2016

I’ve long been a glass-half-full guy, rather than someone who dwells on the glass being half empty. It’s just a matter of perspective, I guess. I credit this outlook to my parents. But regardless of its origins, it’s comforting when you focus on the good that is out there rather than the evil – especially…

The Iowa Secretary of State’s office released the number of absentee ballots requested by voters so far today, and the overall absentee request numbers are down from 2012. The timing of absentee mailers, however, may have impacted that and the numbers could soon significantly increase. 43,443 registered Democrats have requested absentee ballots, nearly three times…

Guest post from Jack Hatch on his upcoming book Iowa’s economic priorities are going in the wrong direction and Iowa Democrats and progressives will need to engage our leaders in a new and different dialogue, and advocate bold strategies for future economic and social security. We do have big city problems and small town challenges.…

A lot of attention has focused on the Democrats’ difficulties with young voters – typically their best voting bloc – this year, but Republicans are dealing with a similar – if smaller – rebellion among their youthful backers. Donald Trump’s candidacy has many young Republicans and conservatives questioning their loyalty to the party and searching…

This year has been a whirlwind for politics. We started out the year with stories of an impassioned movement, often described as a “revolution” among young people participating in politics. Unfortunately, much of that talk fizzled following the presidential primary season, leaving many young people feeling powerless, disheartened, and skeptical of candidates and the elections…

State Senator Joe Seng of Davenport passed away today, several sources confirmed to Starting Line this evening. He was 70 years old. Seng was diagnosed with brain cancer in September of 2014, but fought through it and returned to the Senate the follow session, only taking a few days away from the Legislature in 2015 and 2016 for treatment.…

I am announcing today that I, Pat Rynard, am challenging Republican Speaker of the Iowa House Linda Upmeyer to one million debates between now and Election Day. Although I have not informed Speaker Upmeyer of this ahead of time, I will premptively call her out for shamefully avoiding these fair and reasonable debates. What is Speaker…

The Hillary Clinton campaign held a press conference Tuesday prior to Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Clive, Iowa. The four speakers, all under 25, should make every Iowa Democrat proud. Democrats frequently discuss the desperate need for building a deeper and broader bench of future candidates. They lament the fact that they don’t have enough candidates…

A guest post from Stacey Walker As a black man watching the 2008 presidential campaign, I knew the significance of what then-Senator Obama was doing. He was threading a very fine needle. In order to win, he had to convince a white political establishment that he had the chops to do the job, and that…

The Iowa Democratic Party met at Drake University last Saturday to conduct a diversity workshop. In the press release the Party described the workshop: “The goal of the workshop is to educate, motivate and facilitate discussion among IDP Constituency Caucuses with an overall theme of ‘Diversity in Action.’” The weekends leading up to elections are…