2016
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Republicans Breaking Rank On Medicaid, Retiring Over Education
Governor Terry Branstad’s deeply unpopular Medicaid privatization plan and Statehouse Republicans’ under-funding of Iowa’s public education is starting to take a toll on GOP unity. It’s rare nowadays to see dissension among the ranks on high-profile issues at the Capitol, but three Senate Republicans turned the vote to cancel the Medicaid contracts into a bipartisan…
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Dear Clinton Backers: For The Love Of God, Don’t Talk About Superdelegates
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9 Hillary Clinton loses big in one of the first two states? Check. Her opponent is an outsider to her left who builds a youthful movement to overwhelm Clinton’s establishment support? Check. Clinton’s message…
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GOP Results In New Hampshire Gives Democrats Sigh Of Relief
For a week there, it started to look like Democrats’ worst case scenario might come true in the presidential primary: Marco Rubio was poised to quickly dispatch the other mainstream candidates in New Hampshire, leading to a fast consolidation of center-right voters that could defeat Donald Trump or Ted Cruz. Instead, Rubio short-circuited and dispelled…
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Sunday Grab Bag: GOP Results, Marco Roboto And IDP Under Siege
Good afternoon readers! Starting Line is still slowly getting back into a normal routine after a considerable amount of naps and late mornings this past post-caucus week. This next week I’ll make a return to the Statehouse and do a few reports of what’s driving the discussion there. For today, a few thoughts on the…
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Finkenauer Friday: Welcome To The Democratic Party, New Caucus-Goers!
I want to set aside all the social media debates for the next few minutes and refer to Feb 1st, not in terms of a presidential caucus, but rather, as the night you became an Iowa Democrat. Honestly, I’m so excited to have you. As I’ve heard throughout the state, it sounds like our new members are…
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Much Of Caucus Criticism Misplaced Or Misunderstood
Guest post by John McCormally The Register’s recent editorial “Something smells in the Democratic Party,” perpetuates misinformation about the historically close Iowa caucuses. Here’s the truth: The results were really close. When the results are so close, every little thing seems like a big problem. In reality, problems were minimal. There were 1,681 caucuses, and…
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Iowa Winners And Losers From The 2016 Caucus
The Iowa Caucus is done and over with, but the ramifications of the final results will live long for the national campaign, but also on what happens in Iowa after. Reputations have been made and tarnished during the caucus every cycle, and consequences over who backed who will continue to last into later Iowa elections.…
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The Fascinating Flip In Clinton’s Iowa Support From 2008
I was excited when I saw Hillary Clinton’s final Iowa schedule. Sunday, her last day of full campaigning in the state, took her through Western Iowa, her stronghold of support from 2008. It was where I worked for her in 2008 in Council Bluffs, so I thought it would be a nice bit of nostalgia…
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8 Early Takeaways From The Democrats’ Iowa Caucus Result
Throughout this week Starting Line will take a deep dive into the Iowa Caucus results and what it all meant, analyzing turnout patterns and what it means for the candidates’ support moving forward. I’m still recovering from being up until 4:30 in the morning to write up the final results (and, you know, the entire…
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Hillary Clinton Takes The Iowa Caucus In Narrow Win
It took until the wee hours of the early morning, but at 2:27 AM the Iowa Democratic Party released a statement on the “historically close” results of the 2016 Iowa Caucus. Hillary Clinton had taken the lead and won the caucus with 699.57 state delegate equivalents, with Bernie Sanders totaling 695.49 state delegate equivalents. Martin…
