After several hours of delay due to a suspicious powder mailed to State Representative Ako Abdul-Samad, the Iowa House passed a bill last night to ban local governments from using "automated traffic law enforcement systems." The 58 to 40 vote didn't fo... »
The nice thing about a large majority, like the 60 to 40 Republican advantage in the Iowa House, is not needing every vote in your caucus for every bill. Members can oppose the party line when local interests are threatened without derailing the legisl... »
Senate District 34 Registration: D 12855, R 14159, N 16582, total 43648, R +1304 Incumbent: Liz Mathis, D-Cedar Rapids It was a genius move by Terry Branstad: since he was required to name a Democrat to the state utility board anyway, he went to the Se... »
Iowa Senate Democrats finally announced their challenger to first-term Republican Tim Kapucian last week, setting up a potentially competitive race in the new Iowa Senate district 38. The new Senate district 38 covers all of Benton, Iowa, and Poweshiek... »
Although the 60 Republicans and 40 Democrats in the Iowa House haven't changed since last year, I thought it was worth updating this post, because some committee assignments have changed, and House Democrats reshuffled their ranking members somewhat. M... »
Six days before the Iowa caucuses, no Republican candidate has a clear lead, social conservatives remain scattered among several contenders, and new television commercials are launched on almost a daily basis. Numbers from the two latest opinion polls ... »
