Posted March 06, 2024in Political Mercury
We were all in the formula, the algorithm of horror that is a modern school shooting. Death for some, dehumanization for others. In covering the Perry school shootings Jan. 4, what struck me was the hope-stealing realization that so many students and families seemed prepared for their roles. The students I talked
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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 rhetorical sledgehammer ever ready when he needs it. He’s fast, too, on the draw with a prescription for Democrats in
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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 Bob Beck, the former publisher of Centerville’s Daily Iowegian, a towering figure in journalism and Republican politics for decades; and my
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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 and has Paralympics gold medals. The one who inspired him at Camp Sunnyside. Born with Spina Bifida, Hayes, a bright-eyed kindergartener,
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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 corridors, the economically bulging Des Moines suburbs and the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids corridor. But it is such byzantine business that
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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 North Dakotan says he understands rural America as well as anyone campaigning for the Oval Office. “I’m just a small-town
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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 after a DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) event at the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, a learning experience led by Des
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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 Republican, thinks the appetite for hopeful leaders remains strong in the nation. His inspiration comes from an abiding Christian faith,
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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 Bob Beck, the former publisher of Centerville’s Daily Iowegian, a towering figure in journalism and Republican politics for decades, and my
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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. For two generations in Congress — 40 years in the U.S. Senate and House — Harkin, always mindful of his
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