I wrote this morning that the Iowa Democratic State Central Committee is likely to accept the recommendation of party leadership to hold its Caucuses on January 3, 2008. I have solicited comments from all of the Democratic presidential campaigns with significant presences in Iowa, and so far the responses I have received have been [...]

The Politico and Marc Ambinder are both reporting that the Democratic Iowa Caucuses will be held on Thursday, January 3, 2008. That’s the same date as the Republican Caucuses, and it is the earliest Caucus date in history. The implications of this date have been thoroughly analyzed during the past two months of [...]

John Beaudoin, who runs the Woodbine Twiner newspaper (calling the paper’s circulation “small” would probably be an overstatement), penned an opinion piece criticizing Sen. Hillary Clinton on essentially the same grounds as my commentary from last week. He begins, “The signs are in your yard. You wear the ‘Hillary ‘08′ buttons. But do you [...]

Senators Barack Obama and Chris Dodd both announced new ads in Iowa today. Dodd’s is a TV ad, while Obama’s is a radio ad.
Obama’s ad (listen here) features Duffy Lyon, the so-called “Butter Cow Lady,” and it could be the best ad of the campaign so far. Yeah, it’s folksy. Maybe it’s [...]

In Iowa, Democrats have lost elections over gun control issues. When I knocked doors in rural areas in 2004 for a State House candidate I was volunteering for, I heard constant complaints from no-party voters who shut the door in my face because my candidate wanted to take their guns away. That was [...]

An oft-overlooked interest group in Iowa that could have an important impact on the Democratic Iowa Caucuses is Caucus4Priorities, the political endorsement arm of Iowans for Sensible Priorities. The group, founded and bankrolled by Ben and Jerry (of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream fame), has had a visible presence here this campaign cycle for [...]

Sen. Barack Obama highlighted his opposition to the Senate resolution classifying the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group in a mailing today, only days after Sen. Hillary Clinton sent a mailing to Iowans defending her vote in favor of the resolution.
One helpful rule of thumb for determining who is on the right side of [...]

I wrote a piece over the weekend on Iowa Independent with the headline “Richardson Gets Serious.” Today, Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign continues their theme of seriousness in a new TV ad, set to air in Iowa and New Hampshire.
The 60-second ad, entitled “Only One,” highlights a trip Richardson made to Iraq to rescue [...]

I reported this back in August: a slim majority of Republican caucus goers favor withdrawing US troops from Iraq within six months, according to data from Strategic Vision, a Republican polling firm.
Strategic Vision has done a poll of Iowans once a month since then, and both September’s and October’s numbers confirm that the August data [...]

Sen. Hillary Clinton took the unusual step of playing defense this weekend, when a direct mail piece explaining the New York Senator’s vote in favor of a resolution condemning Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group hit mailboxes across the state. (The cover of the mailing, left, inexplicably depicts Clinton making a gesture as [...]