and that four…

Mark Chelgren, Republican state senator and candidate for Congress in the 2nd District, has a rather unique immigration plan he wants to talk about. According to an interview he did with the Journal Express of Marion County, Chelgren will advocate for executing immigrants who come to the country illegally a second time after being deported.…

After months of several candidates’ rises and falls, the final picture of caucus night is starting to come into focus. A top tier of four candidates has emerged, composed of Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio, with Carson the shakiest of the bunch. It’s unclear whether any of the remaining hopefuls can…

Good morning readers! Starting Line is back after a couple days off for the Thanksgiving holiday and to attend to newly-arrived Baby Starting Line. We’re now looking at the final two month sprint heading to the Iowa Caucus on February 1st. In these next two months, Starting Line will be getting back to some basics…

Guest Post from Every Child Matters Children are twenty-three percent of our population yet one hundred percent of our future. Decisions made today are critical to their success later in life. As voters, we should take our responsibility seriously to assure our next President would support the opportunity for all kids to achieve the American…

Most people’s idea of a fun 21st birthday celebration probably doesn’t entail working from sunrise to midnight and getting serenaded by your guitar-playing boss in front of all your co-workers and friends. But if you’re an Iowa Caucus field organizer, that’s actually a perk of the job, with a former governor running for president leading…

Hillary Clinton scored a major victory this past week by gaining the endorsement of SEIU, the healthcare workers union that represents over 2 million workers. That bumped the total membership of unions backing her candidacy to nearly 11 million. With the endorsements of 14 labor unions so far, including the heavyweights of AFSCME, the NEA…

Young Iowans around the state were “feeling the Bern” Thursday night at mock caucuses held jointly by Democratic and Republican county parties and the Secretary of State’s office. Sanders took over half of the delegates in the Democrats’ contest, while O’Malley posted a strong second place. Clinton failed to reach viability in several counties. The…

Guest Post Bench Building Problem Democrats. The party of the young and idealistic. The party that looks toward the future and not the past. The party with policies to help the struggling 20 and 30-something’s get a job, buy a house, and start a family. The party which builds its campaign structure from the vigor…