Iowa Caucus

Believe it or not, presidential candidates occasionally campaign in states other than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Weird, right? And as you might expect, the dynamics of events in a place like Chicago, Illinois, where early candidate visits are a rarity, often vary from those in Iowa, where it’s hard to go to…

The President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, James Hoffa, is expecting more than 700 union members from across the nation to attend the Teamsters forum in Cedar Rapids Saturday, Dec. 7. “I don’t know where we’re going to put them all. We’ll put them outside. We’ll put a TV outside,” Hoffa said in an…

Guest op-ed from Mary Jo Riesberg and Vernon Windsor, chair/vice chair of the Lee County Democrats Mary Jo Riesberg My faith is the driving force in my life. It is my guide on how I should treat others, especially the vulnerable, poor, and marginalized. I don’t discuss my faith with everyone and tend to be…

The December Democratic debate stage is back down to six contestants following Kamala Harris’ surprise withdrawal from the race today. But there’s several who could still slide in under the deadline to qualify. Tom Steyer did it just today by acquiring the number of individual donors needed; he already had four qualifying polls. Here’s where…

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 Sen. Cory Booker in early November. “As…

Guest op-ed from State Sen. Eric Giddens of Cedar Falls. Our nation’s guiding principle is enshrined in our founding document: the government derives its power from the people, and the people direct the operations of their government. That’s what the Declaration of Independence says, and it’s the optimistic view of government that I grew up…

In his first appearance since taking the lead in Iowa polls, Mayor Pete Buttigieg spent the past two days in Western Iowa, a conservative stronghold and sparsely populated part of the state. On Monday, he visited Red Oak, Creston, Atlantic and Council Bluffs. On Tuesday, he stopped in Denison, Storm Lake and Sioux City. There,…

Bernie Sanders, a die-hard baseball fan, took a swing this week at Major League Baseball and its proposal to shutter 42 Minor League Baseball teams, three of which are in Iowa. The proposal is far from finalized — the current Professional Baseball Agreement expires at the end of 2020 — but the initial report from the New…

Every Democratic debate so far has included at least a few questions about health care. Namely, which version of universal health insurance the candidates support. Moderators have used the differences to drive wedges between the party’s factions of “Medicare for All” versus a public option. “I think that everybody on that stage believes that health…

The criticism of money in politics continued when Mayor Pete Buttigieg journeyed Monday through Western Iowa. When asked for his thoughts on former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s entry in the presidential race, Buttigieg was diplomatic. “Well, [I’m] always glad to see another mayor run for national office, but obviously I think our message…