Stories

Could the first major issue of the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary be unfolding in the pages of the Iowa Independent?  As best we can tell, Jason Hancock’s just-published interview with Bob Vander Plaats marks the first time one serious contender for the GOP nomination directly criticized another in the context of the gubernatorial race, and [...]

The trial balloons floated last week touting White House Budget chief and former Iowa Rep. Jim Nussle as a possible candidate for Republican National Committee chair seem to be rising. Nussle’s chief competition seems to be former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
“As a Republican House member from Iowa, (Nussle) was part of the Gingrich transition team [...]

Could Jim Nussle do for the Republican National Committee what he couldn’t do as a candidate for governor–lead his party to victory?

Both parties, in cold political Darwinism, leave the weak to die. It happened to me in my own legislative race 12 years ago. But at the moment, the grumbling appears louder on the Republican side.

The remark, delivered in the Kansas governor’s low key, folksy, out-from-behind-the-podium style, raised a couple chuckles but few eyebrows in the downtown Iowa City crowd, but Republicans took offense and responded in short order.

A network of Iowa Republicans is playing a leading role in a secretive group advocating nationally on behalf of “conservative and free market ideals” in congressional races around the country. Among the group’s leaders are two media consultants who played key roles in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads in 2004 and the Willie Horton ad in 1988, both of which helped defeat Democratic presidential candidates.

The Republican Party of Iowa will hold its state convention Friday and Saturday, and with Iowa considered a battleground for both national and state races, all eyes turn to Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines to see how strong the state’s minority party truly is.

Republican officials are outwardly optimistic about their chances this November to deliver [...]

With the potential of recounts looming in the Republican U.S. Senate and 2nd Congressional District races, it’s worth looking at why the numbers you see on election night change later and why the results are “unofficial.”

The results aren’t final on election night. That’s both a formality and a reality.

An email from a one-time disaster relief colleague of 2nd Congressional District candidate Peter Teahen, charging the Cedar Rapids Republican with misconduct and dishonesty on a relief mission in Darfur, is false and dangerous to his family, the candidate told Iowa Independent. Teahen also alleged that the campaign of one of his rivals in Tuesday’s [...]

“The next disaster we need to fix is Congress,” Peter Teahen says on the stump. The Cedar Rapids funeral home owner and Red Cross disaster relief expert is one of three Republicans facing off in the 2nd Congressional District primary for the right to challenge first-term Democrat Dave Loebsack in the fall.

Teahen faces Ottumwa physician [...]