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Congressman Steve King's comments this morning on rape and incest drew quick and widespread condemnation from across the political world. "What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be...
This weekend, most of the field of Democratic candidates returned to Iowa to connect with voters in the first caucus state. The last time so many were in the state at one time was in early June, at the Hall of Fame Dinner in Cedar Rapids. Candidates went to the Iowa...
Photo: Kamala Harris' first visit to the Asian & Latino Coalition meeting in October 2018. Senator Kamala Harris won the coveted endorsement of the Asian & Latino Coalition of Iowa this evening, beating out the field in a very sought-after contest. It comes on...
The list of Democratic presidential candidates who attended the Iowa State Fair was so long this weekend it forced undecided voters to choose which of the 20 candidates they wanted to see speak at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox the most. Tom Steyer made Wes...
It's Iowa Caucus season, which means all of the top political staffers in the country have begun their migration from D.C. and battleground campaigns out to the Hawkeye state. Presidential candidates have aggressively courted campaign operatives with Iowa ties for...
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...
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...
Iowa saw more than its fair share of Democratic presidential hopefuls come through the state these past two years - more than two dozen by my count. But not every Democrat with a national profile who traveled to Iowa had their eyes on a White House run. And while...
NextGen Iowa is launching a major digital advertising campaign that goes through the final weeks of the election, targeting young Iowans to encourage them to vote on November 6. The $162,000 online expenditure in Iowa is part of a national $4 million effort from the...
Boone County Democratic activists didn't know they were hosting a major event with Cory Booker until late this past Saturday. About 36 hours later, over 200 cheering people gave the New Jersey senator a hero's welcome at a Monday mid-day rally in the small town of...
Another potential 2020 Democratic contender is appearing in Iowa TV ads over a year out from the Iowa Caucus, though he's not having to pay for them. Iowa Senate Republicans have decided to use Congressman Eric Swalwell of California as their new boogeyman in local...
If there's one thing we've learned in national politics over the past several years, it's that the issues we think will matter to voters are not always the ones that do come the election. Media firestorms can change the public attention's at any moment, while new...
Over the past several years while running Iowa Starting Line, I've been to a lot of political rallies, forums, debates, fundraisers, protests and more county party potluck dinners than I care to mention. I don't think I've ever been to an event like the one I attended...
Given the personality, the chaos, the drama, the lack of any understanding of presidential norms and the lying, I believe one must go back to Andrew Johnson to find a person in the oval office as unqualified and bad for the country as President Trump. Each of us has...
NextGen Climate, the national climate change group, announced this week their new secret weapon to turn out millennial voters: their staff and volunteers will be bringing their pooches to events. They noticed, apparently quite by accident, that when their volunteers...
Climate change activists cheered last week as the Paris Climate summit produced a pact between 195 countries that aimed to reduce greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. But they were also cognizant of just how long it had taken the world to get to this point,...
The progressive movement and clean energy advocates scored an important victory on Friday with President Obama's official rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline proposal. Obama cited concerns over climate change as a major factor in turning down the project, saying it...
We've spoken here before about the benefits that more debates would provide to each presidential candidate (even Hillary Clinton) and the Democratic Party as a whole. Many of those advantages were played out last week, with a debate drastically different than the...
Democratic candidates have brought up climate change often in their Iowa Caucus pitches the past few months, but this week saw the issue front and center with new proposals and visits by candidates and issue groups. Martin O'Malley introduced a climate and clean...
The issues of climate change and renewable energy will be key issues during the presidential primaries and the general election, promised NextGen Climate leader Tom Steyer at a press conference at Drake University earlier this week. The man financing the climate...
Calling whomever is elected President in 2016 the "last best shot to avoid a climate disaster for our children," top strategists from NextGen Climate Action laid out plans to actively engage early in the presidential primary campaign. On a Monday conference call with...
In Iowa, the voters are angry. Even the really old ones, like 95-year-old Bud Guthrie, a World War II veteran who lives in rural Story County. He’s so upset by Donald Trump, that Guthrie, a lifelong Republican, has now switched to being a lifelong Democrat, as he told...
