Posted January 31, 2024in Political Mercury
Tom Harkin still has it. The pulse of Iowa on instinct auto dial and a force of moral clarity and that defining doggedness, an aw-shucks ease with voters, and a [...]
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Posted January 03, 2024in Political Mercury
Twenty one years ago, Chuck Offenburger and I had ringside seats for a rare and fascinating journalistic forum: the now late George “Lefty” Mills, the legendary Des Moines Register reporter; the late [...]
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Posted December 06, 2023in Political Mercury
Six-year-old Hayes Hofmeister of rural Cedar Rapids, a Springville, Iowa, farm kid, can’t stop talking about Josh Turek — “that guy in the wheelchair” — the one who plays basketball [...]
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Posted November 01, 2023in Political Mercury
It’s the defining issue in Iowa. Heartbreak in rural towns. Heave-ho construction in the suburbs. Framing it further, we are talking about rural decline versus the explosive growth in certain [...]
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Posted October 04, 2023in Political Mercury
Republican presidential candidate Doug Burgum, a North Dakotan with rural roots, says energy independence and strategies to develop a strong economy are central features of his campaign. What’s more, the [...]
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Posted September 06, 2023in Political Mercury
Life at its best — the growth of family, development of friendships and pursuit of professional passions — is about addition, not subtraction. That’s the mindset I walked away with [...]
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Posted August 02, 2023in Political Mercury
A pastor and businessman from Texas, with roots in Georgia, is pinning his presidential bid on a Christian ethos of bringing divided people together on common issues. Ryan Binkley, a [...]
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Posted July 05, 2023in Political Mercury
Twenty one years ago, Chuck Offenburger and I had ringside seats for a rare and fascinating journalistic forum: the now late George “Lefty” Mills, the legendary Des Moines Register reporter, the late [...]
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Posted May 31, 2023in Political Mercury
There is, of course, only one Tom Harkin, a retired U.S. senator who constructed a legislative and political legacy few Democrats in Iowa — and indeed the nation — have. [...]
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Posted May 03, 2023in Political Mercury
Hawaii is Barry Obama’s home state, and Illinois is Senator Barack Obama’s home state, but Iowa is President Obama’s home state. One of the last questions I asked President Barack [...]
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