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 [...]

I wrote a commentary on Iowa Independent today about Sen. Hillary Clinton’s vulnerability in Iowa. Here’s the gist:
Clinton’s rivals cannot plan to beat the New York Senator by attacking her on specific policy proposals or waiting for her to make gaffes, because Clinton is not going to give anyone enough of that material to [...]

Yesterday, State Rep. Mark Smith, a social worker who represents a district that includes Marshalltown in Central Iowa, endorsed Sen. Barack Obama. The question about Smith’s endorsement was never “whom” he would endorse; it was “whether” and “when” he would endorse.
Democratic politics in Smith’s district are essentially run by the United Auto Workers, who [...]

A couple months ago, I blogged about Sen. Hillary Clinton’s Iowa TV ad buy, which included spots on the Hallmark Channel (during, among other shows, Walker, Texas Ranger). Clinton remains the only candidate to appear on that network with any regularity, from what I have been able to observe.
But Sen. Barack Obama, not to [...]

The Republican Party of Iowa is set to announce that it has set the date of its Caucuses for January 3. Will the Iowa Democratic Party follow suit?
Over the past few months, it has generally sounded like they wanted to keep their date in line with the Republicans. Their statement tonight? Pretty [...]

South Carolina State Rep. Fletcher Smith, who served as co-chair of Gov. Bill Richardson’s campaign in that state before defecting to Sen. Joe Biden’s campaign, speaks.
Garance Franke-Ruta follows up on the question of how influential blogs are in Iowa.
Sen. Barack Obama gave the Chicago Tribune surprising access to details of its field campaign, revealing that [...]

Sen. Joe Biden may have had his nihilator gators on Friday, because, to quote Snoop Dogg’s remix of 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.,” his “pimp hand” was “way strong.” (I didn’t want to quote from misogynous rap lyrics to describe what happened, but I can’t think of better language to describe what I witnessed.) The [...]

This got past me, because Gov. Mitt Romney had worked so hard to cultivate his image as the one GOP front-runner who is spending time in Iowa. But according to the Washington Post’s candidate tracker, Romney has spent only three days in Iowa (all in mid-September) over the past two months. At some [...]