2019
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A Possible Solution For The Shutdown
After having served as a lobbyist for a number of groups I learned one important thing: the larger the number of people contacting Congress on a specific topic, the bigger the chance of success. The key here is that everybody also needs to support the same plan. It needs more than folks saying they want…
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Off We Go: John Delaney Opens First Iowa Caucus Office
The campaign for Democratic candidate John Delaney opened their first official Iowa Caucus offices today, including one in Des Moines on Ingersoll Avenue. If Delaney wanted you to take one thing away from this latest event in Iowa, it’s that he’s got a plan. He has a policy proposal and a pitch for everything curious…
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Who’s Wasting Your Tax Dollars? And Who’s Watching?
During most of my career at the Des Moines Register, all purchases for the news staff and all expense reimbursement claims went through the newsroom’s business manager. Through the years, there was turnover in the job. But two people held the job for much of that time, and they had one common trait: They examined…
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Even GOP Congressman On Texas Border Says Wall Is A Waste
President Trump is going to the U.S.-Mexico border this week. If Trump really wants to get the advice of a border expert, he should meet with GOP Texas Congressman Will Hurd. What better expert on the most effective border security than a Texas Congressman whose district covers the largest section of the U.S.-Mexican border? Republican…
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What Elizabeth Warren’s Iowa Swing Told Us About 2020
It would be hard to call Senator Elizabeth Warren’s well-attended and well-organized inaugural trip to Iowa as anything other than a very successful introduction to Iowa Caucus-goers. A little under 3,000 people showed up to see Warren pitch her biography, policy priorities and vision for America across Iowa. For almost all those at her events,…
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Julian Castro To Make Iowa Trip Before Announcement
Julian Castro will make a one-day visit out to Eastern Iowa on Monday, Starting Line hears from sources involved in the trip. The likely soon-to-be presidential candidate will hold small meetings with elected officials, community leaders and Democratic activists in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and some small towns in the surrounding area. Castro’s quick visit…
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Iowa Judge Prohibits Journalists From Reporting Simple Facts
On the morning of Aug. 31, shortly after 8:30, a 12-year-old boy pulled out a gun in his seventh-grade classroom in Eldridge, a community just north of Davenport. In an instant, he directed his classmates to get on the floor and then pointed the gun at his teacher’s face and squeezed the trigger. Blessedly, he…
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Congressional Democrats Unite On Progressive Reform Package
While reopening the government has received the most media attention, Democrats have spent months writing a comprehensive reform bill. HR-1, the first bill to be introduced today by congressional Democrats, is designed to ignite their progressive agenda for 2019. This bill is a comprehensive combination of key issues that Democrats have identified as fundamental to…
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Elizabeth Warren Secures Top Iowa Staffers For Caucus Operation
Although she avoided making the early trips to Iowa during the 2018 cycle, Senator Elizabeth Warren has already secured an impressive line-up of Iowa campaign operatives that will help put her into serious contention for the Iowa Caucus. Her campaign tells Starting Line that Kane Miller, Emily Parcell, Janice Rottenberg and Brendan Summers have all…
