Iowa Down Ballot

Maybe it was good that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was the football coach, not the debate coach. The 90-minute debate on CBS News Tuesday may not have been watched by many. But for the politics junkies—the kind of people who tune-in for local politics podcasts—it was a good chance to see at length how Walz and Republican JD Vance hold up under scrutiny. On this episode of Iowa Down Ballot, moderator D...

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. As Trump’s lead in Iowa shrinks —particularly among Iowan women—Harris finds purchase in a state that hasn’t been seen as competitive. On this episode of Iowa Down Ballot, moderator Dave Price talks with a panel of longtime Iowa journalists about how enthusiasm for the top of the ticket relates further down both for Congress and the Iowa Legislatur...

With Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, Iowa Democrats are feeling more optimistic about their party’s chances. That’s according to this week’s Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll. 85% of Iowa Democrats say they feel optimistic about this November’s election. That’s up from 45% in June with President Joe Biden was running for reelection. That compares to 63% of Republicans w...

@Douglas Burns moderated today’s episode and featured Laura Belin , Dave Busiek , Black Iowa News ’ Dana James, Dave Price , Lorena Lopez, Dennis Goldford , and Ed Tibbetts . The political analysts discussed the debate and Iowa's reaction to various issues, including the official secrecy behind the Perry school shootings and other events that could impact Iowa Down Ballot races. This podcast is an...

Ty Rushing moderated the fifth episode of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Down Ballot podcast. Out of the gate, our panel reacted to Lt. Governor Adam Gregg leaving his position for a position with the Iowa Bankers Association. Odd. Meh. Surprising, but not shocking. More time with his family? Really? Who even knew the name of the Lt. Governor? Will Governor Kim Reynolds pick a woman as successor?...

Dave Price moderated our panel for Episode 4 of Iowa Down Ballot, where Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members discussed the Democratic National Convention and how it could impact Iowa political campaigns down-ballot. Included on the panel were Laura Belin , Dave Busiek , Robert Leonard , Julie Gammack , Robert Leonard , Art Cullen , and Kathie Obradovich, editor in chief of Iowa Capital Dispatch. Za...

Click on the names of our Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members to find their columns. Listeners of this podcast will learn things about the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, they won’t hear or see elsewhere. Veteran Iowa political observers talk about the national political scene, bringing an Iowa perspective to the issues folks in the heartland are talking about, including abortion...

Ed Tibbetts hosts the second episode of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Politics Panel, featuring Rekha Basu , Laura Belin , Douglas Burns , Dave Busiek , Art Cullen , Julie Gammack , Dennis Goldford , Robert Leonard and Ty Rushing, who will be joining the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative in August. We’d like to thank Zachary Oren Smith for editing and producing this podcast and Dartanyan L. Brown for...

We are presenting the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative’s first episode of the inaugural Politics Panel season. Dave Busiek, veteran KCCI-TV news manager, is our moderator. From this point forward, others in the Collaborative will share the moderation duty, following Busiek’s template. There is a growing demand for this kind of thoughtful, local commentary in an audio podcast format, and the assembled p...