Category: Just For Fun

There’s a new option for candidates with certain dietary choices (i.e., Cory Booker) in Des Moines: Dirt Burger, a vegan burger spot in the East Village. It’s a welcome addition to Des Moines’ diverse, ever-expanding restaurant scene, and here just in time for all the campaign staff and candidates who are coming in from out of state. Starting Line did a team lunch outing a few weeks back to try out their burgers and write up a review. The Restaurant Dirt Burger is located at 407 E. 5th Street in Des Moines’ East Village, and is open Sunday through Thursday, […]

As we near the holiday season, there’s a lot for Iowa elected officials, candidates and activists to be thankful for. Some will look back at the year as the breakout moment of their political career. Most will just be happy when 2017 is finally over. Unless next year turns out to be worse. Which it probably will be. For now, let’s take a brief look at what various Iowa politicos should be thankful for as the year starts to come to close. Governor Kim Reynolds should be thankful for… Being Iowa’s governor in the age of Trump. Were it not […]

When putting together Starting Line’s poll, there were a number of suggestions of people outside of the gubernatorial and secretary of state race to test their favorability among likely primary-going Democrats. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price’s name was one suggestion, to which I figured, hey, why not? Just how well does the Democratic base know their chair, and do they like him? The results were….. not that interesting. 66% of respondents said they hadn’t heard of Price. 18% had no opinion. 10% rated Price favorably, while 5% saw him unfavorably. I wouldn’t put too much stock into that unfavorable […]

In the race to be the next economic powerhouse city of the Midwest, the future winner will be crowned by one decisive factor: whether Omaha or Des Moines lands an NFL team. Wait, what? That’s emerged as a key issue for Omaha’s increasingly ridiculous mayoral race, or at least for its most colorful candidate. Taylor Royal, a Donald Trump-loving, 27-year-old business grad being financed by himself and his rich father, has made attracting an NFL team to Omaha a central part of his campaign since last Fall. That’s gotten him some mocking national attention, and now he’s running ads on that and more […]

How will we miss Vice President Joe Biden once his time in office soon ends? Let us count the ways. Top among them will certainly be the delightful “Uncle Joe” antics we see every other January at the Senate swearing-in ceremony. In his role as Vice President, Biden serves as the official President of the U.S. Senate. In theory he gets to cast a tie-breaking vote when the Senate is deadlocked 50-50, but in reality his main official duty is to swear in the newly-elected and re-elected senators every two years. And he sure does make the most of it. Whether […]

I am announcing today that I, Pat Rynard, am challenging Republican Speaker of the Iowa House Linda Upmeyer to one million debates between now and Election Day. Although I have not informed Speaker Upmeyer of this ahead of time, I will premptively call her out for shamefully avoiding these fair and reasonable debates. What is Speaker Upmeyer hiding? Is she afraid to confront the real issues in front of hardworking Iowa voters? Shameful, I say. Shameful. Now, does it make sense for a random Democratic-leaning writer to debate the Speaker of the House? Not really. Is holding one million debates between […]

It’s almost Christmas and Starting Line is in the festive mood. The presidential candidates have worked long and hard this year, and perhaps it’s time for the voters to reward them with a gift for the holidays. But what to get each? They almost all are certain to end up on the naughty list for various misdeeds in 2015 (Trump’s done enough to land him there for at least three lifetimes), but that’s alright. Here’s our ideas of the best gifts voters could get each candidate: Have some ideas of your own? Leave them in the comments section or on […]