New reasons emerged this week to doubt the tier system most commentators use to describe the 2008 presidential horse race.
Conventional wisdom — here in Iowa and across the country — dictates that the three candidates to watch on the Democratic side are Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, and former Sen. John Edwards.
Sen. Chris Dodd, [...]

Proof that officials at top-tier liberal arts colleges across the country don’t read Marshalltown Times-Republican columnist Ken Black, who recently called Grinnell College “a bastion for those with communistic tendencies,” my alma mater bumped a few spots up in the US News Rankings. (You know, the definitive college rankings that everyone is fascinated by, [...]

If you hadn’t heard, French Fries are now Freedom Fries and Iowa Voice is now the Liberty Pundit.
And I’m not really accusing Brian and our other conservative friends at that site of hating our state, but come on.  You blog about national politics, and you think having Iowa in your name is a bad thing [...]

And now, the post wherein I undermine whatever credibility I might have left by admitting that I watch the Hallmark Channel:
Yes, from midnight to 2AM central time each night, I allow the soothing action sequences and overt Republican undertones of the mediocre show Walker, Texas Ranger to lull me to sleep. It’s a guilty [...]

Because of what I do, I get asked a lot about how the “MSM” — I’ll call it the “traditional media” — approaches blogs in Iowa. Because I think that over the past few months I’ve developed an interesting answer to the question, and because at cocktail parties I am not always as articulate [...]

The primacy of the Iowa Caucuses is Chet Culver’s top priority, but (1) should it be? And (2) does it matter what Culver’s priorities are?
On the first question: being chronologically first isn’t sufficient; and, taken to the extreme, it could be a bad thing. Idaho could decide to hold its primary tomorrow, and [...]

Most media types don’t get the Ames Straw Poll in the least. They describe it as an election, as a test of candidate strength, as a predictor of how the Iowa Caucuses would turn out if they were held today, etc. Almost every detail you have heard about it on cable news is [...]

Congressman Ron Paul’s R-LOVE-ution is on the air with a 30-second TV spot that, according to the Register, will run in Sioux City, Des Moines, and Cedar Rapids. The ad, which is better than Tancredo’s but worse than everyone else’s, highlights Paul’s record on fiscal policy, emphasizing that he has never accepted his Congressional [...]

About a month ago, I heard Ron Paul’s campaign staff pledge that they would get 10,000 of their supporters to the Ames Straw Poll during their alternative event next to the ICA/ITR Republican Candidates Forum, from which Paul was excluded. Then it was revealed — on Paul’s own official Straw Poll site — that [...]

Chris Matthews and other MSNBC shows have featured Obama girl, Giuliani girl, and Hillary girl multiple times — both via their YouTube exploits and in live, in-studio appearances. Why isn’t this video getting any attention? Should she have worn hot pants?

Hat-tip: Common Iowan