2016
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Iowa Secretary of State Calls Trump Vote Rigging Talk “Not Helpful”
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate pushed back today against growing fears on the right that the 2016 election will be “rigged” for Hillary Clinton, a sentiment inflamed by Donald Trump. As his candidacy has slumped in the polls, Trump has told his supporters on Twitter and at rallies that “large scale voter fraud” will hand the…
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Year Of The Woman Candidate Profile: Maridith Morris
Part one in a six-part series looking at the female Democratic candidates running for legislative office in Polk County Maridith Morris is on a mission to save the world. At least that is what you feel when you listen to her discuss the issues that affect everyday people, not just in Iowa, but throughout the…
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GOP National Security Expert Defends Clinton On Emails
This is the first of a two-part interview. In part I, Wilkerson defends Clinton’s handling of emails, her effectiveness as a Senator and as Secretary of State. In part II, he explains her role and defends her actions in Benghazi, Libya and Syria. Retired Col. Lawrence Wilkerson was traveling and speaking in Iowa last week…
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Dave Loebsack Barnstorming For Down-Ballot Democrats
When the dust settled from the 2014 election that devastated Democrats, Congressman Dave Loebsack was the last man standing for the party on the federal level. Many wondered at the time whether he’d step up in a new leadership role for the state party, one that had typically been taken on by other top Democrats during Loebsack’s…
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As Trump Goes Nuclear, Could His Iowa Backers Face Same Scrutiny?
There are two reasons state and local campaigns don’t typically engage in extremely personal attacks on political opponents: 1) The candidate or people running the campaign are decent-enough human beings to not bring up their opponent’s very personal failings, embarrassing moments or private life, and 2) It usually backfires. Now, as we all know, some times the…
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A Tale Of Two Reagan Dinners
Iowa Republicans’ twin Reagan Dinner fundraisers provided oddly perfect bookends to possibly the most volatile four-day stretch ever in American politics, encapsulating everything the beleaguered party experienced throughout it. The state party hosted their annual Reagan Dinner in Des Moines on Saturday night, while the Scott County Republicans held their own of the same name in…
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Republicans: Save Your Party Already
Following the sexually explicit revelations of Donald Trump’s past, the presidential candidate has turned his guns on the Republican Party as many GOP leaders are pulling their endorsements. At last count about 90 of the 331 Republican Governors, House members and Senators have fled the Trump train. That’s approximately one-fourth of the Republican leadership establishment that…
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The Map That Should Concern Every Iowa Democrat
The political data site FiveThirtyEight published a story today that looks at where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have the potential to pick up new support over their party’s vote totals in 2012. The conclusions are not good for Iowa Democrats. Iowa takes on a dark shade of red in their map, which looks county-by-county at…
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Iowa GOP Women’s Group President Resigns Over Trump
Iowa Republicans suffered another important defection from the party line on Donald Trump. Melissa Gesing, the president of the Iowa Federation of Women, announced she was resigning as the head of the organization in a lengthy article in which she compared her wavering on Trump to being in a “bad and unhealthy relationship.” The Iowa Federation…
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The Death Of Iowa Nice
When I think back on all the crazy moments I’ve witnessed during the 2016 cycle, one often stands out above the rest. It was in early August at a Donald Trump rally in Des Moines, and Governor Terry Branstad was at the podium giving a warm-up speech. The crowd broke out into chants of “Lock…
