Stories

In 2002, Bill Salier, an Iowa hog farmer, stunned the political world in Iowa and beyond when he won 41 percent of the vote in a Republican primary, his first run for public office.  He challenged four-term U.S. Rep. Greg Ganske for the right to run against U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa's Democratic incumbent. Ganske [...]

Everyone knows that social conservatives will come out in droves on the night of the Iowa caucuses. But a growing group of overlooked foot soldiers in this movement will also shape its outcome without even casting a vote. They can’t—they’re teenagers. But they are being trained to wage the political battles of the future for [...]

Iowa Christian Alliance (ICA) president Steve Scheffler sent an email to supporters criticizing former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain for skipping last month's candidate forum sponsored by ICA and Iowans for Tax Relief, First Read reported today.
Iowa Independent has obtained a copy of the email, which notes:
While the other [...]

The culture, more than the caucuses, is the focus of the Iowa Family Policy Center (IFPC), according to its president, Chuck Hurley. This seems to differ from other organizations such as the Iowa Christian Alliance, Concerned Women for America of Iowa, Iowa Right to Life Committee, or the Network of Iowa Christian Home School Educators [...]

For much of the pre-caucus season, it seemed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was not really playing to win in Iowa. He made waves when he announced he was skipping the Ames Straw Poll and most commentators seemed to agree that Giuliani’s support for abortion rights would doom him in a state where social [...]

[Commentary] Boston Globe columnist Peter Canellos recently wrote a thought-provoking piece titled "Riding the antiabortion tide." The news peg is the mini-controversy over whether former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, the "Law and Order" actor, once lobbied in support of abortion rights. 
Canellos writes:
The sheer number of Republican leaders who've morphed from abortion-rights defenders to strict moral [...]

In many ways, the members of NICHE would probably just want to be left alone. But they’ve discovered that closing themselves off from the world is not likely to have the effects they might hope for.
NICHE is the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators, which acts as a clearinghouse for all things Christian home-school-related. The members, [...]

With hopes of gaining the support of influential social conservatives for his presidential campaign, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney regularly denounces the “cesspool” of pornography on the campaign trail. But recently, those would be supporters have been grumbling that Romney did not do enough to shut down hardcore movie options in Marriott hotels while he [...]

[Commentary] Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is the sleeper candidate in the race for the Republican nomination. He is far from front-runner status, but with increasing grass-roots support and a potent campaign message, he could steal the show at the Iowa caucuses and be vaulted into contention. Democrats should hope against this scenario, for if [...]

If former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson lobbied for an abortion rights group while still claiming to be personally opposed to abortion, it would be an obstacle to gaining support among the anti-abortion community, according to Kim Lehman, president of the Iowa Right to Life Committee.