Martin O’Malley, EMILY’s List Stephanie Schriock In Iowa Sunday

On By Pat Rynard

Former Maryland Governor and Iowa Caucus competitor Martin O’Malley will return to Iowa this Sunday to headline the Progress Iowa Corn Feed in Des Moines. It’s O’Malley’s second trip back to the state since the February 1 caucus – he was here in June to campaign on behalf of Hillary Clinton at several events and meet with former volunteers. Also at the Corn Feed this year is the president of EMILY’s List, Stephanie Schriock. Her organization has a particular stake in Iowa this year with both Monica Vernon and Patty Judge as endorsed candidates for them. EMILY’s List has successfully fought to […]

Hillary Clinton Takes The Iowa Caucus In Narrow Win

On By Pat Rynard

It took until the wee hours of the early morning, but at 2:27 AM the Iowa Democratic Party released a statement on the “historically close” results of the 2016 Iowa Caucus. Hillary Clinton had taken the lead and won the caucus with 699.57 state delegate equivalents, with Bernie Sanders totaling 695.49 state delegate equivalents. Martin O’Malley, interestingly enough, made up more than the spread with a small 7.68 state delegate equivalents. Democrats claimed a turnout of 171,109 across the state, and reports from dozens of precincts saw massive lines and volunteers running out of voter registration forms. The wave of […]

Scenes From The First Day Of Get-Out-The-Caucus

On By Pat Rynard

Campaign staffers around the state rose bright and early this morning to finish up final preparations for the launch of GOTC (Get Out The Caucus). Normally called GOTV in most elections (Get Out The Vote), the final four day stretch leading up to the Iowa Caucus is filled with non-stop activity in field offices in major cities and small regional towns. Volunteers stream in to pick up walk packets or make calls, usually during shifts starting at 9:00, noon, 3:00 and 6:00. Well, on the Democrats’ campaigns side at least. For the most part, efforts to persuade caucus-goers are largely […]

Analyzing The Democrats’ Final Iowa Caucus Schedules

On By Pat Rynard

Here we are: the final few days of the Iowa Caucus. How a candidate spends their time in the precious waning hours says a lot about the state of the race and what each feels they still need to accomplish. The three Democrats plan on barnstorming the state, with Hillary Clinton bringing in Bill and Chelsea to help out, while Bernie Sanders plans a huge concert at the University of Iowa. Let’s take a look at each Democrats’ final schedule to see what it might mean for their caucus night strategy. (Sorry for some of the awkward formatting, I’m just […]

Power Rankings: Iowa Caucus – Democrats (January). Too Close To Call

On By Pat Rynard

There’s fewer degrees of Fahrenheit outside in Iowa right now than there are days left until the Iowa Caucus, but not by much. The final Democratic debate before the caucus was held last night, and it reflected a much changed dynamic since months past. Hillary Clinton is fighting for her life in Iowa, much as she did eight years ago. This time she’s better prepared and while Bernie Sanders is capturing all the enthusiasm, he’s still not Barack Obama from 2008. As those of us on the ground have predicted for a long time, it’s going to be very close […]

Martin O’Malley Soldiers On With Retail Efforts As Caucus Nears

On By Pat Rynard

*Knock knock* “Hi, I’m Martin O’Malley, I’m running for President.” “Oh, hi!” For underdog Democratic candidate Martin O’Malley, finding new caucus-goers to support you means looking everywhere – even in 20-degree weather in a snowy neighborhood in Des Moines. That’s where O’Malley was on Wednesday, going door-to-door with his son William. A few days earlier he drove through a snowstorm to make small, rural county events (which probably should’ve just been canceled). He spent Saturday and Sunday meeting with Democrats in conservative Western Iowa, and finished up the trip back at his Des Moines headquarters last night, making phone calls […]

O’Malley Blasts ICE For Christmas Deportation Plan

On By Pat Rynard

Martin O’Malley was the first presidential candidate back in Iowa following the Christmas holiday season, speaking to a crowd of a little over 100 people at the Des Moines Social Club last night. He was at an event hosted by STAR PAC, an organization that focuses on foreign policy and military arms reductions around the world. They endorsed O’Malley earlier this month. O’Malley spoke on America’s role in the world, then took questions from the audience. One younger Hispanic woman asked about the recent deportation plans and immigration. O’Malley replied by suggesting suspect motives on ICE’s part in their Christmas […]

O’Malley Stands With Muslims Following Trump’s Religious Ban

On By Pat Rynard

Third place Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley is taking Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. and running against it – hard. O’Malley quickly bashed the GOP contender on Monday in Iowa, calling Trump “a fascist demagogue.” But O’Malley went a step further. He visited a mosque in Sterling, Virginia on Friday to further insert himself into the conversation and call attention toward the Muslim community’s concerns. “I know that there have been many acts of violence,” said O’Malley to the crowd. “I know there are acts of ignorance that have been encouraged by some in our […]

Sunday Grab Bag: Boring Reporting, Bernie’s Super PAC, Chelgren Toast?

On By Pat Rynard

Good morning readers! Sorry about that Iowa game, but at least we got a hilariously incorrect Joni Ernst tweet out of it. It was a busy week on the Iowa Caucus trail, so let’s get right into it: Reporting On The Boring This weekend seven Republican candidates were in Iowa on the same day, leading to tough choices by caucus reporters on who to cover. I made the wrong choices, apparently. Rather than hit up the entertaining Trump events in Spencer and Davenport, or Carson’s veterans event in Waterloo (where he made a number of interesting comments on women in […]

A Day In The Life Of A Martin O’Malley Field Organizer

On By Pat Rynard

Most people’s idea of a fun 21st birthday celebration probably doesn’t entail working from sunrise to midnight and getting serenaded by your guitar-playing boss in front of all your co-workers and friends. But if you’re an Iowa Caucus field organizer, that’s actually a perk of the job, with a former governor running for president leading a crowd of hundreds in singing you “Happy Birthday” right before the biggest, most exciting night of the campaign. That’s how Jordan Sabine, a Polk County field staffer for Martin O’Malley, spent her coming-of-age birthday last month, at the campaign’s rally outside Veterans Auditorium in […]