As the 2024 election year begins, the Iowa caucuses ring in the race with political fanfare and a flurry of media attention — and, to the disappointment of many an American history teacher, questions about what exactly a caucus is. While the practice of caucusing — when voters gather at their local voting precinct to […]Read More

DES MOINES — Across Iowa, Republicans were listening to political speeches and casting ballots in the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. Supporters of former president Donald Trump hadn’t yet made it to his watch party. Not even the bartender had shown up. Then, about 7:30 p.m. local time, smartphone screens around the state lit up with […]Read More

AMES, Iowa — As Ron McFarland walked up to his precinct site at Iowa State University to caucus for Donald Trump, Nikki Haley volunteer Mindy Ellmer made one final plea. Eyeing the 69-year-old retired coach’s red letterman jacket, she told McFarland that she, a Texas resident, hoped he would throw his support behind the former […]Read More

Preliminary Iowa Republican caucus entrance polls on Monday highlighted the grip former president Donald Trump maintains on Republican voters and the extent to which his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged have dominated the GOP electorate. Nearly two-thirds of Iowa caucus-goers said President Biden did not legitimately win the election in 2020, according […]Read More

Barring a major surprise, Donald Trump should be well on his way to clinching his third consecutive Republican presidential nomination on Monday night, when the votes from the Iowa caucuses roll in. Trump holds a historic lead for a non-incumbent and appears primed to win by more than any non-incumbent since Iowa moved to the […]Read More

DES MOINES — At this time in 2020, Democrats held three of Iowa’s four congressional seats. They had three statewide elected officials, and they were just kicking off the Democratic presidential nominating process. Four years later, Iowa Democrats have no representatives in Congress, only one statewide elected official — the state auditor — and their […]Read More

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday, the Pentagon said, ending a two-week hospitalization he had kept secret for days after developing serious complications from a surgery to treat prostate cancer. Austin, 70, said in a statement that he was grateful for the care he received, and […]Read More

There’s always been a symbiosis between Donald Trump and right-wing rhetoric. His 2016 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination was successful — surprisingly successful — because of his willingness to embrace arguments and assertions that were considered beyond the pale for his more traditional opponents. By picking out and then defending (to whatever extent was […]Read More

The Iowa Republican caucuses convene at 7 p.m. Central time Monday, and it shouldn’t take too long to learn who prevailed in the first nominating contest of the 2024 presidential campaign season. Iowa Republican voters will gather at local precincts — a school gym, church or other community space — across the state. Once they […]Read More

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Curtis Gauley hadn’t paid much attention to Nikki Haley. Then the attack ads started. They called Haley “Tricky Nikki,” likened her to Hillary Clinton and told Iowans she shouldn’t be trusted. Somebody’s scared of her, thought Gauley, a retired corrections officer in his 50s. He was intrigued. So he went to […]Read More