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 [...]

Today is Blog Action Day, and this year’s topic is the environment. Participating bloggers are encouraged to write a post about environmental issues, but not to post something that wouldn’t fit into the normal mold of their blog. Keeping with those instructions, I just wanted to update you on how environmental organizations are [...]

Sen. Barack Obama penned an op-ed in today’s Manchester Union-Leader in which he names names:
Sen. Clinton says she was merely voting for more diplomacy, not war with Iran. If this has a familiar ring, it should. Five years after the original vote for war in Iraq, Sen. Clinton has argued that her vote was not [...]

Today in Iowa, ABC News out of Cedar Rapids asked Sen. Barack Obama why he wasn’t wearing an American flag lapel pin. I don’t gush about presidential candidates here, but I do think this answer shows a glimmer of the candidate that people like me were expecting Obama to be. Here’s how ABC [...]

An enterprising Ron Paul supporter did this before the Straw Poll, but this is the first Democratic Facebook flyer I’ve seen in the Des Moines network:

I know they’re as cautious as anyone when it comes to campaign finance stuff, but do ads like these need a “paid for”?

Sen. Barack Obama was the first Democratic presidential candidate to visit Florida since the four-state pledge, which prohibits candidates from “campaigning” in Florida, a state that will hold its primary before the DNC approved date of February 5, took effect. And what did he do? He violated the pledge by holding a news [...]

Recent hay has been made of Michelle Obama’s poetic (almost Obama-esque…) statement in Davenport this week that “If Barack doesn’t win Iowa, it’s just a dream, but if we win Iowa, then we can move the world as it should be.” Commentators read it as the campaign’s official “We have to win Iowa” declaration. [...]

Who won the Democratic Presidential Debate Thursday night at Dartmouth? Everyone but Sen. Hillary Clinton.
The issues that commentators expected would plague the former First Lady’s campaign months ago have begun to emerge. From the “old stuff” Sen. Joe Biden referred to (”He then pointedly said he was talking about ‘policy, policy’ issues,” notes [...]

I posted yesterday that one key indicator of Iowa Caucus success is whether caucus goers have had a chance to meet you — that is, how many appearances a candidate has made around the state. The total number of events were roughly 120 for Sen. John Edwards, 100 for Sen. Barack Obama, and 60 [...]