Iowa Caucus Guy’s Presidential Election Blog

With so many candidates, the New York Times interviewed them- giving 20 questions of all styles to each This is important to tell your Hickenloopers from your Inslees, and who will do what if they get elected, but this blog isn’t about stuff like that. There were some fun questions like “what is your comfort food?” and Eater already covered this. I am grateful for them bringing this to light. Still, since we are your one stop shop, let me recap Space age love song A group of progressive forward thinkers reveals less forward thinking cuisine choices than you might think. Cory Booker is a vegan and his choice is veggies to go. Tulsi Gabbard says Vegan Cupcakes which is a fantastic dichotomy as she is a fantastic dichotomy of Ron Paul and Bernie Sanders style issues. Andrew Yang picked Kind Bars (those rainbow wrapper granola bars which surely are no one else’s go-to snack Grease is the word Bill Clinton’s legacy hangs heavy over the Dems and apparently so does h...

My two passions are politics and music. When the two collide, I really enjoy it. I am not alone as when 19 candidates showed up at the Democrat Hall of Fame dinner, the walk up selections went viral. Everyone from Slate to Vanity Fair to Spin to Vogue went to work writing an article and why not? What fun! Here is what you need to know I Would Have Called You Woody, Joe The first thing most reporters noted was that there were 2 Clash songs selected. We have reached the generation growing up with Joe Strummer replacing the 60s icons as our go-to Political music spokesperson. Beto O’Rourke is young and hip. That’s his thing, so it’s a natural pick. Heck, he has punk bona fides, playing bass with Cedric Bixler-Zavala before Ced went on to fame in At the Drive In and Mars Volta. Clampdown is probably a good pick, with so many Clash songs about terrorist bombings, riots and avoiding the draft, the decision is tricky. Beto famously quoted it when running...

I took a week off but it feels like I missed the busiest week of the year. My intention of this blog isn’t to cover everything but here are a few things that happened that were in my newspaper and online when I returned that are mostly in my wheelhouse of the odd and humorous. For starters, Marianne Williamson moved to Des Moines . Williamson has spent a lot of time in the area, but actually is moving here full time until the Caucus. As unique as it sounds, she is not the first. Chris Dodd tried this in 2007, though the result was less than 1% of the vote. Capital City Pride Fest occurred. 10 Presidential candidates attended. The Register covered Pete Buttigieg- who wants to be the first openly gay President, Bernie Sanders who has marched in Pride parades since the 80s and Kirsten Gillibrand who introduced a bill to overturn “Don’t ask, Don’t tell”. Mayor Pete joked to CNN that there were so many candidates that they should carpool , but when his husband and Kirsten...

This being Iowa and me finding a few politically minded friends over the years, I thought I would dedicate this post to them. There are house parties and meet and greets which are a bizarre phenomenon when you think about it. Mitt Romney spent a New Year’s Day in walking distance of my house. I had a friend host Elizabeth Warren’s camp for a House Party. They said the love Iowa and were fans of Scotcharoos. The chocolate and butterscotch topped Rice Krispie bar desert is particularly loved in Iowa. That kind of story is my favorite. For all of the bickering on social media, we can still occasionally find common ground Another friend attendee Cory Booker’s Memorial Day Barbecue. This event drew about 300 but how many show up at an event like that for the free food? I have a relative who’s an elected official in Western Iowa. Because of geography, towns like Carroll (Population: 10,000) and Dennison (Pop: 8000) have become as frequent stops as larger cities like Des M...

Iowa teems with politicians during Caucus Season. I have many a story where a friend went to the airport, a coffee shop, or even just to church and a Presidential candidate was there. I have always maintained that if it requires minimal commitment, I should take advantage of every opportunity that I get (which explains why I almost went and met Ben Carson) and I have met great public servants on both sides. So, with that, it’s only logical to go see Jay Inslee. The most surprising thing, of course, is that Jay Inslee and Steve Bullock are two different people, and neither of them is John Hickenlooper. That’s a 2020 candidates joke, of course. There’s so many of them! I love all the Western governors, and if you know me, I like to focus on the funny. Inslee’s gambit is to be the climate change candidate and that seems to be a good idea, given the crowded field. He has been polling around 9th and in a crowd of 24 or so, that’s rather enviable actually. It is also s...