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The following is a memo written up last year by Nick Conway of the Austin Frerick (IA-3) campaign. It's an interesting look at how the Iowa Senate map is set up for the 2018 elections, and which districts will be the most competitive. This was written in mid-2017, so...
Organize, organize, organize. That's been the model of nearly every Democratic candidate waging an outsider run from the left for major office. If you don't have the connections or the positions to pull in enough money to go toe-to-toe with better-funded opponents on...
Few elections have ever held more longterm consequences for a state than the upcoming 2018 races in Iowa. A few of the issues at stake: the survival of public unions and Planned Parenthood, the existence of mental healthcare services, and the state's own political...
Many wonder how Iowa Republicans can tolerate Congressman Steve King’s racist anti-immigrant rants. While most of the GOP doesn’t mimic King and many meekly claim they don’t agree with him, they fail to condemn or distance themselves. Iowa Republicans understand that...
The 2018 election may still be a long ways off in a political climate that can change rapidly on a daily basis, but all the data points for a good Democratic year in Iowa are starting to stack up. A string of special elections for state legislative seats have...
Iowa Democrats nearly pulled off the upset to end all upsets by coming surprisingly close in a Northwest Iowa special election for Senate District 3 tonight. In a district where Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton 68% to 27%, Democrat Todd Wendt fell to Republican...
In a desperate search for any good news about her Medicaid privatization debacle, Governor Kim Reynolds is depending on a flawed Medicaid survey done by J. D. Power. Best known as a car rating company, Reynolds is holding up the J. D. Power survey to justify the...
Racist attacks directed at high school students happened at an Iowa sporting event yet again, with the video of the comments quickly spreading through social media. This time, at least, people were fired over it. The KIOW radio station based out of Forest City, Iowa...
Iowa Democrats had their biggest night of the year on Monday, both in terms of importance and size. Around 3,000 people turned out to see Alec Baldwin and the seven Democrats running for governor, an encouraging sign of excitement and resolve for the party hoping to...
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...
Democrats in Iowa are still buzzing about the good news - finally, good news - out of Virginia and beyond from Tuesday night's elections. Maybe, just maybe, 2018 will be the sort of wave year for Democrats we're hoping for in this red-trending state. Or, at the very...
Iowans went to the polls yesterday in municipal races for city council and mayoral seats around the state, the second big election date since the 2016 election. Enthusiasm for local campaigns have been up in Democratic circles since Donald Trump's elections, and many...
Escalating violence at the Iowa Department of Corrections’ (DOC) facilities are endangering both correctional officers as well as offenders. Reynolds’ budget crisis is driving Iowa correctional facilities to pack offenders together, stretching prisons beyond maximum...
From Robert Leonard of Marion County I’m a political junkie. Every day I read The Washington Post and The New York Times, among other media giants, with great interest and appreciation. I understand and value the great writing, thoughtful analysis, logic and...
Iowa public employee unions voted overwhelmingly in favor to maintain their existence this week, despite Iowa Republican politicians' best efforts to destroy them. Earlier this year, legislative Republicans and then-Governor Terry Branstad passed a wide-ranging...
Starting Line finishes its analysis of Iowa's four congressional races today by looking west to Steve King country (you can read our previous district posts here: 1st District, 2nd District, 3rd District). There's no one Democrats would like to see go away more than...
Iowa Senate Republicans’ disgusting sexual harassment behavior cost you as an Iowa taxpayer $1.75 million. That was the settlement reached to end a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Kirsten Anderson, the former Communication Director for the Iowa Senate...
With the 3rd quarter financial filings all getting posted on Monday, Starting Line continues its series of reports on where the field stands in each Iowa congressional district. Up today: Iowa's 2nd District, where incumbent Democrat Dave Loebsack, the last elected...
Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard keynoted Democratic barbecues this Sunday in Ames and Iowa City, hitting themes of party unity, love and anti-war in well-received speeches. Gabbard has visited Iowa before for local party events in 2015 and 2016, but has not come to...
My wife, Toni, and I just returned from a trip that included a tour of a geothermal plant in Iceland. It is the third largest geothermal plant in the world that uses super hot water from deep wells to drive steam turbines. It is one of seven such facilities in Iceland...
“There will be time for that later,” Governor Kim Reynolds said yesterday when asked if Iowa will pursue any new gun control legislation in the aftermath of the worst mass shooting in American history. She was lying. There will never be a real discussion about...
The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) is a panel of nine citizens who are supposed to provide public policy oversight of Iowa's environmental protection efforts. At their September 18th meeting they had an opportunity to pass major improvements in the...
Why would Governor Reynolds and the Iowa GOP think they need to bribe Apple to come to Iowa? Apple was likely coming to Iowa anyway because of Iowa’s combination of cheap and green energy. Iowa is one of the few states that offers these two essential resources Apple...
When is Iowa going to catch up with the rest of the nation? Every week or two, another case makes headlines around the United States when a police officer acts in a way that many people find troubling. Typically, within a few weeks, police video of the incident is...
School has been back in session across Iowa for college and high school students for a few weeks now. While Donald Trump is certainly a constant topic of discussion, important Iowa campaigns are well underway for governor, Congress, the Iowa Legislature and other...
President Donald Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for children of immigrants roiled the national and Iowa political scene Tuesday. Children brought to the country by their parents who have lived most of their lives in America...
Janesville school board member Cathy Myers hopes to knock off Speaker Paul Ryan in Wisconsin’s 1st District next year, but her story in politics began in Iowa. And just like any good Iowa politics story, it involves Jimmy Carter, motorcycles, national conventions, a...
Where are our priorities, Iowa? Two news stories that grabbed the headlines in Iowa last week leave me shaking my head and asking, is this really what we want from our state government? The first was news that the Iowa Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman has...
John Delaney isn't exactly a household name among Iowa Democratic activists. Not yet, anyway. The Maryland congressman who became the first official 2020 presidential candidate last month is planning on making a significant early investment in the lead-off caucus...
Yesterday Simon Conway of I Heart Radio’s WHO AM 1040 irresponsibly posted screenshots from an Indivisible closed Facebook group. The post contained member names and profile pictures and had to be edited to contain the disclaimer, “UPDATE: Any threats of violence...
