2016
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Jill Stein Supporters Doubt Sanders Loss, Rally For Green Party In Des Moines
At times during Jill Stein’s Des Moines rally yesterday, you could have closed your eyes and imagined you were right back at a Bernie Sanders caucus event. All the old hallmarks were there: income inequality, marijuana laws and oil pipelines were the big themes of the day, old Sanders t-shirts adorned many in the crowd and…
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Iowa Latinos React To Trump With Fear, Organizing
Nationally, there has been a great deal of concern about the increasing threats to Muslims, Latinos and other immigrants resulting from Donald Trump’s hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric. Iowa Latinos are experiencing that hate, and share their increasing concerns about a noticeable change in some Iowans’ attitudes toward them. Many say Iowa in the past has been…
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Building a Bench: Succession Planning and the Iowa Democratic Party
A guest post from Rob Barron For all of you who watched the Iowa-Iowa State game last night, you witnessed the product of years of preparation. Each player that took the field trained so that they could perform at an elite level in the biggest game of their lives. Their coaches were prepared too. Every Saturday,…
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Emails Reveal Grassley Opposition To Promoting Women In Science
Senator Chuck Grassley didn’t want to encourage specifically young women in pursuing careers in science, the Iowa Daily Democrat discovered through an open records request of email correspondence between Kim Reynold’s office, Grassley’s office and the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce. The emails cover a two day period in February 2016 as Reynolds’ office tries…
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Obamacare Doing Just Fine While Branstad’s Medicaid A Nightmare
Republicans have been predicting the failure of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) since President Obama signed it into law in 2010. Once again Republicans are predicting failure as some insurance companies are pulling out of some state Obamacare exchanges saying they can’t make a profit. However, the only healthcare horror story in Iowa is Branstad’s…
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Shuttered School Used In Iowa Senate Republicans’ Ads
Last week Starting Line pointed out the striking similarity between every Iowa Republican state senate ad. It was obvious they had filmed all of their ads in the same location with the same set of children, rather than their own home districts they’re running in. But it led to one other interesting question: what school…
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EpiPen Debacle An Invitation For Government Intervention
If you pay attention to the campaign speeches this year, there’s a frequent refrain you often hear, especially from Republicans running for elective office. The message is simple and direct: Get government off the backs of businesses. (Of course, you don’t hear this when state and local governments are handing out huge sums to lure…
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The Key Iowa State Senate Races To Watch In 2016
While most Iowa news stories focus on the presidential and senate race, every Iowa activist knows the real battle for Iowa’s future lies in the Iowa State Senate races. With a 26-23-1 majority in the Iowa Senate, Democrats can’t afford to lose a single seat. Republicans would love to nab two seats (and get David Johnson…
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Blum And Young Abuse Taxpayer Money To Promote Themselves
I received a mailer from Congressman David Young with a four-page description of potential frauds and scams that Iowans should avoid. It was very informative until I noticed that it was a “Public Document. Official Business” and not a campaign mailer. Congress has availed itself of many benefits at taxpayers expense including “franking” privileges. A…
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Happy Labor Day – The Struggle’s Not Over Yet
A guest post from AFSCME Council 61’s Danny Homan: I recently saw a post online that was a great reality check. It read, “Thank God for a three-day weekend! No, thank a Union.” What a great reminder of how easy it is to let the accomplishments of the labor movement fall to the wayside. We…
