50-State Strategy: Iowa

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday April 03, 2021 · 9:11 AM PDT

2021/04/03 · 09:11

Power-building strategy: Rebuild with non-college white voters.

In the Senate section of the 2040 Project we give an overview of the demographics of battleground states, and Iowa has the distinction of having the second largest population of non-college white voters (after West Virginia).

Collapse in support from this key population in recent elections has caused this once-battleground state to take a hard-right turn. In 2020, Democrats were not able to secure a statewide win and lost two congressional seats. In the legislature, Democrats saw no net gain in the State Senate, and in the State House (identified as a top flip opportunity) we instead saw a six-seat net loss.

In EveryDistrict’s 2019 Purple States Report we created comprehensive demographic profiles for every competitive state legislative district. We identified 20 potential State House flip districts, all of which were over 90% white. Only three of those districts were majority college-educated, one of which was the one State House district Democrats flipped in 2020 (HD 67).

While some might be willing to give up on Iowa, we’re not ready to cede this state that voted for Barack Obama twice to Republicans in perpetuity. But to move forward, we’re going to have to re-tool our strategy in the state and home in on a message that resonates with persuadable voters.

In our 2040 Project, we argue that Democrats need a new approach to elections instead of the top-down, candidate-centric approach we have right now. Instead, we argue that we need to build from the bottom up and focus in on the battleground state legislative districts that will make or break a majority.

Our strategy differs from other organizing currently happening in battleground states in several key ways. First, this organizing needs to happen on the “hard side” - coordinated in a way that it can plug into campaign infrastructure during the periods where campaigning is in full swing. Right now, many of the large-scale organizing efforts on the Democratic and progressive side are run as “independent expenditures,” meaning they can’t coordinate with candidates. We need to organize, reach out, and listen to voters' concerns in a way that candidates can then turn that information into a messaging framework that responds to those concerns.

Second, most organizing campaigns are focused on statewide races and don’t take into account the unique state legislative geography within each state. As we at EveryDistrict have talked about consistently the past four years, a successful statewide strategy in purple states looks very different from a majority-making state legislative strategy. Organizers need to be embedded specifically within the “purple” state legislative districts that will be necessary to win to win majorities.

Third, this work needs to be done by local organizers who know their communities best. Those efforts need to be cultivated and funded in sustainable ways so that this crucial organizing element can happen year round.

We firmly believe that this type of “bottom up” strategy will pay dividends for candidates up and down the ballot. If we can build a winning Democratic coalition in the “purple” state legislative districts, then we’ve turned a state blue.

This strategy was most successfully implemented in Virginia in 2017, where energetic House of Delegate campaigns clinched the gubernatorial election in a race most pundits and pollsters expected to be close. This year in Virginia, EveryDistrict is putting this strategy into action again, investing in on-the-ground organizing to help candidates hone their message and implement data-driven outreach strategies to ensure Virginia remains blue.

How you can advance a 50-state strategy in Iowa:

Democrats need to invest in continued messaging, polling, and organizing targeted in districts where we have seen continued growth and where we need to build back. Beginning in Virginia in 2021 and expanding to other battleground states in 2022, EveryDistrict’s Win Number program will do exactly that by deploying the latest in election science to identify how we can win more conservative college-educated voters, rebuild with non-college white voters, and develop a message that resonates with rural voters.

Chip in here to help fund that program.

IA-Sen: We can beat Joni Ernst and flip a seat Blue. Here's how.

John M Webb for Iowa Kos

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 12, 2019 · 1:37 PM PST

2019/11/12 · 13:37

Joni Ernst is a horrible Senator. That’s a cold hard fact. She continuously votes with the worst of her GOP colleagues and is pulling in a lot of money from the NRA as well as Big Ag. She’s their go-to girl for a smiling face to put on horrible policy.

But she is up for re-election this year and the tide is turning here in Iowa. We unseated two US Representatives in 2018 and JD Scholten came within a hair’s breadth of beating Steve King. Iowans are not happy and might have been able to flip the Governor’s seat with a more dynamic and progressive Democrat to vote for.

Enter Kimberly Graham, Democrat running for the US Senate. Bold, Fearless, Progressive. But she needs money. And I’m here to ask you for it.

I am proud to announce I have been endorsed by #BrandNewCongress (@BrandNew535).

We must take the U.S. Senate back & keep the house in 2020 and I am honored to stand with @AOC, @paulajean2020, @CoriBush and the other members of the slate.

Onward to justice for all! pic.twitter.com/miMv9PasBE
Ã¢ÂÂ Kimberly Graham For US Senate (IA) (@KimberlyforIowa) October 23, 2019

If you don’t want to listen to me, check out her website, particularly her issues page. Here is a sample from that page.

Voting Rights: Overturn Citizens United + Publicly Funded Elections

Immigration: End Family Separation

Agriculture: Clean Water + Investments in Sustainable Agriculture

Healthcare: Single Payer

Criminal Justice: End Private Prisons + Mandatory Minimums

Environment: Green New Deal + Green Manufacturing Plan

Indigenous Rights

Disability Rights

$15 Minimum Wage

Paid Parental Leave

Decriminalization of Cannabis + Federal Medical Cannabis

March For Our Lives Peace Plan

Who is Kimberly Graham? Again from her website

Because our "By The People, For The People" campaign will be funded only by donors like you, and *never* by corporate PACS, the NRA or the Koch Brothers, I won't be influenced by lobbyists and companies whose only interest is increasing their wealth. Instead, I'll be representing the majority: you and Iowans who deserve better representation than you've been receiving.

What I've seen from Washington D.C. the last couple of years is the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer and the middle class shrinking. We need more people from working-class backgrounds serving in government, representing the majority of us and not mega-corporations. So I'm running for United States Senate.

I lived in rural Iowa longer than anyplace else, for 24 years. I chose to raise my son in Indianola.

I know that things are tight for most of you but here I am asking you to throw a few hard earned dollars to a truly progressive candidate that has the potential to speak to Iowans, rally our base, and flip a Senate seat. If you like what you see, please donate via ActBlue.

Deporting Dreamers is something future generations will look back on in shame, like Jim Crow or Japanese Internment camps.

Your children and grandchildren will ask which side you were on and what you did to stop the deportations from happening.

Be on the right side of history
Ã¢ÂÂ Kimberly Graham For US Senate (IA) (@KimberlyforIowa) November 12, 2019

We need Federal Legislation that guarantees ex felons their right to vote. https://t.co/jQjsfuuuQL
Ã¢ÂÂ Kimberly Graham For US Senate (IA) (@KimberlyforIowa) November 11, 2019

I'll never be able to find the perfect words to express my gratitude to our veterans. I plan to sponsor or co-sponsor legislation that will truly improve their lives. They deserve our best. Thank you, veterans. kg pic.twitter.com/W6JehJfNON
Ã¢ÂÂ Kimberly Graham For US Senate (IA) (@KimberlyforIowa) November 11, 2019

I genuinely want my campaign to be the last campaign you ever have to donate to.

Money in politics is a poison that is slowly killing our democracy. If elected, I will fight tooth and nail for publicly funded elections.https://t.co/LH7EFtn5hS
Ã¢ÂÂ Kimberly Graham For US Senate (IA) (@KimberlyforIowa) November 10, 2019

"Broken Towns": listening to Iowa's story

strobusguy

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday July 08, 2019 · 2:52 PM PDT

2019/07/08 · 14:52

The 2016 election made the nation fully aware of the stark political divide between our urban and rural communities. The map showed the hard reality: we are deeply divided between red and blue. But not between red and blue states. Across the nation we are divided between urban blue and rural red, with some purple mixed in — suburbs, some smaller towns, a few outlier progressive rural places.

We all read plenty of commentary in the aftermath. Every media outlet from the coasts seemed to send some reporter off to some rural community in the Midwest or Appalachia to interview folks about their political views and identity. But hardly any commentary or reporting looked into the background of the divide, or asked in any serious way what happened to the American landscape to produce the divide. Few dug into the history of the changing dynamic of rural and urban America. How one national party has long exploited trends in rural America, and the other largely has pretty much ignored them. How one party has sowed division between the cities and countryside, and the other has never figured out how to respond.

And virtually none of the commentaries, and scant few politicians, addressed one of the main causal factors: how over the last seventy year the spread of industrial corporate agriculture has degraded land and water on a massive scale, while hollowing out our rural communities and economies.

This is all background to this story from the Storm Lake Times in western Iowa. You may recall that the small-town Storm Lake Times and its editor, Art Cullen, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for reporting on the impact of corporate agriculture on water quality and politics in Iowa. In “Broken Towns” Cullen highlights local songwriter Todd Partridge:

If you are looking for the frustrated while male, stuck in time and place, Partridge knows him. Sac County always has been reliably red Farm Bureau territory, the home of Rep. Steve King. Partridge is of these people; he sings about the guy challenged to pull his tooth out with a pliers drawn from his overalls. True story from Lohrville, about the same size as Auburn down the highway where the hog trailers roll.

Some of those “deplorables” are his neighbors, old school chums from Wall Lake View-Auburn, and even fans of his band “The King of the Tramps” that plays around western Iowa.

His protagonist is “unhappy like us all,” whose place used to be self-sufficient like him. Now he’s working for Con Agra or Monsanto or Tyson. His job is 15 to 30 miles away and half the homes in town are rented, owned mainly by just a couple landlords.

Iowa is one of the most intensively commodified agricultural landscapes on the face of the Earth. The logic of economic efficiency has been worked out to the nth degree—and shows in the utter transformation of its native prairie landscape, the degraded state of its soils and waters, and the draining of its human community. “People look for an answer to decline, and are led to believe you can find it in the way things used to be.”

The Raccoon River that runs past town toward Des Moines is filthy with ag chemicals. When the chemicals came on hard following World War II, corn yields nearly doubled while the number of farms dropped in half. Then the huge hog confinements came in to gobble up all that corn, and drink the underground aquifers dry. You can smell them in the dew of a still summer morning.

“We’re pimping ourselves for $16 an hour as hog confinement janitors so we can send our profits to China, which owns the hogs,” Partridge laments.

You put up with it. You mind your own business. Economies that slowly eat at the heart of rural places — endowed with natural abundance and wealth —appear to be too daunting to fix. The people are told that government is the problem. And that abortion is murder — it’s preached all over the region every Sunday.

Still, it is easy to be here. You can be left alone. Nobody ever heard of you or even noticed, until you do something that should be entirely predictable: tell the world to take a flying leap, because we are going to Make America Great Again.

There will be no change in this reality—social, political, economic, or environmental—until we change the behemoth: the corn-soy-hog empire that rules so much of the American landscape. Until we begin to rebuild our rural places from the soil (and water) on up. We have plenty of enterprising farmers and food processors who know what to do and how to do it, but they do so in the face of markets and policies they have to fight all along the way. Relocalizing our food systems, rediversifying our farms, prioritizing soil and water conservation and restoration, sequestering atmospheric carbon through more perennial farming options on the land, focusing on human health and nutrition, treating immigrant farm laborers with respect as neighbors, encouraging young people to stay and invest themselves and make a difference, addressing the opioid crisis as one of the human spirit… all and more are parts of the way we get to the roots of resentment, and foster change. It won’t come from looking down on, or away from, rural America. And it won’t come fast. But it will begin to come when we listen, and speak the truth of how we got here.

If you are not a Midwesterner or rural person, please read the whole piece.

And if you are presidential candidate, please absorb the story and speak it as you travel among the broken towns of Iowa.

Brother can you spare a dime?

John M Webb for Iowa Kos

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday July 08, 2019 · 6:36 AM PDT

2019/07/08 · 06:36

As has been pointed out, the Democratic Party needs a lot of wins in 2020. It is a big election year at every level which is another reason we have to make this a turnout election. While the rest of the country begins to vet the presidential hopefuls, it might be time for Kossacks to start looking down ticket. We need every office from dog catcher to McConnell wrangler filled with a good Dem.

I would like to introduce you to a candidate for Senate in Iowa that has caught my eye. Her name is Kimberly Graham. She describers herself as “a middle-income Iowan and advocate for kids” and her positions are consistently progressive.

[I]t's time for our U.S. Senator to truly represent you and the majority of Iowans who want universal medical care, good jobs, thriving rural and urban communities, excellent public education and to get Big Money out of politics for good.

Wherever you think these positions lie on the left / right spectrum, this is a bold proposal for Iowa and I believe it can find an audience here. Democrats have been running in primaries on these issues for at least two cycles now. Alas, we opted for a “centrist” for governor who lost and my Congressional district opted for the most moderate of three candidates who won. Anyway, I digress.

One of the reasons I am so active this early in the election cycle is that I am in awe of the possibility of this election. I don’t have to delve into how important it is, you know. That is why I am supporting Kimberly Graham for US Senate.

Our current Senator, Joni Ernst, needs to go. She will have a lot of PAC money at her disposal and will almost certainly dominate the teevee. Democrats are going to have to rely on energizing our voters. Graham is, in my opinion, the best candidate to do this in a statewide race. Especially against Joni “make em squeal” Ernst.

Anyway, this is her Facebook page and this is the link to donate to her campaign through ActBlue.

If you are of the donating persuasion, please consider helping us out here in Iowa. This seat is poachable. Ernst will tie herself to Trump and that may not carry her to a win. If we can turn out blue voters then we can flip this seat. But we could use a little help.

Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack will retire from competitive Iowa seat that swung from Obama to Trump

Jeff Singer for Daily Kos Elections

Daily Kos Staff

Friday April 12, 2019 · 3:48 PM PDT

2019/04/12 · 15:48

Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack of Iowa — Iowa Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack

On Friday, Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack announced that he would not seek re-election in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. Loebsack leaves behind a southeastern Iowa seat that swung from 56-43 Obama to 49-45 Trump. However this district, which includes Davenport and Iowa City, did back Democratic gubernatorial Fred Hubbell 51-47 even as he was narrowly losing statewide to Republican incumbent Kim Reynolds. Team Red also failed to field a strong candidate against Loebsack last year despite Trump’s win.

Loebsack’s retirement ends a surprising political career. Back in 2006 Loebsack, a political science professor at Cornell College, launched a longshot bid against 15-term GOP Rep. Jim Leach. Leach, who had opposed the Iraq War, was one of the more liberal Republicans in the House, and he had won re-election 59-39 even as John Kerry was carrying his seat 55-44. Loebsack himself also didn’t get off to a strong start when he failed to turn in enough signatures to make the primary ballot. No other Democrat filed, though, and Loebsack was nominated at a special convention.

The general election campaign was an odd one where the two opponents went out of their way to stay positive. Leach, who had been a guest lecturer in Loebsack’s classroom (his campaign manager was also a former Loebsack student), went so far as to condemn mailers from the state Republican Party attacking the Democrat, and he even told the RNC that he wouldn’t caucus with the GOP in the next Congress if they didn’t stop.

Loebsack, for his part, said he was glad the DCCC wasn’t getting involved in his race. While he campaigned against the Bush administration and the Iraq War, Loebsack called Leach a “good man” in his ads. Neither candidate raised much money, and while 2006 was a strong year for Team Blue, it was still a huge surprise when Loebsack unseated Leach 51-49. Leach didn’t seem particularly angry about the upset, and he endorsed Barack Obama two years later.

dyna

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Saturday March 30, 2019 · 9:21 PM PDT

2019/03/30 · 21:21

You gotta love a small town with the trifecta of a beautiful lake, a college, and a packing plant. Storm Lake would be a household word but for the fact it’s in the middle of northwest Iowa, over an hours drive from any Interstate, and I suspect the airport can’t handle business jets. But it’s Storm Lake’s diversity, rural geography, and the fact that the local newspaper editor Art Cullen has won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing the excesses of Big Ag that made the city a natural for a presidential candidate forum on rural issues.

So a bunch of organizations like Art’s newspaper, the college, Huffpost, and Farmer’s Union organized today’s major and only events on the Iowa campaign schedule. Now these multi candidate forums, steak fries, etc. generally draw just about every candidate, the weather was great today, and the floods were far away from Storm Lake… Yet only five candidates had the courage to show their face in rural Storm Lake today. Julian Castro, John Delaney, Amy Klobuchar, John Ryan, and Elizabeth Warren had the guts to show up in rural Iowa today, the rest of the herd blew off us rural democrats and we should treat them likewise on caucus night.

But first, there was the “pre forum” event over at the high school, which kinda bombed… Good idea, poor implementation= They kept the bleachers locked up while setting up risers for the video media, maybe hoping for a “mosh pit” between the cameras and speakers. Crowd looked to be less than 100 even counting the press and Liz Warren was running late, so I bailed and headed over to the “main event”.

The actual forum was much better organized, despite what looked like Huffpost’s attempts to crowd out competing media. Each candidate got about 15 minutes with Editor Art Cullen and a couple lesser known young questioners, one of whom asked some pithy questions and the other seemed to keep trying to drag the questioning off topic to the standard far left topics with little or no relation to rural issues. Liz was first up, clearly had done her homework, and stuck to economic issues despite the aforementioned questioner’s attempts to distract her.

Next up was Julian Castro who did OK despite being a thousand miles away from his base. Then the two lane delay factor left us with no candidates for a few minutes (campaign staffers, don’t assume you can average 70 MPH out here) ’til John Delaney arrived. John comes off as a policy wonk and junior version of Biden, ‘cept he made the mistake of voting for the “too big to fail” banks and that won’t play in Storm Lake or Peoria. John’s a long shot candidate, but he seems to be opening up campaign offices all over Iowa.

Then came Amy Klobuchar… On top of every issue, damning monopolies and promising tougher antitrust enforcement. She hit all the bases and hit it outa the park, speaking from experience on issues where the other candidates can only offer policy proposals. No surprise Amy got the best audience response. Last up was Ohio Congressmember John Ryan, another policy wonk who noted the similarities of Rustbelt and rural problems.

So as only a town with a packinghouse, college, and Pulitizer winning newspaper editor can do, Storm Lake has culled the 2020 democratic presidential; candidate cattle call from 20 odd down to five. Amy seemed the preferred candidate followed by Liz, Julian did well for a new candidate off his native turf, and the Johns showed the substatntial policy chops our democratic congressmembers have these day.

My bets on Amy!

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Iowa GOP's assault on the poor

John M Webb for Iowa Kos

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday March 20, 2019 · 1:03 AM PDT

2019/03/20 · 01:03

When you live in Des Moines and follow politics you trust two sources completely, Iowa Starting Line and Bleeding Heartland. Okay, maybe the Des Moines Register but it does little for me. I mean it’s part of the USA Today network and it provides fine hotel morning ready content. So I came across this from the Matt Chapman at Bleeding Heartland.

Five Senate bills target Iowans on public assistance

Over the past week, Iowa Senate subcommittees considered five bills drafted to address fraud in Iowa public assistance programs. Each bill would direct revenue generated by Iowa taxpayers to private vendors, who are charged with finding fraudulent claims. If investigation supports the claims of fraud, those funds could be recovered, and criminal charges filed.

It sounds like a simple solution, but these complex programs combat poverty in the areas of healthcare, disability and food insecurity. Other states have implemented all these proposals in one form or another. A bill that requires a percentage of those on Medicaid to work in Kentucky was stayed by the D.C. Circuit Court, and in Arkansas and Maine similar legislation caused eligible beneficiaries losing coverage, due to confusing and tangled re-certification rules.

Consider the Source (of the bills)

Four of these five bills were the brain (dead) children of the Opportunity Solutions Project, a right wing “policy advocacy organization” that eventually traces its way back to the Koch brothers and Americans for Prosperity. Among their greatest hits are efforts to divert public money to private schools and breaking up public unions.

Bill 1

I don’t know. Something about a legislator proposing a bill that violated federal law and then looking “reasonable” by spiking it. The idea was to make EBT cards have photo id’s,

Bill 2

Senate Study Bill 1131 is supposed to strengthen oversight of public assistance programs.This is one of the GOP’s favorite themes. Basically the bill would require Medicaid and Medicare to perform more reviews of recipients, 4 times compared to 1 or 2 currently. If you follow the playbook then you can read this properly as “let’s just make it too hard to get and keep benefits”.

Oh, and the same guy who spiked his photo id EBT mentioned that to point out how this is more reasonable than his own bill that he already spiked. Circular rationale but cute.

Bill 3

Senate Study Bill 1109: “An Act relating to eligibility for the supplemental nutrition assistance program and cooperation regarding a child support order”. This one boils down to booting “deadbeat parents” from the assistance program. Unless you have ever needed to live on these programs you have no idea how hand to mouth this existence is. To make it harder is unconsionable.

Bill 4

Senate Study Bill 1108 ties SNAP benefits to “workfare”. You know that old chestnut about bootstraps and such?

Bill 5

Senate Study Bill 1134 is another Opportunity Solutions Project special, modeled on a law enacted in Kentucky, which was later struck down in federal court.

So there you have it. Folks, we are drowning here in Iowa and the Koch’s just keep on pouring money into our elected officials’ pockets. These bills are ridiculous, inhumane. and draconian. And some of them affect me personally. The poor are under attack here in Iowa and they are treating this as so much of a test lab for broken Republican policies.

Send help!

If Dems want more support in the Midwest, they need to fight for flood relief NOW.

billybush

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday March 17, 2019 · 12:15 PM PDT

2019/03/17 · 12:15

OPD image of bridge at West Center Road and the Elkhorn River.

Portions of the Midwest, including areas in Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin have recently been devastated by flooding caused by heavy rain and rapid snow melt. The flooding has destroyed bridges, dams, levees and roads, not to mention private homes and businesses. Recovery from this event will require a major spend on repairing infrastructure. While members of Congress here in Nebraska all supported President Trump’s fake emergency to divert dollars to build a border wall, I have not yet seen one of them call for federal help for flood recovery. Democrats in Congress need to take a stand to make sure the federal government supports this real emergency in the Midwest.

Spencer Dam, Nebraska. Yesterday and today. pic.twitter.com/f8rxyWN6SX
Ã¢ÂÂ Just Ken (@kransom2) March 15, 2019

Photos from friends of #Niobrara #Nebraska and some of the damage. Second water surge predicted. Spencer dam gone, Mormon bridge gone, old railroad bridge gone, Vic's service gone, Neilson's destroyed, cafe destroyed, State yard buildings gone. And that's just one town. pic.twitter.com/U6A0KEORPP
Ã¢ÂÂ Sarah Kate (@thosewholove) March 15, 2019

Since issuing that statement, the Weather Service itself has had to evacuate because of a dike failure on the Platte River.https://t.co/4yGB0mf9w0
Ã¢ÂÂ Climate Watcher (@pmagn) March 16, 2019

Voting Rights Roundup: Iowa GOP wants to make it harder for many college students to vote (updated)

Stephen Wolf for Daily Kos Elections

Daily Kos Staff

Friday March 15, 2019 · 3:39 PM PDT

2019/03/15 · 15:39

IOWA CITY, IOWA - FEBRUARY 10: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) arrives for a campaign rally on the University of Iowa Campus on February 10, 2019 in Iowa City, Iowa. Warren is making her first three campaign stops in the state since announcing yesterday the she was officially running for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) — Elizabeth Warren campaigning at the University of Iowa

Leading Off

● Iowa: Update: The post below was based on erroneous reporting that said Iowa Republicans wanted to ban college students from voting if they do not say on a required form that they plan to stay in Iowa after graduation. Later reports clarified that the Republican legislation would instead change such registrations to “inactive” status, which could pave the way for later cancellation but which still permits registrants to vote. Please see this post for full details.

True to form, Republican state senators have passed a bill out of committee that includes a range of provisions designed to make it harder or even impossible for many citizens to vote. Worst among these provisions is a measure that would ban college students at the state's three public universities—the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa—from voting if they don't answer on a required form that they plan to stay in Iowa after graduation.

Campaign Action

However, a federal court struck down a nearly identical requirement in Texas four decades ago as a violation of the 26th Amendment, which sets the minimum voting age no higher than 18, and the Supreme Court later affirmed that judgment. Furthermore, the Iowa bill undermines the very premise its sponsor relied on to argue that supposedly temporary residents shouldn't be able to vote in state, since it exempts private colleges. Not only is this classist, by treating public and private college student differently, it could very well amount to a violation of another provision of the constitution: the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection.

The bill also bans these three public universities from serving as early voting locations, which would make voting much more difficult and time-consuming for students. Furthermore, it would mandate that polls close at 8 PM on Election Day instead of the current 9 o'clock closure, and it also would require that absentee mail ballots be received by Election Day. Under current law, ballots count if they're mailed no later than the day before Election Day and received by the Monday afterward.

Iowa Republicans have full control of state government, meaning there's a strong chance that this bill, or at least some of its provisions, will become law. If that comes to pass, lawsuits seem all but guaranteed.

John M Webb for Iowa Kos

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday February 01, 2019 · 12:59 PM PST

2019/02/01 · 12:59

Laura Belin is somewhat of an underground superstar here in Des Moines. Anyone that wants any sort of investigation and insight into state politics reads her blog, Bleeding Heartland. After a decade covering Iowa politics, Belin applied for press credentials with the state legislature this year for the first time. The credentials were denied with no reason given.

Some of you may be familiar with Belin, otherwise known as desmoinesdem both here and at Bleeding Heartland. The Des Moines Register thinks that Belin should get the credentials.

The Iowa House — whose members probably read Belin on a regular basis to understand their own bills — should grant her the credentials she deserves.

The Washington Post is equally supportive of giving Belin credentials.

Belin is open about her liberal views and compares herself to reporters for left-leaning publications such as Mother Jones and The Nation. Iowa House rules do not further define who qualifies as a member of the press and Belin noted that other non-traditional outlets have been granted credentials in the past.

“The fact that I don’t pretend to be objective, that I don’t hide my opinion about some of the political issues I cover, I don’t think that should have any bearing on whether I am considered a member of the media,” she said.

Belin has been critical of Democratic lawmakers, as well, including pieces in which she called for the resignation of a Democratic senator accused of sexual misconduct and criticized some legislators for not raising enough money to help their party compete with the GOP.

The fact of the matter is that you should all be following Bleeding Heartland going into 2020 if you want to understand the coming caucus season. If you regularly visit DK and aren’t familiar with Bleeding Heartland and desmoinesdem then you will instantly recognize the style and stance of the blog. Most of us who write anything about Iowa here get at least part of our information at Bleeding Heartland.

The Iowa GOP is very strong at the state level with control of the legislature and the governor’s mansion. In many ways, Iowa is the last stand of the GOP of the late 20th and 21st century. The trickle down, privatization, no public investment agenda is straight out of the ALEC playbook. This state is incredibly red, at least in the capitol.

This state and this nation need Laura Belin and Bleeding Heartland. Hell, we need at least one Belin in every state capitol. She is the voice of the progressive movement in Iowa. And that is not enough reason to deny her press credentials. Her record and her reporting speak for themselves. Trust me that the Iowa GOP knows exactly who Laura Belin is. And they don’t want her anywhere near what they are doing in Des Moines this session.

Senate Leadership Positions Are Set for 2019

John M Webb

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday November 14, 2018 · 10:16 PM PST

2018/11/14 · 22:16

DES MOINES, IA - JANUARY 24: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) speaks to guests at the Iowa Freedom Summit on January 24, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. The summit is hosting a group of potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates to discuss core conservative principles ahead of the January 2016 Iowa Caucuses. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

According to Politico, the Senate leadership teams are in place going into the next Congress with very little turnover. Chuck Schumer was named Minority Leader (well, I guess that’s that for a showdown). Mitch McConnell will serve his seventh term as GOP Leader. The only contested race in the Senate was for Republican Senate Conference vice chairmanship, won by Joni Ernst (D-IA).

The other notable change was the position of Senate president pro tempore left vacant by the retirement of recent Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Orrin Hatch. The position that places its holder in the presidential succession went to Chuck Grassley (R-IA) , the most senior senator.

Sort of a yawn for the most part, unless you are reading this news in Iowa. Yes, Grassley is a dinosaur paleo Republican who can be counted on to support Trump in every way possible. That doesn’t change. He’s not up for re election for four more years.

The interesting thing, to me, is Ernst’s win. This will be the first time in eight years that a woman will be in a leadership position. It also means that Ernst is now a big time Republican. The Tea Party / Freedom Caucus is probably stronger than ever and Ernst is a Tea Party darling. She rides motorcycles, she castrates hogs, she loves America. And, so far, Iowa loves Joni.

And Joni Ernst is up for re election in 2020. Her position in the leadership gives her access to top flight donors and a new national network of support. Trust me, she will be ably challenged in 2020. The bench is deep enough to win this seat. This race just very interesting in Iowa.

Please pay a little attention to Iowa over the next two years. It could prove telling come November 2020. Just a thought.

Sunday Top Comments: What the Hell is Going On in Iowa ? (part II)

John M Webb for Top Comments

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday November 11, 2018 · 7:02 PM PST

2018/11/11 · 19:02

So, I moved to Des Moines, Iowa 18 months ago with the bright idea that I was going to take a heroic vote against the GOP in 2018. I was starry eyed and full of dreams that Iowa would open its Iowa Nice arms to me and let me become a part of a community here. I had been to Iowa several times before I moved. The people I had met were, mostly, pretty cool people who seem to care at least as much about other people as they do for themselves.

I thought that maybe a couple more Dem votes could help stem the tide of The Donald. As it turns out, I at least helped get a Dem elected to the House from my district. The state level races, however? The Dems tanked it. The GOP holds the governorship, Secretary of State, and both houses of the legislature by large margins.

Hey, progress is progress. But it’s time to take some stock and figure out what to do during the next election cycle, especially with the presidential circus coming to town.

(I promise to kiss Beto O’Rourke on the lips if I meet him, yes.)

But first, a word from our sponsors ...

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US House Districts — winners

District 1: Abby Finkenauer (D)

District 2: Dave Loebsack (D) *incumbent

District 3: Cindy Axne (D)

District 4: Steve King (R) *incumbent

State Government

Governor: Kim Reynolds (R)

Sec State: Paul Pate (R)

State House: Republican (54 — 46)

State Senate: Republican (32 — 18)

read Part I here …

2nd youngest woman ever elected to Congress, two months older than AO-C. Also one of the first two women elected to the US House from Iowa.

The Good News

Abby Finkenauer is a bright shining red cherry on the top of my sundae this year. She’s young, she’s fairly progressive, and she took down a House seat with a 92.2% Trump voting record. I am over the moon happy about this woman.

JD Scholten gave Steve King a run for his money. I look for him to remain relevant in state politics going into the next round of elections.

Although Scholten’s mom reportedly reminded him that he is broke, unemployed, and has been living in an RV for the last 6 months. — thanks Ma!

2020 Dem Presidential Caucus Season is nigh upon us. Next year’s State Fair is going to be lit. This political junkie can’t wait to eat a fried thing with semi famous political people.

The Bad News

Our governor just won her election bid. This means GOP obstructionism from the top for the next four years. Our balance of power in the state legislature is equally dour. ALEC straight up LOVES Iowa right now with our neighbors to the west going blue. Of course, we look a lot more like our neighbor to the south now with McCaskill losing her Senate seat.

This electorate is hella White. I’m convinced that Deidre DeJear’s vote count has a lot to do with being Black, and female as well but mostly Black.

Our Liberals are still pretty center on a whole host of issues. Black Lives Matter is still extremely controversial in uber-blue Des Moines. This means that we still have to move the needle on a whole host of intersectional realities just to be able to talk about what progressive policies need to look like moving forward.

Our Dems seem to like tacking to the center and relying on likeability to win the day. Make no mistake, Steve King is the heart of the Iowa GOP no matter how attractive the talking heads that are spewing “moderated” GOP views and talking about “Iowa values”. Kim Reynolds is Sarah Palin doing a REALLY good Laura Bush impersonation.

And I think that Iowa is beyond “Vilsack can win” in 2020. I don’t see Tom Vilsack walking through that door. Christy Vilsack lost in her bid to unseat Steve King in 2016. JD Scholten outperformed her 2016 total in 2018. I will say it as plainly as I can. The Progressives in Iowa have a chance. The nice guys do not.

YouTube Video

Iowa Democrats stunned, confused after Fred Hubbell loses, but others make big gains

Ummm, if you’re stunned and confused by the election results, read Part I again. Reference Thing the First: Iowa is polar bear in the tundra on a snowy day White.

Also, bland ass Democrats don’t do shit in races that fighters can win.

Finkenauer/Loebsack/Axne/Scholten together got 90,000 more votes than Fred Hubbell. The margin of loss in the governor’s race was 40,000. Bad gubernatorial candidate, campaign, and primary choice by the electorate. I am still astounded by Cathy Glasson’s showing in the primary. She’s smart, tough, and progressive and would have run up the score in the counties where Dems hold strong.

THese four counties show how Kim Reynolds won the historically tight Iowa governor race

Early on [election night], results showed Democrats flipping the U.S. House seats in Iowa's 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts. And Democratic businessman Fred Hubbell maintained an early lead against Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in the hotly contested governor's race.

...

Polls had shown respective support for Reynolds and Hubbell falling within the margin of error in the final days of the campaign. And that's how it ended up: the tightest margin in an Iowa governor's race in 62 years.

Boy howdy, did the night ever start well for Dems in Iowa. Unfortunately, the fun didn’t last long. The more votes that were counted, the further a Progressive Iowa slipped from possibility.

I know, Hubbell almost carried enough votes to win. I still blame him, and Iowa Democratic primary voters who gave him the shot, for much of the damage done to the Democratic party in Iowa. The man didn’t even have a coat much less coattails. A fighter would have crushed the relatively bland Reynolds by playing offense. Hubbell just tried to look nice enough to vote for.

Fight me.

Winnesheik County

Northeast Iowa, 1st District
Carried by Finkenauer — obviously responsive to younger faces and bolder stances
Carried by Hubbell by 0.6% — if you’re going to run up the score on your home turf, you have to do better than this

Story county

Central Iowa, 4th District
Home to Iowa State University in Ames, where student voting was through the roof
JD Scholten, running against Steve King, got more votes than Hubbell, even though Hubbell carried Story by 20% points — again, young and progressive seems to work here and Hubbell left some votes on the field

Polk County

Central Iowa, 3rd District
Basically Des Moines and immediate suburbs, Iowa’s most populous city
Cindy Axne won the District by carrying only this county
Hubbell won by 18% points, but any candidate in the party could run as a Democrat and carry Polk County — again, you need to put up bigger numbers in your own back yard

sioux county

Far northwest Iowa, Steve King’s 4th District
Reynolds clobbered Hubbell here +73%, roughly 13,000 votes — the GOP succeeded in running up the score on their own turf

Here’s the thing, though …

Kim Reynolds won 88 of 99 Iowa counties. Hillary couldn’t carry Iowa that way and neither could Hubbell. Can I have a true progressive candidate now please? Now that centrism has failed twice in two extremely important elections. Just give me one chance. If a true progressive loses Iowa with numbers like these, then I will concede the state to pragmatist Dems. Until then, I will keep hammering this point. Bland-ass Hubbell was the wrong choice for the nomination.

If Hubbell's performance had mirrored the collective performance of the congressional Democratic candidates (Finkenauer in the 1st District, Dave Loebsack in the 2nd, Cindy Axne in the 3rd and Scholten in the 4th), Reynolds would have lost Tuesday.

If every person who cast a ballot in favor of the Democratic congressional candidates had voted for Hubbell, the Democrat would have won by almost 50,000 votes. Instead, Hubbell lost to Reynolds by nearly 40,000 votes.

Urban-rural divide: A tale of two voting Iowas

The divide between rural and urban voters in Iowa continues to sharpen. Democrats dominate in the state’s biggest cities, while Republicans own the rural areas. It's existed for more than a few election cycles, but the contrast has grown increasingly stark.

In the past six gubernatorial elections, starting with Democrat Tom Vilsack’s first victory in 1998, Democrats won 49, 68, 62, 9, 1 and 11 counties.

Demographics Are Destiny — Rural iowa is:

older
whiter
with fewer college educated voters

Anybody remember how we’re doing with older white voters without a college degree?

Since Tom Harkin last won a senate seat in 2008, Iowa Democrats are 0 for 6 in Senate and Gubernatorial elections. Ten years, zero wins at the top of the ticket. This does not augur well for Iowa Democrats if we can’t harness a younger demographic in other areas of the state. And damn if those kids don’t require a candidate to be for Universal Healthcare before they will even look at you.

Nationally and locally, If we all move to cities, Dems have 2 choices:

One of the things that is often mentioned in Iowa is that the kids are leaving the farms for the cities. Sounds about right to me. I come from a long line of people who looked at rural America and said, “no thanks”. But this action leaves Progressives and Democrats in general vulnerable in the places we are leaving. Dems have two options ...

Out vote the rural areas of the state from those urban and suburban areas
Move back to those areas and out vote them where they live.

That’s it. No third option.

YouTube Video

So, What the Hell Is Going on in Iowa?

Nothing that isn’t happening across the nation. This little Midwestern state could be the canary in the coal mine post Blue Wave. If we can keep the party alive and competitive over the next two to four years, then we can unseat both Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley. We can turn around either or both of the chambers of the state legislature. We can help make sure that the first Democrat to win a caucus in 2020 is a Progressive firebrand.

Or,

We could fold into ourselves as we let the GOP lie and scare its way into long term control of our state. Kansas and Wisconsin seem to have seen the light. Maybe, just maybe, we can accomplish results like the party saw in those states this week. The alternative is to resemble Missouri more and more the farther we get into the future.

Either way, we have a first class political money man and truly evil person running the show here in Iowa. Steve King is our little state level Donald Trump. King’s fingerprints are all over the state party. To those Iowans who think that Steve King doesn’t represent them, you are wrong. Steve King’s bullshit is at the heart of the Iowa GOP playbook.

Iowans, the choice is yours!

We can work to make this a different state.

Or,

We can move away.

But,

The vulnerable populations in Iowa will lose the only real support we can give them, Democratic policies like Universal Health Care, Living Wage, and Medicare/Medicaid assistance. For many Iowans, life is lived on a razor thin edge. We need a government that cares more about its citizens than its donors. We can make that happen.

Don’t give up!

Nominate progressive, active candidates.

are you an Iowan?

Join iowa kos

TOP COMMENTS

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from the author:

As awmaz puts it: Steve King is just another Mainstream Republican.

From MikeTheLiberal:

Please read this comment by bear83, giving the NRA back some of their own!

From BeninSC:

In this comment, rubgymom includes a tweet with a fine explanation of the recent … rain event, that allowed HIM to rationalize his failure to honor our troops, yet again.

Highlighted by Cecelia S:

Is this comment by irishwitch on bullying. Well said.

Highlighted by Diana in NoVa:

Is this comment by Cecilia S! Making the appropriate case about how important women are to our movement! (It couldn’t possibly happen without them/you! Never could!)

Highlighted by Denise Oliver Velez:

Is yet another comment by bear83! Enumerating a number of things our DEMOCRATIC House of Representatives can begin investigating!

TOP MOJO

Top Mojo for yesterday, November 10th, 2018, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.

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