2016
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Rating The GOP Nomination Apocalypse Scenarios
Donald Trump hit a major roadblock in Wisconsin last night, winning only 6 delegates to Ted Cruz’s 36. That makes it much more likely that Republicans are headed to a contested convention in Cleveland. Trump still has a chance to get to the 1,237 number needed to win the nomination on the first ballot, but…
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Some Big Questions For Democrats’ Iowa Caucus Review Committee
Late last week the Iowa Democratic Party released the list of members of its long-awaited caucus review commission, formed to take a look at how to improve the Democrats’ caucus process. The party says it’s part of their tradition in finding ways to better the caucus, but the scale of the effort is clearly in…
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Want Better Education Funding? Elect More Democrats To The Iowa Legislature
Another year, another unacceptably low increase in public schools funding in Iowa. With the end of this year’s legislative session in sight, education advocates and Democrats are closing out the year in frustration, seeing only a 2.25% increase in education funding for the 2016-2017 academic year. Disappointing schools and children has become a bit of…
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Even In Conservative Northwest Iowa, Grassley Faces SCOTUS Backlash
Senator Chuck Grassley was looking for somewhere safe, friendly and familiar as he toured the state this week, so he headed to the deep-red northwest corner of Iowa for three open town hall meetings. After all, where could be better than counties where he won between 81 percent and 90 percent of the vote in…
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Taking A Writing Break, Check Back On Monday
Hey readers, I’m going to be taking a break from writing for the rest of this week and weekend, but I’ll be back on Monday. I never really took a rest after the Iowa Caucus and my home and business to-do list has been piling up for months and months. I’m going to focus on…
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Clinton’s Iowa Caucus Win Looks More Impressive In Retrospect
The Clinton campaign celebrated their Iowa Caucus victory back on February 1st, but they had certainly hoped for a larger margin. Nearly two months later, however, that win is looking better and better after a string of blowout defeats to Bernie Sanders in other caucus states. Sanders finally made up a bit of the delegate gap…
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Will SCOTUS Scrutiny Spell The End Of The “Full Grassley”?
Where’s Chuck Grassley? Not many people seem to know the answer to that, despite the Senate being on a two-week recess. That’s typically when Iowa’s senior senator embarks on his much-publicized county meetings as part of his 99 county “Full Grassley” tour. But ever since the Supreme Court nomination process, in which Grassley has been…
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Rod Blum Wishes A Recession On A Major American City
Most politicians typically advocate for more jobs and economic development. Unless you’re Rod Blum, apparently. The Iowa Congressman from the 1st District set off a small firestorm of controversy and criticism on Tuesday evening when he tweeted out from his personal account that he hoped the city of Washington D.C. would suffer an economic recession.…
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Rising Star Profile: North Liberty Mayor Amy Nielsen
When Amy Nielsen ran for mayor of North Liberty in 2014, few expected her to succeed. It was her first campaign for public office in a city she had only lived in for seven years, up against an incumbent who had been involved in local government for 15 years. While her opponent criticized her lack of experience,…
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More Groups Join Coalition Demanding Grassley Act On Nomination
A crowd of over 50 Iowans formed a rally outside the federal building that houses Chuck Grassley’s office in Des Moines on Monday. They were there to implore the Senate Judiciary Chair to hold hearings and a vote on Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy. While “Do Your Job” protests…
