Thursday, May 23, 2013
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, could appeal to both social and fiscal conservatives, making him a candidate to "fear" in the Iowa Caucuses, progressives warn.
Amid growing speculation that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is testing GOP presidential waters in Iowa and elsewhere, progressive activists warned Thursday at a rally in West Des Moines that a Walker presidency would be “terrifying" and disastrous to middle class families. The controversial Wisconsin governor hasn’t said he’s a candidate, but his appearance Thursday at a Republican fundraiser in Iowa’s largest county, as well as a handful of appearances in the Northeast and before powerful conservative groups, suggest that he’s at least considering a 2016 run for the Republican presidential nomination. The “Scott Walker Truth Squad,” as activists from Progress Iowa and One Wisconsin Now call themselves, told reporters at a news conference …
Sunday, February 3, 2013
A cultural war is taking place within the Republican Party. In Iowa, where gay marriage opponents and social conservatives Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee have come out winners in the first-in-the-nation caucus, the conversation is critically important.
The first article in a two-part series. Read Part 2, Fight Against Gay Marriage? Not if Iowa GOP Wants Young Voters, on Iowa City Patch. __________ Troubled by polling data that shows traditional positions on issues like same-sex marriage are costing elections, the Republican Party is going through what its leaders politely call a period of introspection. More brutally, it's a question of whether the GOP can hold its nose and keep quiet on same-sex marriage and other social issues in order to welcome in a new group of young voters whose priorities center more on fiscal values than family values. The conversation is critically important – and difficult – in Iowa, where the results of first-in-the-nation caucuses and the Straw Poll leading …
Friday, February 1, 2013
In Iowa, where fiercely anti-gay marriage candidates Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee have come out winners in the first-in-the-nation caucus, a cultural war is taking place within the Republican Party.
Troubled by polling data showing traditional positions on issues like same-sex marriage are costing elections, the Republican Party is going through what party leaders politely call a period of introspection. In brutally plain terms, however, the question facing the Republican party comes down to this: Can GOP leaders hold their noses and keep quiet about social issues if it means welcoming in a new group of young voters whose priorities center more on fiscal values than family values? Two Republican strategists – including the now openly gay architect of President George W. Bush’s successful 2004 campaign – were in Iowa this week making the case that it’s politically pragmatic to ease up on social issues, such as stopping the struggle …
Monday, May 14, 2012
The Texas Congressman said today he won't campaign in the states that have yet to hold primary elections, but that doesn't mean he's done with the GOP presidential nomination process.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said Monday that he will no longer campaign in primary states that have not yet held primaries, but he is not completely withdrawing from the GOP presidential politics. According to the Huffington Post, Paul urged those who support his candidacy for president to continue organizing in states that have voted, in order to win delegates to the national convention. "We will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted," Paul said in a statement. "Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have." There are 11 states that have not yet held Republican primaries or caucuses, including Paul's home state of Texas, the website reported…
Monday, March 19, 2012
The state GOP chairman announced Monday party leaders will look at what went right — and wrong — on caucus night. The party was heavily criticized in January when votes were not counted and it took two weeks to declare Rick Santorum the state's winner.
- ELECTIONS
- Deb Belt
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Monday, March 19, 2012
Iowa Republicans have begun work to examine what went right on caucus night and what went wrong in the process, party officials announced in a news release Monday. “The purpose of the committee is to conduct a full audit and review of the Republican Caucus,” said Bill Schickel, state party co-chairman, who will lead the overview. “We’re going to review what went right and what went wrong. We will fix what went wrong and promote what went right.” The party received heavy criticism from Iowa voters and from national presidential campaigns and the media for the delay in declaring a winner of the Jan. 3 caucuses. And then the canvas of votes changed the winner from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick …
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Late Friday night, the Iowa Republican Party, criticized by Rick Santorum's supporters for not declaring him the outright winner of the Caucuses, did just that. The candidates are in South Carolina today for that state's primary.
- ELECTIONS
- Deb Belt
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Iowa Caucuses managed one last gasp of news late Friday night: Rick Santorum has been declared the winner. On Tuesday, two weeks after the Jan. 3 vote seemed to end with Mitt Romney the winner, Santorum was pronounced the winner of certified tallies. Iowa GOP officials had spent two weeks checking vote counts to find that results changed in 131 precincts around the state and votes from eight precincts were never turned in. So the certified results gave Santorum the win, but Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn wouldn't declare the former Pennsylvania Senator the outright winner, telling the press that wasn't his place. While Santorum used the flip-flop in vote totals to declare himself the Iowa winner during CNN's candidate debate in South …
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Caucus Rewind: Truly, we loved having you here. But we’re not all that sorry to see you go.
Goodbye, you and yours. By you, we mean the candiates, and by yours, we mean the national and international press corps, who move with the candiates amoeba-like, changing in shape and size as campaign intensity heightens. And by we, I mean Iowans. That no one was trampled to death during the Caucuses surely must count as one of this rich Iowa tradition's successes. One last time, some favorite images from the Iowa Caucuses. View the gallery – with editorial comment. There was a moment the other day at a Ron Paul rally when, trapped in the media vortex, I seriously wondered if "The Who" concert in Cincinnati meant anything to any of those people. Probably not. This was a young crowd. Wedged against a portable cube-shaped riser one of the …
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Unofficial cause of campaign's death: gaffes, staff churn and a fickle evangelical base that turned to someone else.
Michelle Bachman for President June 13, 2011 - January 4, 2012 Michele Bachmann’s downward spiral began almost the moment her campaign reached its zenith, with August’s victory in the Ames Straw Poll, a peculiarity of Iowa political pageantry that’s more Republican fundraiser than predictor of presidential preference. Her ascension to frontrunner status was fleeting, as a fickle Iowa electorate picked one, then another, favorite before finally settling Tuesday on Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, separated by only eight votes, in the state’s celebrated presidential caucuses. But among the true believers in Bachmann’s campaign — Iowans for whom God doesn’t come before country, but is inextricably tied to it — hers was a holy cause, a crusade. …
Organizers hope their Occupy The Caucus protests are the 'least organized' demonstrations around the presidential campaign.
Heading into the Iowa caucuses Tuesday night, Occupy Des Moines had logged upwards of 50 arrests after a week of protesting every presidential candidate and were already claiming victory. Yet, the true test of whether organizers achieved their goals won’t come with results of the caucuses Tuesday night. Rather, it’ll be later in the month when candidates move out of Iowa and on to other early voting states. “We’ve done our job,” said David Goodner, an Occupy Des Moines member and organizer. “We’ll keep at it and everything but it’s time to take this thing out to New Hampshire, and Nevada and South Carolina and the Super Tuesday states.” Goodner said this is one model for how Occupy Wall Street can take the movement into the 2012 election …
Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who had vowed Tuesday night to press on in her quest for the GOP presidential nomination, this morning announced she is ending her campaign. The Iowa native finished a distant sixth in the Caucuses Tuesday.
A prayerful Michele Bachmann ended her presidential campaign Wednesday morning, just hours after a crushing sixth-place finish in the Iowa Caucuses. The Iowa native failed to win even one of the state’s 99 counties, earning only 5 percent of the votes Tuesday. At a morning press conference at the Marriott in West Des Moines, Bachmann said she will not continue her campaign but has no regrets. "Last night the people of Iowa spoke with a clear voice; I have decided to stand aside. I believe we must rally around the party nominee," she said. "I will be forever grateful to this state and its people for launching us on this path." She did not take questions from the media after giving her speech this morning, and did not say which of the …
Sam Adams
12:16 am on Saturday, May 25, 2013
gregie, you're beginning to make me laugh. what i'm about to do is bad policy, but i'm going to do it anway!? ;-) ...and the torrents of illogic are great! if you really understood the field of statistics, math, and a little meteorology, you wouldn't dare posit that just because 4 people haven't seen a tornado in their lifetime that tornadoes are rare in an entire state. Harldy what I would call… more ›