Sunday Grab Bag: GOP Results, Marco Roboto And IDP Under Siege

On By Pat Rynard

Good afternoon readers! Starting Line is still slowly getting back into a normal routine after a considerable amount of naps and late mornings this past post-caucus week. This next week I’ll make a return to the Statehouse and do a few reports of what’s driving the discussion there. For today, a few thoughts on the Republicans and the (hopefully) final commentary on the Democratic caucus problems. The Republican Results With all the madness on the incredibly close Democratic side this week, I realized I never weighed in on the Republicans, of whose events I attended almost as much as Democrats […]

Democrats’ Nightmare Scenario Coming As Rubio Finishes Strong In Iowa

On By Pat Rynard

Democrats comforting themselves with the thought that 2016 will be a cakewalk with Donald Trump or Ted Cruz as the most-likely Republican nominee may want to think again. Take a look at what’s happening on the other side in Iowa and there’s some disturbing trends at work. Marco Rubio is about to finish a strong third in the caucus that could put him on the path to the nomination. It’s been a good week for Rubio. He received the Des Moines Register’s endorsement, which should help him pull away some of the business conservatives from Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, […]

Few Republicans Try To Close The Deal At Big GOP Event

On By Pat Rynard

The Republican Party of Iowa’s Growth And Opportunity event on Saturday was meant as a sort of replacement for the Iowa Straw Poll, and judging from many of the candidates’ speeches you’d think they were still in that August mindset. Few of the White House hopefuls deviated from their typical stump speeches. Despite being a mere three months from the Iowa Caucus, many contenders’ pitches remain in the introductory stage. That seemed odd considering most of the 2,000 attendees at the event were involved party activists who have seen all of these people at events or watched them online. The […]

Walker v. Rubio: One Town, Two Candidates, Twenty Hours Apart

On By Pat Rynard

Philanthropist Donald Trump was in Iowa last Saturday, where he gave prepared remarks about America’s post-colonial experience in Southeast Asia, with specific emphasis on the role of naval forces and the impact of a particular soldier’s five year interaction with the indigenous population. In light of the ubiquitous attention focused on Mr. Trump’s well-received speech, you may not realize that several other presidential candidates also spoke in Iowa last weekend. (Ahem, removes tongue from cheek…) Because Patrick has deftly reviewed the Democratic candidates who appeared at the Hall of Fame Dinner last weekend, I want to turn the attention to […]

Republicans Aren’t Just Appealing To Racism, They’re Actively Fostering Its Growth

On By Pat Rynard

“We need to campaign among Hispanic, black, Asian, and gay Americans and demonstrate we care about them, too.” That’s what RNC Chair Reince Priebus said back in 2013 after the party’s second-in-a-row presidential election defeat. They determined their standing among minority communities was badly tarnished and Priebus vowed to address it. We’re only several months into the 2016 primary season and that plan has already been completely derailed. In just a week’s time Donald Trump did more damage to Republicans’ appeal to Hispanic voters than any single person in recent history with his “rapist” and “drug dealer” lines in his […]

Rubio Finds Excitement, Big Crowds in Central Iowa

On By Pat Rynard

Presidential candidate Marco Rubio should be pleased with his recent visit to Des Moines. Young professionals packed the house at the Exile Brewing Company to hear him speak July 7. Later that day, nearly 200 people turned out to State Representative Chris Hagenow’s 2015 Summer Cookout in Windsor Heights, where Rubio made a guest appearance. Yesterday morning, a record number of people attended the Westside Conservative Club’s breakfast at the Machine Shed to see the senator. The venue filled up quickly and turned away 40 people by 6:50 a.m, said Iowa State Senator Jack Whitver, who is the chair for […]

Sunday Grab Bag: Rubio, Gary Kroeger and Ankeny Dems

On By Pat Rynard

Good morning readers! A lot happened in the political world this week in Iowa. Enjoy our Sunday Grab Bag of shorter takes on a number of Iowa-based topics: Marco Rubio Book Signing in West Des Moines Over the lunch hour on Friday, Florida Senator Marco Rubio stopped by the West Des Moines Barnes and Noble to sign copies of his book, “American Dreams.” He got a good crowd, with well over 150 people standing in line. He mostly chatted briefly with each person as he signed their book, not making any major speech at the event. Some notable observations: