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 …
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Iowa Republicans have re-elected A.J. Spiker as its party chairman. The selection of the at-time polarizing chairman highlights the divide within the Iowa Republican party.
In a split vote, Iowa Republicans have re-elected a Ron Paul supporter as its state party chairman. A.J. Spiker received 13 votes to remain Iowa GOP state party chairman to five votes for challenger Bill Schickel, the party’s co-chairman, the Des Moines Register reports. Spiker, of Ames, was the state vice-chairman for Ron Paul's presidential campaign. He resigned when he was selected in early 2012 to replace Matt Strawn, who stepped down as party chairman following an embarrassing caucus night for the Iowa GOP. The selection process highlights the divide within Iowa's Republican party, which mustered strong support for outsider candidates in the last Iowa Caucus, such as libertarian leaning Ron Paul and Christian conservative Rick …
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
President Barack Obama spoke Wednesday afternoon in Mount Vernon's Cornell College on Tuesday's debate, Mitt Romney and his policy record.
President Barack Obama spoke to a packed crowd Wednesday at Cornell College, calling out political rival Mitt Romney and touching on Tuesday night's debate. He reiterated criticisms of Mitt Romney’s economic plan in a 25-minute speech and made what seemed to be a tongue-in-cheek admission of his criticized debating skills. "I’m still trying to figure out how to get this thing, debating," he said, with a smile. "I keep on improving as time goes on. We've got one left." The crowd of about 2,000 people noticeably raised the temperature of Cornell College's Richard and Norma Small Multi-Sport Center in Mount Vernon. Audience members seemed torn between waving their bright blue campaign signs and fanning the heat from sweaty faces. For their …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Michele Bachmann wasn't very popular in Iowa City as a presidential candidate earlier this year.
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) re-entered Iowa politics this week when she endorsed an Iowa Senate candidate. Jeff Mullen, pastor of Point of Grace Church in Waukee and Republican state Senate candidate, received the endorsement of former GOP presidential candidate Bachmann on Wednesday, according to the Des Moines Register. The Minnesota congresswoman was frequently in Iowa last fall and winter as she campaigned for the GOP presidential nomination. She had a less-than-warm welcome during a stop in Iowa City last December. A self-described gay robot heckled the congresswoman and other locals came to protest Bachmann's positions on social issues. And Bachmann wasn't very popular in Iowa City on caucus night, either. While the one-time …
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Political operatives have moved away from small caucuses in people's homes to large venues that can hold hundreds of caucus-goers.
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Gone are the days of living-room caucuses in Iowa By Lynn Campbell IowaPolitics.com DES MOINES — When Vonnie Kinkade hosted a presidential caucus at her Creston home, she served coffee and iced tea, and her garage was packed with about 30 people. But that was about 12 years ago, she said, when Republican George W. Bush won the Jan. 24, 2000, caucuses with nearly 41 percent of the vote. Since then, organizers for the 1,774 precincts in Iowa's 99 counties have moved away from holding caucuses in people's homes. The vast majority of Iowa's first-in-the-nation GOP presidential caucuses on Jan. 3 will be held in public places like schools, churches, libraries, community halls and fire stations. "It's hard enough to get people to these things, …
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Romney acknowledged he once supported a woman's right to an abortion, but now considers himself pro-life. Opponents attack him as a flip-flopper. Iowans weigh in.
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Can Iowa overlook Romney's flip flops? By Hannah Hess IowaPolitics.com IOWA CITY — Cedar Rapids Republican Kevin McCarville, a 60-year-old card-carrying member of anti-abortion advocacy group National Right to Life, considers himself adamantly "pro-life." He told a Mitt Romney backer last year that he never could support the former Massachusetts governor's bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination because of his perceived inconsistency on abortion. Romney vowed to "preserve and protect a woman's right to choose," during his 2002 bid for governor, then wrote a 2005 op-ed for the Boston Globe, stating he was "pro-life" — one of many issue stances that his rivals have characterized as a flip-flop. But on Friday, McCarville said he …
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Many are watching for the first real showdown between Gingrich and Romney.
As the first major GOP debate in the state kicked off tonight, all eyes were on Iowa, and Patch was dispatched across the state covering the sights and sounds. Beginning at 8 p.m. at Drake University’s Sheslow Auditorium in Des Moines, this was the first nationally shown GOP debate on network television. The debate was hosted by ABC News, the Des Moines Register, WOI-TV, Yahoo! and the Republican Party of Iowa. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney were in attendance to give voters a glimpse of their platforms with the days dwindling to the Jan. 3 caucuses. …
Friday, December 9, 2011
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney says he is best person to "turn around" nation from its current economic woes.
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney told a group of supporters in Cedar Rapids that he plans to spend more time in Iowa leading up to the state's Jan. 3 caucuses. “As we get closer to caucus time, you’re going to see more of me and my family,” he said, with his wife, Ann, and one of his sons, Josh, behind him. If Romney devotes more time to Iowa, it would be a change of pace for a campaign that seemed to ignore the state for much of the campaign season. Counting Friday, Romney has only been to Iowa eight times, which lags far behind many other candidates. The question is if it will be too little too late for the former Massachusetts governor, who was until recently the front-runner but is now slipping in the polls behind a …
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Still, four out of five Iowans polled in the latest Power Outsider Poll have not endorsed a candidate.
With 60 days to the Iowa caucus on Jan. 3, most influential Republicans in Iowa have yet to publicly endorse a candidate for president, according to the latest Power Outsiders survey conducted by Patch and the Huffington Post. Only one in five of those polled are publicly backing anyone. Indecision may still be a factor when it comes to making a public endorsement, but they did indicate in the survey who they are leaning towards supporting on caucus night: Mitt Romney, Herman Cain and the suddenly-surging Newt Gingrich, in that order. Despite only a minimal presence in Iowa, 38 percent of Iowans surveyed said there is a good chance they will support Romney, in addition to 6 percent who said they are publicly endorsing him already. Cain …
Thursday, October 6, 2011
With Nevada moving its caucus to Jan. 14, Iowa is running out of space in January to place its first in the nation caucus date.
A late December Iowa Caucus is looking more and more realistic. Bah, Humbug. Yesterday, Nevada Republicans announced that their caucus will be moved from its former date of Feb. 18 to a new date of Jan. 14 as a result of Florida moving its primary date to Jan. 31 last week. The Politico reports that this move could push New Hampshire's first in the nation primary even earlier, potentially Jan. 3, which would mean that Iowa would be slotted into late December. New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner told POLITICO this week he must abide by state law that requires the first-in-the-nation primary to be held at least seven days before the next nominating contest. With Nevada’s decision, that would seem to point to Tuesday, Jan. 3, though…
Jon Trouten
12:27 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Maxine: It hasn't always been one man and one woman. It still isn't always one man and one woman. The Bible itself shows us that marriage sometimes has more than two spouses. We haven't always called our relationships "unions". Back when Vermont's supreme court told the state that there was no reason to deny us marriage licenses, the legislature came up with civil unions to provide us with … more ›