When Sen. Hillary Clinton announced her presidential bid, she did so by “beginning a conversation” with voters. “So let’s talk. Let’s have a chat. Let’s start a dialogue,” she said. “I have a feeling it’s going to be very interesting.”
And she was right. This year’s primary season has been very [...]

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn penned an opinion piece for the Politico today on the chaotic primary calendar. South Carolina, Nevada, and Iowa have set their dates, leaving New Hampshire, “which has approached setting its primary date as if it were as inconsequential as the date of a high school [...]

One part of presidential politics that fascinates me is how certain national news stories permeate campaign narratives in Iowa and others do not. Generally, I think the Iowa press does a good job filtering out the real stories from the dumb stuff. Former Sen. John Edwards’s $400 haircut did not make nearly the [...]

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 [...]