February 2019
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A New Iowa Partnership To Help 2020 Candidates Go Viral
In every presidential campaign cycle, candidates in a crowded primary field are always looking for that “breakout moment.” The clever debate stage quip that gets replayed endlessly on cable news. The powerful speech at a major state party fundraiser that wows the crowd. But one method that may surpass the potential of all those this…
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Iowa Is Ready For Sherrod Brown To Run
Guest post from Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio and the co-chair of the Committee to Draft Sherrod Brown for President 2020. She visited Iowa last week. When my friend Sherrod Brown was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, he joked that his new chamber was full of “99 people who wanted…
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The New Sights, Players, And Hang-Out Spots Of The 2020 Iowa Caucus
For those who have been involved in multiple caucus cycles, you know that the campaign process in Iowa often takes on its own unique character. Every cycle, there are a new group of key local players, issue groups, favorite hang-out spots, and campaign strategies that all make frequent appearances on the caucus campaign trail. We’re…
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Right-Wing 2020 Smears Already Seeping Into Iowa Media Coverage
Does Cory Booker want to ban the eating of meat? No, of course not. And it’s such a preposterous suggestion, most people would roll their eyes and ignore it. But that didn’t keep a local Iowa TV station from running a story based on the fake controversy that generated from an online right-wing freakout over…
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Amy Petersen Announces Run For Danielson’s Senate Seat
A Cedar Falls Democrat just announced her candidacy for the Senate District 30 special election, and it’s hard to imagine anyone with a better profile for public office. Amy Petersen, a professor of special education and a labor activist, wrote on Facebook this morning that she will seek the party’s nomination to replace Jeff Danielson,…
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For Senate Democrats, A Tumultuous Three Years
Jeff Danielson’s decision to resign from the Iowa Senate yesterday was the latest reminder of how much upheaval the Senate Democrats have experienced in recent years. The Democratic side of that chamber is a very different place than it was a little over two years ago in mid-2016. A slew of departures – both voluntary…
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From CAFOs To Fireworks, Iowa Republicans Dismantle Local Control
Republicans have long preached that the best government is the one closest to the people. Based on this basic conservative principle, one might expect that they would promote the autonomy of local governments from the overreach of federal or state rules and regulations. Historically, the GOP has been an advocate for local control and has…
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Ep81: New Legislators, School Funding, And Pete Buttigieg Interview
The Iowa Starting Line Podcast host Pat Rynard is joined by State Representative Lindsay James to talk about presidential drop-ins at the Statehouse, what it’s like being a new legislator, and what the Republican school funding bill means. And we interview Mayor Pete Buttigieg during his first trip to Iowa since announcing his presidential run.
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Jeff Danielson Resigns From Iowa Senate, Opens Up Swing District
Democratic State Senator Jeff Danielson is resigning effective immediately from both the Iowa Senate and the Cedar Falls Fire Department, Starting Line has learned. That will trigger a special election for Danielson’s Cedar Falls-based Senate District 30 in the middle of this year’s legislative session and Iowa Caucus campaigning. “I would not be leaving the…
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Key GOP Lawmaker Sounds Favorable On OTC Birth Control
Republican State Representative Shannon Lundgren of Dubuque County described Governor Kim Reynolds’ over-the-counter birth control proposal as a “good concept” this afternoon. Lundgren made a number of seemingly favorable comments on the legislation during a taping of ABC 5’s This Week In Iowa political show. “Republicans in the House and the Senate, we certainly want…
