Posted July 06, 2022in Political Mercury
Deidre DeJear can win the governor’s race. Cocooned in angry social media corners, divided by geography and race and tribal fractions large and small, most Iowans, either consciously, or in spite of themselves, know this ugly brew we are collectively stirring is as exhausting as it is unsustainable. They long for optimism, an Iowa they
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Posted June 01, 2022in Political Mercury
Political Mercury’s Douglas Burns recently conducted an interview with Bradley Knott, the founder of the Campaign for Sensible Cannabis laws. This week, Knott and his team launched the website FreetheweedIowa.org. Knott is a veteran political consultant who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Iowa and law degree from Catholic University. He has a long history
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Posted May 04, 2022in Political Mercury
Buoyed by his political companion for the day, the popular west-central Iowa congressman Randy Feenstra, former Vice President Mike Pence delivered a fierce defense of long-held conservative values to Iowa’s 4th District Republican Convention at Carroll High School April 23. More than 400 people, including about 250 district convention delegates, mingled
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Posted April 06, 2022in Political Mercury
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deidre DeJear, a Des Moines businesswoman, hit on themes of job creation, boosting health care and rural development during a Carroll event in which she stressed that her party needs to make its case, not just respond with outrage to Republicans. “Let’s not fight to prove a point
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Posted March 02, 2022in Political Mercury
First elected in 1958 to the Iowa Statehouse — during the Eisenhower administration — U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has served in public office continuously for more than 60 years — and that’s too long, said former Iowa Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the Senate.
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Posted February 02, 2022in Political Mercury
Republican Jim Carlin says reports of Sen. Charles Grassley’s assured reelection later this year are greatly exaggerated. In fact, Carlin, a state senator from Sioux City, who is challenging the venerable Grassley in the GOP primary, says many Iowa Republicans are tired of Grassley, who has served in public office since 1959, the end of
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Posted January 05, 2022in Political Mercury
As a western Iowan who worked in two packing plants, grew up the son of a teacher and machinist and served decades in the Navy, Ret. Adm. Mike Franken sees himself as the sort of independent-minded — and branded — Democrat who can cut through GOP-leaning tribalism in a statewide
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Posted December 01, 2021in Political Mercury
And Michael Steele thinks country is in ‘staging area’ for civil war. Gov. Kim Reynolds insists a life in Washington is not for her. But Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a high-profile political analyst, sees Iowa’s Republican governor as a strong potential candidate for the presidency. “She should be in
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Posted November 03, 2021in Political Mercury
Thousands gather at Iowa State Fairgrounds on Oct. 9 to advocate for the former president. Supporters of former President Trump who showed up in the thousands at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines expressed anxieties with the economy — especially gas prices — along with major distrust of President Biden and the media.
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Posted October 06, 2021in Political Mercury
The nation’s longest-serving state attorney general says his health and vitality are strong. Tom Miller, the nation’s longest-serving state attorney general, will seek an 11th four-year term in the office next fall, saying he is “energized, challenged and fulfilled” by such efforts as the pursuit of anti-trust cases against dominant tech companies — like Facebook —
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