Before leaving Iowa Independent to head to DC, writer Ben Weyl, who has been our Christian Right correspondent, wrote a final “think piece” on the social conservative movement in Iowa.  His coverage of Iowa social conservatives has, I think, been better and more comprehensive than anyone else’s for the past three months, and this culmination [...]

Here’s a little of what the mainstream Iowa media have been saying recently:
Using unfortunately-hackneyed boxing metaphors, Todd Dorman (Lee Newspapers) identifies the fundamental issues of the 2008 presidential campaign. A little “big picture” for me, but still noteworthy.
David Yepsen (Des Moines Register) blogs that the Obama-Hillary feud only helps the candidates not yet involved. [...]

At the site I work on most often, Iowa Independent, we’ve had quite a few excellent stories, and we are currently being rewarded with a huge day of traffic (we’re going to hit 20,000 visitors by the end of the day). Here are some of the stories that are either getting a lot of [...]

Republican online strategist Patrick Ruffini predicts that Ron Paul will win second place in the Ames Straw Poll next month. He should pay more attention to the RPI’s rules. Ruffini writes of Paul:
He leads the second tier in cash-on-hand. He was able to get 1,200 people out to the Hy-Vee (has any candidate [...]

According to Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa, who was on the Straw Poll call with Chuck Laudner, ED of the Iowa GOP, Fred Thompson will be on the Ames Straw Poll ballot next month. She doesn’t lead with it, but it is definitely the lede:
The Straw Poll Ballot: Sam Brownback, John Cox, Rudy [...]

Via Taegan Goddard, we get a look at the McCain “strategy memo” being leaked to McCain supporters to be used as talking points for how the Arizona Senator can come back to win the nomination. It’s nearly 10 pages long, but right on page 3 he lists bullet points describing his chances in Iowa:
Point [...]

This link probably won’t work for much longer (Drudge doesn’t know how to do permalinks for some reason), but the gist is that Iowans are complaining that Rudy is late. Here’s what he says:
Mayor Rudy Giuliani is developing a new theme on the campaign trail: He’s late to his events!
It’s a theme that’s [...]

I got a press release earlier today from the Obama campaign announcing that they have received 1,864 donations from Iowans (also noting predictably that the vast majority of Iowan donations are under $200).
So Iowa Independent did some digging, and it turns out that Edwards is beating Obama by some 600 donations: Edwards’s total is 2,468.
Obviously, [...]

Well, I don’t live in Baltimore, but I’ve been following their race for City Council President for a variety of reasons. A new poll came out showing a very tight race, although Michael Sarbanes (of THE Sarbanes family) is leading. I don’t usually endorse in Democratic primaries, but I don’t usually talk about [...]

Iowa Communications Director Tim Miller and Iowa “Coalitions Director” (actually an important position) Marlys Popma announced resignations from McCain’s Iowa campaign today.
Both are heavy hitters, but both also seem like the type to be loyal to a cause until they get the impression that the cause is no longer loyal to them. Is McCain [...]