Iowa Caucus Guy’s Presidential Election Blog

Last week, I reported on some positive buzz on Kirsten Gillibrand, a candidate that the national media considers dead. What to do? Well, hangout with Iowans. So it was to Blazing Saddles, the city’s oldest gay bar to attend a drag show where famously the drinks are always doubles and there’s never a cover. It’s not noteworthy since Des Moines seems to love its drag shows. In fact, I don’t know many people who haven’t attended one at The Saddle or nearby Garden, and the crowd that goes often tends to be more Conservatives than Liberals. So it’s a nonstory, except well of course it is. The New York Daily News wasn’t going to miss out on this opportunity for those precious, precious clicks. On Friday night, Gillibrand wrote on Twitter that she had been invited by “Vana and the amazing queens at the Blazing Saddle for a visit before their show. I felt underdressed, so I brought a dress I picked up yesterday—turns out it fit me, but it fit Vana even better! Thank you f

I became a huge fan of Pete Buttigieg this past week, but there’s a long way to go.   Let’s not pretend that we are even close to the end. I was all over Western Iowa this weekend and saw not one yard sign or bumper sticker. Pete will have a hard time, though, perhaps ironically from the Left more than the Right. He’s no Bernie but worse, in a week with no major news, local Liberal light Rekha Basu outlined his lack of progressive ideas for Des Moines readers, and I suspect she didn’t even read the interview where he says he thinks those Chic Fil-A sandwiches are delicious . He will be attached by MAGArs and he will soon be in a race that now includes yet another veteran (Seth Moulton), yet another hard working mayor (Wayne Messam) and worse of all for him, Joe Biden. As I thought of something to say while I waited in line to shake hands, I decided to share that I had shaken hands with Clinton in 92 and Obama in 08, which I think Pete really liked. I was imp

 There does not seem to be anyone with more star power in the race right now than Pete Buttigieg.  Granted, I was writing about him in October 2017 which is why you should be following this blog. As the news reports it, that meet and greet for 50 people turned into a campaign rally for 1600. Pete Buttigieg seems to be the real deal. He has the energy and idealism of Barack Obama, and that force quickly moved across the audience. The main topic of his speech seemed to be around climate change, a topic other candidates have focused on. He also spent considerable time talking health care and LBGT+ issues, while weaving in personal stories, while his husband and mother stood cheerfully to his right.  It was not hard to love those two (and the puggle back home). Smart, but relatable and personal, he took questions randomly picked from a fish bowl after his speech. It was quite easy to like him as he interacted easily with the crowd. When asked how he would run against T

As we look toward another round of a bunch of candidates headed to Iowa including Pete Buttigieg, I thought it was worth mentioning some Beto O’Rourke stuff.  O’Rourke announced his candidacy and made a trip to the Hawkeye State. A lot of the national media about O’Rourke is that his star has burned out. A friend who knows says he still sees Beto as a Top 5 candidate. Indeed, if they’re talking about you, then you are still in the conversation. It’s when they stop talking about you. The excellent Iowa Starting Line has come to the same conclusion and seemed impressed with the young Texan. They shared a story of Beto addressing a crowd of 300 in Waterloo standing on the back of a red pickup truck.  This comes off a Politico article that seemed to want to bury Beto, but contains the particular observation of the mayor of Dennison (a town of 8000 in the reddest part of the country).  Mayor Beymar saying 80 people showing up in his town a workday is like attratcing a crowd

Take a look at any poll (or the wikipedia page) and you may notice a lot of Democrats are running for President. Seemingly, the only people not running on the Democrat side is Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Jeff Merkley (who made his decision after Bernie Sanders announced his run.  I can't help but think that was not coincidental). As far as serious contenders go, I count 15.  Indeed, there are a good 5-10 potential candidates who may still throw their hat in the ring. That's quite a few. The Des Moines Register put the issue on the front page. Included was: - A quote from Mitch Henry from the Asian & Latino Coalition - "..when you're approaching 20 (candidates), we don't have the people power, the resources continually do this week in and week out" -The 14 candidates recognized by the Register have made 200 appearances in Iowa since January 1 (comparable to about 90 events in the same time frame in 2011 and 2015, the similar time