Kamala Harris Takes Unexpected Lead over Donald Trump in Iowa

THE TELEGRAPH: Research by Ann Selzer for the Des Moines Register puts the Democrat on 47 per cent of the vote in the state

Kamala Harris has taken a surprise three-point lead over Donald Trump in Iowa, according to a survey taken by a respected pollster. The research, by Ann Selzer for the Des Moines Register, puts Ms Harris on 47 per cent of the vote in the state and Trump on 44 per cent.

The result suggests that Iowa, which is considered a safe Republican state, is closer than analysts had previously expected.

If the predicted swing towards Ms Harris in Iowa is accurate and is replicated nationally on Tuesday, she would win the presidential election by a landslide. » | Tony Diver, US Editor | Sunday, November 3, 2024

Shocking! Trump Urges Iowa Caucus to Vote for Fascism

Jan 15, 2024 | Donald Trump offered chilling closing remarks to the Iowa Caucus… Vote for him so he can punish his enemies… enemies like you!

That's all we'll hear in the coming months is Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump Trump, Trump, Trump... We'll hear that name until it is coming out of our bloody earholes! Zum Kotzen! – © Mark Alexander

The Lincoln Project: Trump Wins Iowa

Jan 16, 2024 | The Iowa Caucuses were today, but the primary ended long ago. Trump has won the Republican Party.

It is very clear what this tells us about Republicans and the Republican Party.

Champagne corks will be popping all over the place in Russia and China right now. A Trump victory in the presidential election will be a gift for Vladimir Putin and for Xi Jinping.

A Trump win in the presidential election will be the harbinger of the loss of American hegemony. Goodbye West; hello East. – © Mark Alexander

Steve Schmidt Reacts to Donald Trump's Victory in Iowa on Scripps News | The Warning

Jan 16, 2024 | Steve Schmidt appears on Scripps News to react to Donald Trump's victory in the Iowa caucus and breaks down what it means for the 2024 election vs. Joe Biden.

Voters Look Past Legal Problems to Give Trump a Big Victory: The possibility of a two-person race remains elusive for Trump foes, who fear a split field will ease his path to the nomination. »

Why Donald Trump Is Stronger than Ever after His Sean Hannity Town Hall | The Warning

Dec 9, 2023 | Steve Schmidt reacts to the fallout from Donald Trump's Town Hall with Sean Hannity on Fox News. Steve said the event proved that Trump is "stronger than ever" and can not be taken lightly by Joe Biden and the Democrats in 2024.

‘These People Are Diehard’: Iowa Trump Supporters Shrug Off Indictments

Donald Trump speaks at the Iowa Republican Party's 2023 Lincoln Dinner on 28 July. Photograph: Brian Cahn/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
THE OBSERVER: Many in the state see prosecution of Trump as a Democratic political move – and they say it will backfire

From his corner of rural Iowa, Neil Shaffer did more than his fair share to put Donald Trump in the White House and to try to keep him there.

Shaffer oversaw the biggest swing of any county in the US from Barack Obama to Trump in 2016, and increased the then president’s share of the vote four years later. But the chair of the Howard county Republican party is not enthusiastic at the prospect of yet another Trump presidential campaign, and he blames the Democrats for driving it.

“Honestly, the Democrats are shooting themselves in the foot with these prosecutions,” he said. “Why is Trump doing so well? Because people feel like they are piling on him. If this is the Democrats’ effort to make him look bad, it hasn’t. It’s probably going to make him the [Republican] nominee and, honestly, he may win the general election again. And then whose fault would it be?”

After pleading not guilty on Thursday to federal charges over his attempts to steal the 2020 presidential election, Trump denounced the indictment as “a persecution of a political opponent”.

“If you can’t beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him,” he said.

There are plenty who buy that line in Iowa and the rest of Trump-sympathetic America. » | Chris McGreal in Cresco, Iowa | Sunday, August 6, 2023

Mayor Pete Surges ahead in Iowa Polling | Morning Joe | MSNBC

Mayor Pete Buttigieg is up sixteen points and leads the Democratic field in Iowa, according to new numbers from CNN/Des Moines Register. The panel discusses. Aired on 11/18/19.

Lawmaker: I Won't Delete Retweet of Nazi Sympathizer

CNN's Chris Cuomo questions Rep. Steve King (R-IA) about retweeting a message from a self-described Nazi sympathizer who has expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Steve King »

Midwest Slammed by Record Flooding

Sep. 26, 2016 - 1:35 - Iowa braces for record high floodwaters, thousands evacuated

Hillary Clinton Defends Popularity among Young Voters at Iowa Forum

Bernie Sanders appears at ease at presidential town hall during which student presses Clinton: ‘I don’t see the same enthusiasm from younger people for you’

Read the Guardian article here

Sarah Palin’s Weird and Wonderful Endorsement of Donald Trump

On Tuesday, the world was reintroduced to the speaking talents of Sarah Palin. The former Alaska governor returned in full force with a bizarre, disjointed, but highly memorable, endorsement of Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. The speech was an instant classic: coining new words likes ‘squirmishes’ and mixing metaphors about political correctness being worn ‘like a suicide vest’. The Guardian looks back at her dark, twisted masterpiece

Univision's Jorge Ramos: 'I've Never Been Kicked Out Of A Press Conference'

NPR: Jorge Ramos, one of the most influential journalists in the United States, says he had never been thrown out of a press conference before GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump did so last night.

"This is the first time," the news anchor told his network. "It's never happened anywhere in the world. I've never been forcibly removed from a press conference or an interview." » | Eyder Peralta | Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Republican Right Weeps Over Obama's Victory – Then Begins Internal Civil War

THE OBSERVER: The clash between diehard conservatives and modernisers will dictate the fate of a party which increasingly seems to appeal only to angry, older white Americans

The town of Pella, Iowa, looks an almost too perfect vision of smalltown America. Surrounded by a chessboard of prosperous farmland and with a bustling town square, lined with shops bearing the surnames of its first Dutch settlers, Pella feels like a throwback to a different age.

But beneath its attractive exterior last week one could find some ugly sentiments on election day. "Obama is a Muslim," said Shirley Schutte, 75. Was she sure about that? "I am. I am not sure he even should have been there [in the White House]. He has been a disaster."

Such a fervent belief is not typical of most Republican voters, whether in Pella or anywhere else in America. But it is not hard to find. One poll in Mississippi even found some 52% of likely Republican voters suspected President Barack Obama was a follower of Islam. Neither has the party leadership done too much to discourage equally outlandish ideas, such as Obama being born in Kenya. From business mogul Donald Trump to top elected officials, Republicans have carefully crafted a message of Obama as a radical "other" hoping to transform America in some dangerous way.

Yet far from exiling Obama outside the US mainstream, many experts, now including leading conservative figures, believe the Republican party itself is being pushed into the political wilderness. The Republicans increasingly look like the party of angry, older white people. People like Schutte. And that does not work in America any more.

As Republicans sifted through the wreckage of the Mitt Romney campaign, they saw collapsing popularity among fast-emerging ethnic groups, such as Hispanics, and key social demographics, such as young people. In an economy struggling with 7.9% unemployment, where more than half of voters believed the country was heading in the wrong direction and against an unpopular incumbent, the once fiercely effective Republican party machine only managed to craft a devastating defeat. » | Paul Harris in Pella | Saturday, November 10, 2012

At Airplane Hangar, Mitt Romney Makes Dramatic Iowa Entrance

DES MOINES REGISTER: After editor's blog, President Obama releases transcript of Register interview » | Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Rick Santorum Declared the Winner in Iowa Caucus Vote Previously Awarded to Mitt Romney

NATIONAL POST: DES MOINES — Former Senator Rick Santorum won the January 3 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses by a razor-thin margin of 34 votes, according to certified results released on Thursday by the Iowa Republican Party.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney had been declared the winner on the night of the caucuses, but now falls to second place. Santorum received 29,839 votes, compared with 29,805 for Romney, according to the new figures.

Romney had previously been declared the winner by 8 votes. Santorum now ends up the winner after being almost an afterthought in the race just weeks before the Iowa contest. » | Reuters | Thursday, January 19, 2012

Mitt Romney on Caucus Night

Mitt Romney: Mister Glückskind

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mitt Romney hat die Vorwahlen in Iowa nur hauchdünn gewonnen, doch die Präsidentschafts-Kandidatur der Republikaner ist ihm wohl kaum noch zu nehmen. Er profitiert von der Schwäche seiner Rivalen - genau das könnte ihm beim Kampf gegen ein anderes politisches Glückskind schaden: Barack Obama.

Amerikaner glauben, dass jeder Mensch seines Glückes Schmied ist. Aber ihre Präsidenten sind manchmal einfach Glückskinder. Barack Obama, ein relativ unerfahrener Ex-Sozialarbeiter, Hochschullehrer und Senator, gewann die Wahl 2008 nur dank einer Trias glücklicher Zufälle: Parteirivalin Hillary Clinton unterschätzte den jungen Parteifreund, Amerikaner ersehnten nach den Bush-Jahren "Change" - und Republikaner-Gegner John McCain entpuppte sich als sehr schwacher Wahlkämpfer.

Obamas Aufstieg begann im Schnee von Iowa, und jetzt ist dort erneut ein politisches Glückskind zu bestaunen: Mitt Romney, Sieger der republikanischen Vorwahlen in dem winzigen Agrarstaat. Dabei hat Romney die Abstimmung nicht einmal deutlich gewonnen, hauchdünn landete er am Dienstagabend vor seinem Parteifreund Rick Santorum, einem Liebling der religiösen Rechten.

Dennoch wird Romney wohl bald schon Obamas offizieller Herausforderer, weil er bestens präpariert die kommenden Abstimmungen in South Carolina und Florida angeht - ganz anders als Santorum, der bislang fast ausschließlich in Iowa um Stimmen buhlte. Anders auch als der Drittplatzierte Ron Paul, ein Idol der Jungen und der Radikalen, der Amerika keine Kriege mehr führen lassen möchte und die US-Notenbank abschaffen will.

Romney, der Ex-Gouverneur von Massachusetts, hat auf seinen Krönungsmoment lange hingearbeitet, er ist seit einem halben Jahrzehnt professioneller Präsidentschaftskandidat. Er ist auch ein besserer Bewerber als bei seinem ersten Anlauf 2008. Damals erschien er vielen Wählern noch wie ein Polit-Roboter.

Aber Romney ist vor allem ein Glückskind, und ihm helfen wie Obama drei glückliche Umstände: Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben » | Ein Kommentar von Gregor Peter Schmitz, Des Moines | Mittwoch 04. Januar 2012

Michele Bachmann Drops Out of GOP Race
CBS NEWS: WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- In the wake of a disappointing finish in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, Rep. Michele Bachmann announced Wednesday that she is suspending her campaign for president.

"Last night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, and so I have decided to stand aside," she said at a hastily-arranged news conference here.

"I have no regrets," she added. "None whatsoever. We never compromised our principles." She said she "looks forward to the next chapter in God's plan."

Bachmann did not endorse another candidate.

Bachmann, a third-term Minnesota congressman and the founder of the Tea Party caucus in the House, won the support of just five percent of Iowa Republican caucus-goers Tuesday. She finished in sixth place in the caucuses, which was essentially last place among the major contenders, since Jon Huntsman did not contest the state. » | Brian Montopoli | Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Romney Wins Iowa Nail-biter
LOS ANGELES TIMES: He edges Santorum, with Paul a strong third. Perry's fate is all but sealed with a fifth-place finish.

Reporting from Des Moines— In the closest finish in the history of the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney edged out Rick Santorum by eight votes in the first battle for the Republican presidential nomination.

A distant fifth-place finish apparently ended the once-promising candidacy of Rick Perry. The Texas governor, who started as a prime contender for the nomination last summer, broke off plans to fly to South Carolina for more campaigning, and said he was returning home instead to "determine whether this is a path forward."

Santorum rode a late-breaking burst of support after getting counted out by virtually everyone until the final days of a long campaign. His Iowa comeback represented a drastic reversal from his last election night, a 17-point reelection drubbing in 2006.

"Thank you so much, Iowa," said the former Pennsylvania senator, who swapped his trademark sweater vest for a coat and tie to address jubilant supporters in a Des Moines suburb.

The victory strengthened Romney's candidacy heading into next Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, where he enjoys a big lead in the polls and a victory would provide momentum to make him the clear favorite to become the GOP nominee. » | Paul West, Washington Bureau | Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Mitt Romney Wins Iowa by Eight Votes
Mitt Romney beat Rick Santorum by just eight votes in Iowa - the tightest finish in the Republican party's history in the state. Romney won 30,015 votes and Santorum 30,007 after a record turnout of 122,225. Ron Paul came third. The biggest loser was Rick Perry, with only 5% of the vote

Mitt Romney Attacks Obama on Economy During Iowa Caucus Day
Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney targeted Barack Obama on economic issues on Iowa caucus day, as the former Massachusetts governor vowed to 'get America working again'.

Newt Gingrich Calls Mitt Romney “a Liar”
THE BOSTON GLOBE: Newt Gingrich called Mitt Romney “a liar” today for saying he has no role or responsibility for a barrage of negative ads that are credited with damaging the former House speaker’s campaign in Iowa.


During an interview with CBS News, Gingrich, who was the frontrunner in Iowa just two weeks ago, said it was “baloney” that Romney had nothing to do with the ads from an independent group, a super PAC called Restore our Future, which is backing the former Massachusetts governor. Those ads are credited, in part, with exposing Gingrich’s personal and congressional vulnerabilities. As Romney has risen to the top of the most recent polls in Iowa, where caucusgoers vote tonight, Gingrich has tumbled to the middle of the pack.

“This is a man whose staff created the PAC and his millionaire friends fund the PAC,” he said on “The Early Show.”

“He’s not telling the American people the truth,” Gingrich said. “It’s just like his pretense that he’s a conservative.”

When asked if he was calling Romney a liar, Gingrich answered “yes.” » | Bobby Caina Calvan, Globe Staff | Tuesday, January 03, 2012