Iowa Down Ballot

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Professional political analysts discuss Iowa politics with refreshing, in-depth conversations. iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com

  1. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5/2/26

    3D AGO

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5/2/26

    We’re recording on a chaotic Friday afternoon as the Iowa legislature pushes past its scheduled adjournment date with no clear end in sight. The big unresolved question is property taxes — no deal yet, and we’re skeptical lawmakers can go home without getting something done. We also break down Governor Reynolds’ surprise water quality announcement, which dropped Friday morning instead of the property tax deal many expected. The plan totals $300-plus million over 12 years, but we dig into how much of that is actually new money (about $18.5 million) versus shifted funds — and why the lack of a public committee process is raising eyebrows heading into an election year. We also talk through Zach Lahn’s decision to skip the Iowa PBS gubernatorial debate, challenging Randy Feenstra to a series of one-on-one debates instead. We all agree it was a serious strategic mistake — the debate questions were practically tailor-made for him, and Adam Steen walked away with the spotlight. Finally, we touch on legislation that would allow the state budget to automatically roll over if a governor refuses to sign — a significant shift in the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches. Thanks to all of you that help us grow our audience by sharing. It means everything to us. We’re especially grateful to our paid subscribers. We recently reduced our monthly subscription if you’d like to join! AI generated transcript below: 00:00:25.510 --> 00:00:38.780 Dave Price: Welcome, everybody, to the Iowa Down Ballot podcast. I’m Dave Price, joined by Kathie Obradovich and Laura Belin on this mid-Friday afternoon. Holy, holy, holy, do we have a lot of stuff going on. 7 00:00:39.400 --> 00:00:40.000 Kathie Obradovich: Yes. 8 00:00:40.470 --> 00:00:41.800 Laura Belin: Too much. 9 00:00:41.800 --> 00:00:48.550 Dave Price: For real. It has been a bit since I’ve stood under the Golden Dome. 10 00:00:48.690 --> 00:01:06.199 Dave Price: and had people lay out so many different scenarios about how this weekend will go, and again, we’re talking on mid-Friday afternoon, which is, for those of you watching this podcast, Laura is tucked into a room 11 00:01:06.320 --> 00:01:20.190 Dave Price: that she found that was temporarily empty, so the drama of this next half hour could be whether security goes in there and drags her out of this private room, because this is like the governor’s secret room you’re in, right? Right? 12 00:01:20.190 --> 00:01:28.760 Laura Belin: Not the governor’s, no. It is a different room. The Republicans are caucusing downstairs, so I think I’m safe for now. 13 00:01:28.940 --> 00:01:40.850 Dave Price: Alright, so for the non-junkies out there, although probably a lot of people who listen to this really know what’s going on, but, like, it is non-stop caucus, so for those 14 00:01:40.850 --> 00:01:55.070 Dave Price: for those of you good folk who only pay, you know, kind of casual attention to all this stuff, the caucuses, it’s where the Republicans have their private meeting, the Democrats have their private meeting, they do their strategy, they do their yelling and screaming and talking and… 15 00:01:55.070 --> 00:02:01.390 Dave Price: plotting out with each other. They’re really the meetings we in the media really wish we could get in. 16 00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:06.420 Dave Price: Because those would be far more interesting than debates, am I right? 17 00:02:06.910 --> 00:02:07.810 Laura Belin: Correct. 18 00:02:07.810 --> 00:02:11.780 Kathie Obradovich: Except a few… I’m not… you’re gonna send me down a rabbit hole, but if. 19 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:12.270 Dave Price: abuse. 20 00:02:12.270 --> 00:02:27.800 Kathie Obradovich: ago, Democrats invited the media into their caucuses, and I quickly, quickly determined that I really didn’t want to be there after all. When was that, Kathy? Because it was all performative. I mean. 21 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:28.599 Dave Price: I just put on the show. 22 00:02:28.600 --> 00:02:34.679 Kathie Obradovich: for us, which we then got to see again on the floor, so it really wasn’t worth it. 23 00:02:34.860 --> 00:02:49.189 Dave Price: In this case, though, I think… I think there have been spirited, discussions in the… especially in the House Republican caucus about whether they would go along with the, Senate Republican idea and some Democrats to raise the gas tax. 24 00:02:49.190 --> 00:03:00.540 Dave Price: Regardless of whether that’s part of the overall piece of the property tax discussion, or if it’s a separate thing. But, it seems as if that has been a spirited 25 00:03:00.690 --> 00:03:09.540 Dave Price: discussion this week, but I don’t know what you both have heard, but… and again, I have to keep saying we’re talking Friday afternoon. And it’s already… 26 00:03:09.650 --> 00:03:21.840 Dave Price: weird and unusual that both chambers are there on a Friday, doing stuff, and the plan is, as we record this, that they’re probably… both chambers going to be there this weekend. 27 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:33.640 Dave Price: As soon as I say these words, they might be outdated as soon as they get out of my lips, but maybe they both try to power through and work overnight Saturday so they can adjourn on Sunday? 28 00:03:33.700 --> 00:03:40.949 Dave Price: Or maybe the house powers through a bunch of stuff except for property taxes, and they go home. 29 00:03:41.340 --> 00:03:47.309 Dave Price: for… however long, until a deal is made and the Senate comes back next week? What are you hearing? 30 00:03:48.400 --> 00:04:03.509 Laura Belin: I don’t know, I brought a change of clothes and a toothbrush, just in case we’d be working all night tonight and finishing up tomorrow, but the debate list for Saturday, which is extremely weird to even have a debate list for Saturday, it doesn’t have property taxes on it, so I don’t know if they plan… 31 00:04:03.510 --> 00:04:04.539 Dave Price: No deal, I don’t think. 32 00:04:04.540 --> 00:04:06.810 Laura Belin: Finish all the budget stuff? 33 00:04:06.920 --> 00:04:17.019 Laura Belin: for this weekend, and then send everyone home, and then have leadership hash out a property tax thing. I do not know what they’re planning. 34 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:18.689 Dave Price: Kathy, you’re a wise woman. 35 00:04:18.690 --> 00:04:21.830 Kathie Obradovich: seen the… has anybody seen the standings, Bill? Because… 36 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:23.469 Kathie Obradovich: I have no idea. 37 00:04:23.470 --> 00:04:46.150 Kathie Obradovich: that’s the harbinger, typically. It’s one of the last bills, and the fact that they, you know, it hasn’t even, at least as far as I’ve seen, I’ve been in pseudo-rabies world this afternoon, so that’s how crazy things are going on here. But, the… the last I checked, I hadn’t seen the standings bill yet, and they’re not going home without that. 38 00:04:46.150 --> 00:04:51.810 Dave Price: I’m still skeptical, maybe I’m gonna be wrong, but… I just… 39 00:04:52.280 --> 00:04:59.129 Dave Price: I’m skeptical that… because one… one legislator told me a scenario where 40 00:04:59.640 --> 00:05:10.760 Dave Price: They work this weekend, they get everything done, property taxes, and then they’re like, you know, we tried, we’re not gonna do it, and maybe they… 41 00:05:11.200 --> 00:05:14.999 Dave Price: Appropriate some money in whichever way they do it. 42 00:05:15.090 --> 00:05:31.300 Dave Price: Whether it’s its own thing, so that the communities can use that, this shared service money, to help them explore options to kind of work together and save money like that, so that could at least potentially reduce some demand on property taxes, or they hire that Texas company 43 00:05:31.400 --> 00:05:38.019 Dave Price: With the money that the house already has access to, but that was, like, a hundred and something million, right? So that was a big old chunk of money. 44 00:05:38.020 --> 00:05:38.920 Laura Belin: 4 million. 45 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:39.720 Dave Price: Yeah. 46 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:50.110 Dave Price: But it’s… it just feels like there’s… if there’s no deal on property taxes, it’d be hard… I don’t know how they go home without a. 47 00:05:50.110 --> 00:05:53.139 Laura Belin: They cannot go home. I think that if… that in that. 48 00:05:53.140 --> 00:05:54.600 Dave Price: Like, home home for good. 49 00:05:54.600 --> 00:06:09.339 Laura Belin: they send everybody home, and leadership continues to work for a few weeks, because that happened in… I think it was 2021 or 2022. They had a few weeks where basically no one was around, and then they came back and finished things up around May… it was right before Memorial Day, so… 50 00:06:09.460 --> 00:06:15.519 Laura Belin: I can’t imagine that they would adjourn for the year without doing something on property taxes. They’ve been promising it so much. 51 00:06:15.520 --> 00:06:20.480 Dave Price: And would the governor allow that? Would she call him back in special session? Like, it seems like she wants a deal. 52 00:06:20.650 --> 00:06:24.970 Laura Belin: Yeah, yeah, I… Don’t know, but I can’t imagine that. 53 00:06:25.770 --> 00:06:45.129 Kathie Obradovich: The other thing, and I may be getting ahead of ourselves here, that tells me that nobody’s really that ready to go home, was the introduction of a major water quality plan by the governor this morning, 10 days after the legislature was supposed to adjourn. I mean, you know, that… 54 00:06:45.130 --> 00:06:59.619 Kathie Obradovich: Yes, supposedly there’s an agreement with the legislature, but it’s still going to take some time, I think, to… I mean, we were talking about two budget bills that would have to be amended with this new plan. 55 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:10.470 Kathie Obradovich: So I, you know, I was a little shocked, this morning. I figured

    31 min
  2. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/25/26

    APR 25

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/25/26

    The Iowa Legislature is officially in overtime, and we break down where things stand. A broad budget agreement is in place at roughly a 1.43% spending increase, but property taxes remain the real sticking point — the House and Senate are far apart on a hard 2% revenue cap for local governments, and a dispute over multi-residential property taxes that critics warn would drive up rents. We also dig into the quiet death of joint House-Senate budget subcommittee meetings, a decades-old practice abandoned after COVID that’s made the process slower and less transparent. And Republicans are pushing to ban Polk County’s warrant resolution clinics statewide following a high-profile murder case — despite the victim’s own father saying the clinic had nothing to do with his daughter’s death. On the campaign trail, Cook Political Report now calls the GOP governor’s race a toss-up. Frontrunner Randy Feenstra keeps skipping debates, which we think is a real gamble with 30% of voters still undecided. The first Republican primary debate is Tuesday on Iowa PBS — and whether Zach Lahn shows up is the question heading into the week. AI generated transcript below: 00:00:13.020 --> 00:00:29.070 Dave Price: Hey everybody, welcome back to the new edition of the Iowa Down Ballot podcast. I’m Dave Price, joined, as always, by our regular collaborators, Laura Bellin, who’s dialing in long distance today, and Kathie Obradovich. Hello, both of you. 4 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:32.940 Kathie Obradovich: I’m dialing in short distance today. Yeah, I’m in… 5 00:00:32.940 --> 00:00:35.369 Laura Belin: I’m in Storm Lake, which is beautiful. 6 00:00:35.750 --> 00:00:38.829 Dave Price: Would you like to tell everyone why? 7 00:00:38.930 --> 00:00:53.540 Laura Belin: The Iowa Writers Collaborative is having a gathering, and Buena Vista University is letting us use some of their facilities, and tonight we’re going to be at the legendary Byron’s in Pomeroy. That’s going to be my first visit there to hear some live music, so… 8 00:00:53.770 --> 00:00:55.810 Laura Belin: Really enjoyed the short getaway. 9 00:00:55.810 --> 00:00:58.109 Dave Price: And this is your first time on campus, right? 10 00:00:58.130 --> 00:01:04.450 Laura Belin: Yes, I’ve been to Storm Lake before, but I’ve never been on the BV campus, and they really have nice facilities. 11 00:01:04.780 --> 00:01:19.249 Dave Price: May I point out that Kathie and I, if we did not have pending deadlines, would have also been part of this two-day confab up in Storm Lake. So, we both send our regrets. That’s what you do when you can’t go to a wedding, right? 12 00:01:19.250 --> 00:01:20.680 Laura Belin: No regrets. That’s right. 13 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:25.330 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, yeah, we’re wearing blue, but we’re really green. We’re jealous that we’re out there. 14 00:01:25.430 --> 00:01:29.630 Dave Price: As we are… are those BV color… is that one of the BV colors behind you? 15 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:30.490 Dave Price: that… 16 00:01:30.490 --> 00:01:34.960 Laura Belin: I don’t know, it’s… I’m in one of the library study rooms. I think this is one of their schools. 17 00:01:34.960 --> 00:01:47.120 Dave Price: That’s what I was thinking, and I’m sorry to… I shouldn’t have… I just probably embarrassed myself on the spot, and then put you on the spot, but I think that’s… I think that’s one of the colors. All of you folks who are listening audio only could really care less that we’re… 18 00:01:47.120 --> 00:02:09.290 Dave Price: Talking about the color right now, so, forgive me for the distraction. Okay, ladies, so let’s catch up of what we have going on in the Iowa State House. First of all, we’re officially on overtime, much as the three of us have predicted for quite some time that they were not going to finish on time, so 100 days, not enough for the Republican trifecta. They are still pushing forward. 19 00:02:09.289 --> 00:02:17.580 Dave Price: There is apparently an overall budget agreement. House and Senate came together. I presume that the gov is cool with 20 00:02:17.710 --> 00:02:23.900 Dave Price: with their final number, if my… I believe it’s 1.43% increase. 21 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:33.340 Dave Price: From the current level of spending, so you’re up at, like, $9.5 billion or so, something like that. So now they have the… they’ve got the big number, and they just gotta… 22 00:02:33.830 --> 00:02:44.129 Dave Price: fill in who gets what and where. So that… I mean, not a lot of drama there, but in theory, if you’re an optimist, that means that helps them move closer to adjournment, 23 00:02:44.510 --> 00:02:56.999 Kathie Obradovich: every little bit helps. Senator Clemish, the Senate Republican Majority Leader, indicated that they had a deal, except that they were still $3 million apart. 24 00:02:57.410 --> 00:03:03.110 Kathie Obradovich: On the total, which, you know, in the… you know, we’re talking about 25 00:03:03.110 --> 00:03:19.350 Kathie Obradovich: over $9 billion, so $3 million is not… not a big deal, in terms of the… the percentage that they don’t agree on. But yeah, I was a little surprised when they say they have a deal, but oh, we still have to figure out all the line items. I’m like, well… 26 00:03:19.350 --> 00:03:23.360 Kathie Obradovich: Okay, but this doesn’t seem like it’s gonna be done quickly. 27 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:24.310 Dave Price: It’s a deal with us. 28 00:03:24.310 --> 00:03:25.369 Laura Belin: They used to have… 29 00:03:25.370 --> 00:03:26.699 Dave Price: Add a capital D. 30 00:03:26.850 --> 00:03:46.170 Laura Belin: Yeah, they used to have these budget targets for the 7 different areas, or whatever it is. They used to have those agreed in March. I mean, we’re really late to be just coming to an agreement in overtime, but I think that they’ll… they will… would be able to get the budget figured out next week. I would feel pretty optimistic about it. I feel like… 31 00:03:46.170 --> 00:03:48.570 Laura Belin: The property taxes are what makes me think. 32 00:03:48.570 --> 00:03:52.759 Dave Price: Don’t skip ahead, I’m not too bad yet. Quit skipping ahead. 33 00:03:52.760 --> 00:03:57.220 Laura Belin: I just think, I think the budget, they could get wrapped up next week, in theory. 34 00:03:57.250 --> 00:04:10.589 Dave Price: And, you were… you were talking to Senator Clemish during his avail on Thursday, kind of about how this process used to be done, which he had said, you know, was kind of pre his arrival there. 35 00:04:10.980 --> 00:04:24.520 Laura Belin: Yes, so for decades, since at least the 1970s, the House and Senate had joint budget subcommittee meetings, and in fact, they used to meet 3 times a week for a long time. And when I’ve talked to past legislators. 36 00:04:24.520 --> 00:04:39.440 Laura Belin: from both parties, they’ve always told me that those meetings… the joint meetings were so helpful, they would bring in people from the different agencies, they were very educational for the legislators to understand how the different state agencies work, and… 37 00:04:39.440 --> 00:05:03.099 Laura Belin: lately, ever since COVID, I mean, COVID was the pretext for the Senate to stop participating in these joint budget subcommittee meetings. Oh, well, it was a social distancing thing. And then they never went back to meeting them. And so the House members have continued to have these meetings, but because none of the Senators are participating in them, they don’t… I feel that it’s harder for them to get on the same page. When I talk to people 38 00:05:03.100 --> 00:05:05.219 Laura Belin: Who used to be part of the process. 39 00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:17.779 Laura Belin: They felt like it was very helpful for legislators in both chambers to be hearing the same presentations and hearing the questions and answers that were given, and in general, the process went more smoothly. 40 00:05:18.260 --> 00:05:39.369 Kathie Obradovich: I’ve heard Republicans complain, even before they stop doing joint budget meetings, that it… that when the agencies come in, it’s just them coming in begging for money, and they didn’t… for some reason, didn’t like that. And yet, you know, now we have complaints that these agencies are not responsive, and in fact, we’ve seen 41 00:05:39.370 --> 00:06:03.259 Kathie Obradovich: you know, lack of transparency from one agency as being the reason why its director was not confirmed again. That was Larry Johnson, who failed by 7 votes to be reconfirmed as director of the Department of Health and Human Services, and one of the major issues was we can’t get information from this department, including for fiscal notes, for budget bills. 42 00:06:03.260 --> 00:06:04.120 Kathie Obradovich: So… 43 00:06:04.310 --> 00:06:22.780 Kathie Obradovich: So I think that, you know, I totally agree that overall, I think the process went more smoothly, not only because the senators and representatives were hearing the same information from the agencies, but also they could get some sense of what each other 44 00:06:22.780 --> 00:06:35.060 Kathie Obradovich: You know, what their fellow lawmakers from across the aisle are thinking. And right now, with just the leaders negotiating, and maybe the committee chairs negotiating, the rank and file have no idea. 45 00:06:35.820 --> 00:06:59.380 Laura Belin: And I think that the rank and file have much less knowledge, period, about how the state agencies work and what they do on the Senate side when they don’t have the budget subcommittees even meeting. Maybe the Admin and Regulation Subcommittee, Dennis Guth, who’s the chair of that, he did convene a couple of meetings, but most of the Senate budget subcommittees haven’t met for years, and most of the senators 46 00:06:59.470 --> 00:07:11.200 Laura Belin: were elected on the

    43 min
  3. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/18/26

    APR 18

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/18/26

    Speaker Pat Grassley dropped a new property tax proposal this week — and we’ll be honest, it’s a lot. The three-pager is dense, and we’re still not sure we can answer the question every homeowner is actually asking: will my taxes go down, or just up more slowly? House bill Triples the homestead exemption for all residential owners. Hard 2% cap on local government revenue. No gas tax, no age-based carve-outs. Senate bill Blows up the rollback system entirely. Raises the gas tax, gives local governments inflation flexibility, and heavily favors homeowners 65+. Bottom line These two chambers are miles apart. We don’t see adjournment next week — but something has to pass. Failing on the session’s top priority isn’t an option. Campaign ads: gubernatorial race Randy Feenstra - Link to ad: Randy Feenstra Hard Work Trump, Trump, Trump — and a property tax freeze that sounds great on the trail but has never been seriously on the table at the Capitol. He knows that. He was Ways and Means chair. Zach Lahn - Link to ad: Zach Lahn Defend Our Land “Defend Our Land” — tax Wall Street hedge funds and data centers to buy down property taxes. Sharp message, strong production. Can he build enough name recognition before June 2nd? That’s the question. Rob Sand - Link to ad: Rob Sand Stealing is Bad No primary, so he’s already playing the general. Carhartt, tough-on-crime energy, mandatory jail time for stealing from taxpayers. A preemptive strike before Republicans can paint him as soft. Also this week A conference committee on the governor’s immigration bill — rare under the Republican trifecta — over an E-Verify dispute nobody quite understood. We’re covering U.S. Senate race ads next week. AI generated transcript below: 00:00:34.530 --> 00:00:49.160 Dave Price: Welcome, everybody, to the Iowa Down Ballad Podcast. Glad that you are joining us today. I’m Dave Price, along with my co-hosts, Kathie Obradovich, Laura Bell, and fellow collaborators from the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Hello, ladies, how are you? 11 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:51.599 Kathie Obradovich: Doing great, how are you? 12 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:54.220 Dave Price: Yeah, good. I love… is that fuchsia you’re wearing today? 13 00:00:54.220 --> 00:00:59.770 Kathie Obradovich: Mmm, yeah, probably. 14 00:00:59.770 --> 00:01:05.689 Dave Price: I was on my… we had a TV consultant years and years ago who had, you know, that, like, did our home… 15 00:01:06.230 --> 00:01:10.300 Dave Price: workup or whatever, and would tell us, because I… apparently I’m, like, an autumn. 16 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:14.919 Dave Price: But I think that color was in my scheme, if I remember right. 17 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:15.590 Kathie Obradovich: the book. 18 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:19.980 Dave Price: Just because I thought, why not? It’s like a souvenir, it’s like 15 years old, so why not? 19 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:21.899 Kathie Obradovich: wear a lot of fuchsia back then? 20 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:31.109 Dave Price: Not a lot, but I do have one tie that has that color in it, and I’m sorry for those of you who are only listening and not watching, and you’re thinking, what the heck are these people talking about? 21 00:01:31.110 --> 00:01:32.620 Kathie Obradovich: Just… 22 00:01:32.890 --> 00:01:38.440 Dave Price: Take my word for it that Kathie has a great-looking fuchsia-like sweater to begin our. 23 00:01:38.440 --> 00:01:41.300 Kathie Obradovich: It’s just a t-shirt. 24 00:01:41.300 --> 00:01:56.779 Dave Price: Okay, well, whatever, who cares, it looks good. It looks good on video. We’re also talking before we could have a big ol’ storm, so I’ll be curious as everybody tunes into this this weekend, hopefully this storm has missed us, but, 25 00:01:56.990 --> 00:02:15.860 Dave Price: That is on my mind as… as we assemble today. Hey, I thought… I know we talked about property taxes a lot, but I feel like we need to do it again, and, Thursday, we got this handout. Reminds me of, like, being in class again in school. It is a 3-pager. 26 00:02:15.950 --> 00:02:21.489 Dave Price: that we got from Speaker Pat Grassley. He, to his credit. 27 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:27.250 Dave Price: he does an avail with the media basically every week. Almost every single. 28 00:02:27.250 --> 00:02:28.960 Laura Belin: Almost every week, yep. 29 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:53.520 Dave Price: Sometimes if he’s had a family thing where he’s had to hustle home for one of the kids’ games or something, they don’t always do it, maybe, but to his credit, he almost always does it, and for those of you who care about this kind of stuff, it’s really anything goes. I mean, they don’t screen the questions or anything like that. So anyway, so it was sort of like this unveil, you know, he starts kind of teasing it up and teeing it up at the beginning, like, hey, we’re gonna have… 30 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:58.319 Dave Price: Now, he called it a compromise. I think it takes two to compromise, but, 31 00:02:58.320 --> 00:03:07.349 Dave Price: Regardless, so, perhaps his caucus has come up with this new proposal for property tax reform, and then during the course of the 32 00:03:07.610 --> 00:03:12.010 Dave Price: Availability we had with him, then, staff brought out the little handouts. 33 00:03:12.160 --> 00:03:23.440 Dave Price: Laura, you were standing very close to me during this thing. If there is any subject that I have covered this legislative session that makes me feel dumber 34 00:03:23.880 --> 00:03:35.510 Dave Price: than property taxes. I really do not know what it is. I have been a homeowner for years. This would be, in our married life, our third house, I think, because we lived in a townhouse when we got married. 35 00:03:35.620 --> 00:03:39.630 Dave Price: All I know is you pay it, like, twice a year, or however you pay it. 36 00:03:40.090 --> 00:03:44.200 Dave Price: This was supposed to be a simpler version. 37 00:03:44.630 --> 00:04:03.679 Dave Price: And, no offense to the speaker, but I do not find this simple, nor do I find, as a television dude, the ability to look through a three-pager and stand in front of a live camera for a minute and a half and break this down in ways that people can watch and go. 38 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:09.710 Dave Price: Hey, honey, our taxes are going up or down, but I’m not sure you can really figure it out. 39 00:04:10.720 --> 00:04:12.769 Laura Belin: It’s such a complicated system. 40 00:04:12.770 --> 00:04:19.079 Kathie Obradovich: Well, I think we should dedicate a future show to the difference between a homestead tax exemption and a. 41 00:04:19.089 --> 00:04:19.439 Dave Price: Fantastic. 42 00:04:19.440 --> 00:04:33.700 Kathie Obradovich: tax credit. Yes. It’s like, I was reading Robin Opsel’s story, and I was like, read this three times. Okay, what is the difference between a homestead tax exemption or a homestead tax credit? 43 00:04:33.700 --> 00:04:35.989 Dave Price: It’s better with an exemption than a credit. 44 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:36.770 Kathie Obradovich: I mean. 45 00:04:36.770 --> 00:04:42.439 Laura Belin: I mean, for the people listening, there were about 15 minutes of Q&A just on the property tax. 46 00:04:42.440 --> 00:04:42.920 Dave Price: Excuse me. 47 00:04:43.050 --> 00:05:01.570 Laura Belin: And I have been posting the videos of Pat Grassley’s media veils every week that he’s done them. I’ve been posting those on the Bleeding Heartland YouTube channel. So if anyone wants, like, the director’s cut to see exactly what Speaker Grassley said, you can go and find that. But it… I mean, I felt that 48 00:05:01.580 --> 00:05:07.149 Laura Belin: the House Republicans are trying to incorporate some ideas from the Senate 49 00:05:07.250 --> 00:05:25.199 Laura Belin: bill that we discussed last week, but it still seems to me that they are so far apart, just philosophically. Like, they don’t have… the Senate wants to completely get rid of that rollback system that’s very complicated. They’re not touching that. The Senate wants to raise the gas tax. 50 00:05:25.200 --> 00:05:28.399 Laura Belin: They’re not doing that. The Senate wants this broad relief. 51 00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:38.840 Laura Belin: if you’re age 65 and up, they’re not doing that. They’re doing something that I think politically, is better… is a better sell, what the House Republicans are doing, which is that 52 00:05:38.840 --> 00:05:51.080 Laura Belin: every homeowner gets something, and it is a little bit complicated. Yeah, I also didn’t understand the difference between the homestead tax credit and the homestead tax exemption, but they are increasing it, so whatever it is. 53 00:05:51.080 --> 00:05:57.400 Laura Belin: you are going to get more of a break than what you currently get on the home that you own. And the one. 54 00:05:57.400 --> 00:06:19.000 Kathie Obradovich: What I gather is that the difference is who… who loses the money. So, in one homestead Tax Credit, the state is paying for that. Homestead’s tax exemption, it comes out of the tax base, and the local governments take the hit for that. Right. So I think that… I think it doesn’t really make that much difference to… to you and me. I think the difference is who pays. 55 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:21.270 Laura Belin: Well, they are tripling it, though, so you… 56 00:06:21.270 --> 00:06:21.650 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah. 57 00:06:21.650 --> 00:06:46.649 Laura Belin: be an increase in the exemption, so that… so as you say, then the local governments… I mean, the House bill is definitely worse for the local governments, because they still have that firm cap of 2% increased revenue year on year, with exceptions for new growth and schools and debt servicing. But the Senate bill was much more flexible for local governments, because they had an inflation adjustment. 58 00:06:47.310 --> 00:06:52.649 Laura Belin:

    32 min
  4. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/11/26

    APR 11

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/11/26

    The Iran War Is Hitting Wallets Gas is up 21% — the biggest spike since 1967 — and diesel has jumped more than $2 a gallon. We dig into how the ongoing Iran conflict is driving inflation and why Trump’s “lower energy costs” promise is looking increasingly hollow. War Powers Resolutions, 25th Amendment talk, and a declared victory that doesn’t quite feel like one round out the national picture. Iowa’s Delegation Is Hiding The Iowa Republican delegation has gone almost completely silent — no real comment on the war, the Easter tweets, or the gas prices constituents are grumbling about every time they fill up. We’re especially surprised Joni Ernst, in her final term with nothing to lose, hasn’t said a word. Property Tax Standoff The Iowa Senate passed a bipartisan property tax reform bill — and now the real fight begins. The Senate and House are philosophically miles apart: soft cap vs. hard cap, gas tax vs. no gas tax, age-based relief vs. universal relief. Something has to pass, but nobody can quite see where the middle is. Feenstra Pokes the ESA Hornet’s Nest Randy Feenstra said private schools taking voucher money should have to accept any student, period. The blowback was swift. It’s probably a great general election position — just maybe not a great primary one. Wahls vs. Turek: Gloves Off At a Wednesday forum, Zach Wahls went sharper than expected for a candidate who appears to be ahead — hitting Turek on super PAC money and an immigration vote. Turek kept it positive, leaning on his one argument: he’s already won in Trump country. The race feels closer than the polling lets on. AI generated transcript below: Dave Price: Hi, everybody, and welcome back to another edition of Iowa Down Ballot Podcast. I’m Dave Price, along with my Iowa Writers Collaboratives cohorts, Kathie Obradovich and Laura Belin. Happy weekend, ladies! 4 00:00:26.020 --> 00:00:27.530 Laura Belin: Happy Friday! 5 00:00:28.020 --> 00:00:47.970 Dave Price: We were just having a long discussion about technology. Friend or foe? You decide. Mostly a friend. I was just sharing how we had this unexpected issue in our house right before a TV live shot, because I was using my home studio, and my daughter inadvertently, playing with her friends, like, kicked out the modem, and… 6 00:00:48.050 --> 00:00:58.159 Dave Price: It was, like, 40 minutes of drama, me running from room to room trying to figure out why it didn’t work, and in the end, I couldn’t fix it, and the company did. I’ll spare everybody the details, but… 7 00:00:58.360 --> 00:01:07.570 Dave Price: I was sweaty and out of breath right before I was trying to go on TV and talk, but in the end, it all worked out, so… Technology ended up being our friend. 8 00:01:09.010 --> 00:01:11.710 Laura Belin: But she can smell your fear, Dave. 9 00:01:11.710 --> 00:01:27.680 Dave Price: I’m sure they smelled it, because, oh my gosh, yeah, I was sweating blood for a while. I’m thinking, how… you know, like, some… especially with technology, like, sometimes you just don’t know how to solve it. And so that’s what… it was my own fear. I’m like, I’m not smart enough to solve this. 10 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:34.780 Dave Price: But my live shot is at 6.07 on TV last night, and I needed to be ready before then, and… 11 00:01:35.850 --> 00:01:36.310 Laura Belin: You made it. 12 00:01:36.310 --> 00:01:44.239 Dave Price: the company fixed it. Whatever the heck it was, they finally fixed it. So here we are. Okay, so let’s catch up on a few things. I feel like, 13 00:01:44.670 --> 00:01:57.930 Dave Price: our list is sort of growing of things I wanted to get into this week, but, Kathie, how about you lead off today? Although, the headline, we’re not going to go deep into this, but did you both see some of the national numbers about 14 00:01:58.130 --> 00:02:14.180 Dave Price: what the war with Iran has done to inflation, so 3.3%, diesel costs are up, like, more than 2 bucks a gallon. Regular gas is up, like, 21%, biggest increase since 1967. 15 00:02:14.340 --> 00:02:19.709 Dave Price: I don’t know if we have a ceasefire or don’t have ceasefire, I never quite understood the provisions of 16 00:02:20.310 --> 00:02:32.309 Dave Price: who’s controlling the straight, and if things have changed, and if… I don’t understand all of it, but I just think that’s something worth… worth watching here. I’m curious the people’s patience level as they keep seeing these higher costs. 17 00:02:32.890 --> 00:02:46.790 Laura Belin: I mean, well, I keep seeing that these gas prices are not going to come down, maybe, for the whole rest of the year. I mean, even if the ceasefire holds, there’s so much disruption, and some of the production facilities have been destroyed, so… 18 00:02:48.160 --> 00:02:54.440 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, it’s… it’s off-brand for Trump, given that he campaigned on, you know, lowering gas. 19 00:02:54.440 --> 00:02:54.760 Dave Price: That’s. 20 00:02:54.760 --> 00:03:09.640 Kathie Obradovich: etc. And, you know, as this conflict drags on and on and on, his, you know, reassurance that this is just a blip, and that oil and gas prices are going to go right back down once the 21 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:16.829 Kathie Obradovich: You know, once they’ve declared victory, which both Trump and Hegseth, I believe, did declare victory this week. 22 00:03:16.830 --> 00:03:31.860 Kathie Obradovich: Although their negotiations with Iran are far from settled. So, I do think that we have, an ongoing situation. There’s more talk in Congress about war power resolutions. 23 00:03:32.490 --> 00:03:50.650 Kathie Obradovich: you know, sort of a… you’ve got Congress on, on recess right now, so… but they have, like, little Gavilan sessions, kind of like the legislature does when they’re not in session. There were some Democrats who tried to bring up a war powers resolution during the Gavilan section… session. 24 00:03:50.650 --> 00:03:51.040 Dave Price: pursue. 25 00:03:51.040 --> 00:04:10.149 Kathie Obradovich: You know, of course it was not, it was not successful, obviously, but, you know, I think we haven’t heard the last of that, and I think it’s entirely possible that there will be more Republicans that come on board with the War Powers Resolution as this goes on, and then you’ve also got this sort of renewed 25th Amendment. 26 00:04:10.650 --> 00:04:34.070 Kathie Obradovich: effort that, you know, trying to remove, Trump from office because of his comments on Easter and afterward about, you know, destroying a whole civilization in Iran. So… so I do think that we’re not hearing the last of this, and, I mean, it’s… the timing of it just virtually guarantees that it’s going to be a major campaign issue. 27 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:49.389 Dave Price: Have you both noticed how quiet the Iowa delegation has been with this? And I’m… I mean, I… obviously the… I didn’t expect any of them to get up and tweet after 28 00:04:49.870 --> 00:05:06.160 Dave Price: however you want to characterize Trump’s Easter message when he’s threatening to wipe away an entire, civilization, sort of a two-part, series of tweets that he had done over a couple of days. But, I feel like almost with… maybe initially. 29 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:13.859 Dave Price: with the war, there was, there was a show of support with some of our Republican… 30 00:05:14.030 --> 00:05:17.629 Dave Price: Delegation, but largely has been pretty quiet since then. 31 00:05:17.630 --> 00:05:21.579 Laura Belin: I think they’re trying to say as little about it as possible, and Dave. 32 00:05:21.580 --> 00:05:23.819 Dave Price: Including after his speech, his primetime speech. 33 00:05:23.820 --> 00:05:27.099 Laura Belin: And you got a comment last week from Ashley Hinson’s 34 00:05:27.130 --> 00:05:45.110 Laura Belin: staff saying that she trusts the Commander-in-Chief to keep us safe, but at some point, the Iowa delegation is going to have to start commenting on it. I mean, you can run and hide from some of these issues, but every time people fill up their tank, they’re noticing that it costs a lot more. 35 00:05:45.110 --> 00:05:53.470 Laura Belin: So, I’m… I don’t know… I don’t know what the best play is for them right now. I think they’re just hoping to say not very much about it. 36 00:05:53.980 --> 00:05:59.020 Kathie Obradovich: I’m pretty surprised that Joni Ernst hasn’t said anything, really, by now. 37 00:05:59.020 --> 00:06:15.739 Kathie Obradovich: Given that she’s leaving Congress. You know, she’s leaving the U.S. Senate. She’s got, you know, essentially nothing really to lose there. So I… I’m a little surprised, especially given, you know, her brand as a military veteran, etc. 38 00:06:15.740 --> 00:06:30.600 Kathie Obradovich: I mean, I can see why Zach Nunn wouldn’t say anything. He’s running for re-election in a competitive race and, you know, needs Trump’s support. But I would have thought Joni Ernst would have maybe said more about it by now. 39 00:06:30.870 --> 00:06:33.159 Dave Price: Don’t you think, though, that maybe… 40 00:06:34.080 --> 00:06:42.090 Dave Price: pre-HEGSeth confirmation, Ernst would have been more vocal, Now, granted, pre… 41 00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:50.090 Dave Price: That pre-nominate… pre-confirmation, it was still the expectation that she was perhaps going to run again, and she said. 42 00:06:50.670 --> 00:06:55.020 Dave Price: publicly announced differently, but I feel like she’s pivoted to… 43 00:06:56.420 --> 00:07:06.549 Dave Price: really being a fervent supporter of the administration at all times. I don’t know that I… I can’t think of anything over the last… 44 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:10.620 Dave Price: however many months, where she has said anything. 45 00:07:10.970 --> 00:07:12.039 Dave Price: In disagreement. 46 00:07:12.040 --> 0

    44 min
  5. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/4/26

    APR 4

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/4/26

    We had a packed week in Iowa politics to break down on this episode with our loyal guests and collaborators Laura Belin of Bleeding Heartland and Kathie Obradovich of Iowa Capital Dispatch. We start at the Statehouse, where health advocates pushing for a tobacco tax increase arrived to find legislators already headed home for Easter — leaving us wondering whether the April 21st adjournment date is anywhere close to realistic, with House budget targets still outstanding and real divisions between the chambers. On the campaign trail, Rob Sand held a news conference rolling out reform proposals including term limits, age limits for officeholders, and changes to primary voting. We dig into the politics of keeping the details vague and what the Republican-controlled legislature is likely to do with any of it. Then we turn to Zach Lahn, whose week felt like an unofficial campaign launch — a new West Des Moines headquarters, an Iowa Press appearance, and 180+ people at a Grimes town hall. We look at his populist “extraction economy” message, how he positions himself as a change candidate without criticizing his own party, and whether two months is enough time to catch Randy Feenstra. A note on Rob Sand’s primary voting proposal: During our discussion, we didn’t have all the details on hand. Sand wants a single open primary ballot — no party registration required. Voters pick their top choice per race, the top three to five vote-getters advance to the general, and the candidate with the most votes wins. Thanks to all of you that make us a part of your weekly routine, we really appreciate it. If you are able to contribute financially, or do already, we are grateful. Have a Happy Passover and Easter, we’ll see ya next Saturday morning :) AI generated transcript below: Dave Price: Hi, and welcome back to the Iowa Down Ballad Podcast. Thanks for tuning in this week. I’m Dave Price, along with my Iowa Riders Collaborative 12 00:01:01.090 --> 00:01:10.019 Dave Price: colleagues, that’s like a tongue twister, Kathie Obradovich and Laura Belin joining us on this Good Friday. Hello, ladies. 13 00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:10.920 Kathie Obradovich: Hello! 14 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:12.050 Laura Belin: Good to see ya. 15 00:01:12.270 --> 00:01:27.249 Dave Price: I don’t want to get, like, too super personal on these things, but may we please offer a shout-out to Kathie, who is off work on this Friday, but sent a very kind message to us this week. 16 00:01:27.250 --> 00:01:34.720 Dave Price: letting us know she was off, but still committing to yak it up with us. So, thank you very much before you… 17 00:01:35.390 --> 00:01:36.420 Dave Price: holiday weekend. 18 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:43.740 Kathie Obradovich: This is like a, you know, sitting down with friends, with a cup of coffee, and, you know, so… 19 00:01:43.740 --> 00:01:48.349 Dave Price: What do you mean it’s like sitting down with friends? Is it not sitting down with actual. 20 00:01:48.350 --> 00:01:48.840 Kathie Obradovich: Right, right. 21 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:53.329 Kathie Obradovich: We’re not in the same room together, but we are sitting down. Fair point. 22 00:01:54.440 --> 00:02:10.600 Dave Price: record, I stand, but whatever. You know, whatever. Hey, a bunch of stuff we want to talk to you about in the race of governor. Rob Sand put out some things this week that we want to talk about this week. Zach Lane, it sort of feels like this is almost like his launch. 23 00:02:10.729 --> 00:02:19.409 Dave Price: In a few ways as he’s, out and about. But I wanted to start with the legislature, and both of you have covered that place for a long time as well. 24 00:02:19.430 --> 00:02:42.910 Dave Price: The one thing I just wanted to mention is that sometimes it’s fascinating to me how their decisions will impact well-intentioned people, and I was standing there at a news conference early Wednesday afternoon, and it’s sort of the second swipe at this for the health advocates who are trying like crazy to get this tobacco tax increase. 25 00:02:43.100 --> 00:02:47.280 Dave Price: push through, and on vaping products and such. And so… 26 00:02:47.570 --> 00:02:51.939 Dave Price: Good speakers, they have doctors, health advocates, 27 00:02:52.070 --> 00:03:17.040 Dave Price: organizational leaders, and a good crowd of several dozen people in front of them, and they were explaining, hey, let’s be respectful, tell your story, when we’re done here, go upstairs, meet with the legislators, lay this all out about why this is important to do this, you know, be good listeners, respect their time, blah blah blah. And it’s almost like this split-screen moment, though, as I’m standing 28 00:03:17.040 --> 00:03:21.069 Dave Price: there, because as they’re going, and we’re on the first floor of the rotunda there. 29 00:03:21.170 --> 00:03:29.200 Dave Price: There are legislators with their satchels over their shoulders, hoofing it out there for the long weekend because 30 00:03:29.260 --> 00:03:41.930 Dave Price: both chambers weren’t really going to do much of anything Wednesday, and definitely not Thursday. You know, there were some, maybe, committee meetings throughout the week, but they’re going home for the long weekend. 31 00:03:41.930 --> 00:03:51.069 Dave Price: And I was thinking, man, that’s gotta suck for these people. The speakers were great, let’s go get them, let’s tell our stories, da-da-da-da-da. 32 00:03:51.460 --> 00:03:54.190 Dave Price: And they go upstairs and find a bunch of empty desks. 33 00:03:54.740 --> 00:03:57.860 Kathie Obradovich: The better advice for those folks should have been stand in the parking lot. 34 00:03:58.370 --> 00:03:58.870 Laura Belin: Yeah. 35 00:03:58.870 --> 00:04:06.219 Kathie Obradovich: between the building and the legislator’s parking lot, because then you can talk to them all as they’re heading home for the weekend. 36 00:04:06.220 --> 00:04:25.500 Laura Belin: So, it’s so hard to plan, and you’re at the mercy of what’s happening in the legislature. I’m involved with a nonprofit, A Thousand Friends of Iowa, and we do an annual awards ceremony in the rotunda that is planned 8 or 9 months ahead of time, and in 2023, we had reserved the rotunda for a Tuesday morning, and then… 37 00:04:25.500 --> 00:04:33.669 Laura Belin: we got bumped because the governor was signing the school voucher bill that had just passed in the House on the Monday night. So, you know, you just… 38 00:04:33.690 --> 00:04:43.139 Laura Belin: It’s very difficult. You never know what’s… no one would anticipate that that early in January that you would have a major bill signing in the rotunda when it happened. 39 00:04:43.380 --> 00:05:07.949 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, although the Wednesday before Easter, you can’t anticipate that, I think. It’s, you know, the Thursday before Easter is usually dead time at the legislature. Everybody wants to go home and spend the holiday with their families, etc. So yeah, there’s not… there’s not usually much happening, unless there’s a big bill that leaders want to push through, and then they will debate 40 00:05:08.020 --> 00:05:12.909 Kathie Obradovich: you know, they’ll debate it on Thursday, knowing everybody wants to go home, so… 41 00:05:12.910 --> 00:05:26.520 Dave Price: I was also stopped, reminding me on Wednesday that Thursday was supposed to be the University of Iowa Day in the Rotunda. That was the day they were able to get the space and get signed up on the calendar, and they decided 42 00:05:26.740 --> 00:05:34.760 Dave Price: There’s really not going to be much point here, because the legislators are going to be long gone, so they canceled it, so the Hawkeyes don’t get their time in the moment up there. 43 00:05:35.860 --> 00:05:39.959 Kathie Obradovich: They should just send Herky up on a random day. 44 00:05:40.330 --> 00:05:59.309 Dave Price: Maybe Hercy could help figure this out. We talked about this in our pregame chat, but I also wondered Wednesday if this is sort of our foreshadowing of what we are going to see. When this drops on the weekend, we will have slightly more than two weeks left in this scheduled session. 45 00:05:59.390 --> 00:06:04.250 Dave Price: Of, this… this calendar year, the 100 days… 46 00:06:04.390 --> 00:06:20.140 Dave Price: That they have in their timetable, and I’m just wondering, with some of these major decisions they still have to make, if they’re gonna have to essentially call timeout here sometime soon, where they send most of the members home, and committee chairs and leadership try to figure out these final agreements. 47 00:06:20.430 --> 00:06:32.270 Kathie Obradovich: I asked a very experienced Republican legislator, after the Pioneer Lawmaker joint session, you know, whether he sees any signs that 48 00:06:32.270 --> 00:06:47.219 Kathie Obradovich: the legislature might be moving toward the exit, you know, in a relatively on-time fashion. And I can’t really repeat the word that he said, but it was… he said, this is a something show. 49 00:06:47.220 --> 00:06:49.619 Dave Price: What could that four-letter word be? 50 00:06:49.620 --> 00:06:57.120 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, I’ll just let you guys ruminate on that, but yeah, you know, he was like, no, no. 51 00:06:57.570 --> 00:07:06.070 Kathie Obradovich: And it, you know, basically because of the divisions between House and Senate, which I think will… everybody will want to tune in and hear us talk more about that next week. 52 00:07:06.080 --> 00:07:18.080 Dave Price: Yeah, and we should get, in this coming week, the House Republican budget targets. The governor’s put hers out, obviously, a while ago, and the Senate Republicans put theirs out, so now we’re kind of waiting on the House, and… 53 00:07:18.080 --> 00:07:27.750 Dave Price: We will see if the math will further show the divisions between the… betwe

    37 min
  6. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 3/28/26

    MAR 28

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 3/28/26

    The Iowa Republican gubernatorial race delivered a week’s worth of drama that we could barely contain in a single episode. Dave , Laura , and Kathie break down the wild chain of events surrounding candidate Eddie Andrews and his last-minute petition filing — stolen signatures, a chaotic two-day objection hearing, procedural fumbles by the Secretary of State’s office, and allegations that the Adam Steen campaign orchestrated a ballot challenge through a third party. The trio examines what it all means for a five-person primary where Rep. Randy Feenstra is the presumed front-runner. Also covered this week: a correction on Democratic Senate fundraising numbers, an update on Rob Sand’s now-uncontested primary, Xavier Kerrigan’s exclusion from the 3rd Congressional District Democratic ballot, and the broader trend of candidate attrition since January. AI Generated Transcript Below: Dave Price: Welcome back, everybody, to the Iowa Down Ballot podcast, as we talk to you on a Friday. I’m Dave Price, joined by my Iowa Writers Collaborative’s cohorts, Laura Bellin and Kathy OBradovich. Hello, ladies! 5 00:00:37.970 --> 00:00:39.460 Kathie Obradovich: Hello, Dave. 6 00:00:39.460 --> 00:00:40.219 Laura Belin: Good to see ya! 7 00:00:40.220 --> 00:00:56.890 Dave Price: For those of you who are listening and not watching, you do not get to see that Kathy is decked out in her Cyclone shirt, because we’re recording this late morning on Friday. 8 00:00:57.020 --> 00:01:09.210 Dave Price: Which, unfortunately, for Kathy’s bedtime, is nearly 12 hours before the Cyclones actually take the court in Chicago, but by the time that you good folks listen and watch this. 9 00:01:09.380 --> 00:01:13.419 Dave Price: We’ll know if they, like Iowa, will make it to the Elite Eight. 10 00:01:13.420 --> 00:01:15.119 Kathie Obradovich: Yes, go Cyclones! 11 00:01:16.500 --> 00:01:26.930 Dave Price: And Laura and I are just wearing, like, regular shirts, so whatever. We don’t get any kind of special praise for us. Okay, Laura, so you would like to… 12 00:01:26.930 --> 00:01:39.559 Dave Price: clarify something from last week. Like, that’s sort of the cool thing, right? I, it is nice when you get to the point where enough people listen and watch these things that if they have issue with something and that they actually reach out, that… 13 00:01:39.790 --> 00:01:42.449 Dave Price: we can respond. So, here we are. 14 00:01:42.450 --> 00:01:42.830 Laura Belin: Yeah. 15 00:01:42.830 --> 00:01:44.930 Dave Price: onto something in one of the previous recordings. 16 00:01:44.930 --> 00:01:54.039 Laura Belin: Yeah, so I misspoke when we were talking about the Democratic race for Senate, and I think I said that Josh Turek had raised more money, and I was thinking about the third quarter. 17 00:01:54.040 --> 00:02:10.360 Laura Belin: of the… of last year, but overall, Zach Walz has raised more money, and he also raised more in the fourth quarter, so that’s… and he has more cash on hand. We’re gonna get a new set of fundraising reports in the middle of April, covering the first three months of this year, but just wanted to make that correction. 18 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:15.740 Dave Price: Alright, very good, and we appreciate the feedback for that stuff. Okay, ladies… 19 00:02:16.490 --> 00:02:22.070 Dave Price: I was sort of salivating, figuring out, when we emailed back and forth about what to talk to. 20 00:02:22.300 --> 00:02:39.999 Dave Price: When I send out the note to the TV station group for which I work, to let all the stations know what kind of stories we’re turning and all that, I think I literally said in the update, what the what is going on in the Iowa Republican gubernatorial race. 21 00:02:40.160 --> 00:02:48.290 Dave Price: Holy cow, this past week… Is just full of the catnip-type 22 00:02:48.910 --> 00:02:56.989 Dave Price: drama… I don’t even know how to characterize this. I think it’s, like, each day, as we went from… 23 00:02:57.300 --> 00:03:07.739 Dave Price: Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday to Thursday night, like, each day was like a new episode in a Netflix, like, special series, right? 24 00:03:07.740 --> 00:03:08.190 Kathie Obradovich: You can see. 25 00:03:08.190 --> 00:03:13.240 Dave Price: Seriously do multiple ones, and it’s… there’s literally no way to, like. 26 00:03:13.370 --> 00:03:20.500 Dave Price: Boil this down into, like, a 30-second… Recap, because it was… 27 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:23.740 Dave Price: I mean, it is just out there, right? 28 00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:43.429 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, it’s… I mean, it just… it sort of tells you that, these candidates are really feeling the pressure, but, you know, I don’t know, one of you guys can describe this, but, you know, this actually started when Eddie Andrews at first didn’t make his, 29 00:03:43.450 --> 00:03:54.730 Kathie Obradovich: You know, his petitions were challenged, and, you know, the way the process works, you have to turn in, so many signatures from so many counties, 30 00:03:54.730 --> 00:04:09.180 Kathie Obradovich: in order to qualify for the primary ballot, and he ran in on the last day, on Friday the 13th, like, 10 minutes before the deadline, the 5 p.m. deadline, with, like, you know. 31 00:04:09.180 --> 00:04:11.519 Dave Price: Like a college kid turning in your final. 32 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:12.679 Kathie Obradovich: or something, right? 33 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:33.720 Kathie Obradovich: And, and so, you know, that got challenged, and then he, he did make the ballot. If you guys want to fill in, the state objection panel ultimately decided he made the ballot, but it also sort of brought out, you know, who made that challenge, and why, and then… 34 00:04:33.720 --> 00:04:40.430 Kathie Obradovich: Eddie Andrews accused the STEAM campaign of being behind this challenge. So somebody take it from there. 35 00:04:40.430 --> 00:04:48.310 Dave Price: Well, but then also a couple other little nuggets with that, like, Andrew’s claims that during that whole… 36 00:04:48.310 --> 00:05:01.959 Dave Price: situation where they’re trying to organize their signature petitions and get them all organized, and they’re trying to figure out, do they need to be in alphabetical order, do they not? Are they supposed to be in binders, not in binders? Are they supposed to be organized by county? 37 00:05:01.960 --> 00:05:08.959 Dave Price: like, they left from the Secretary of State’s office, and I think they went down the hall into the old Supreme Court chambers. 38 00:05:08.960 --> 00:05:27.439 Dave Price: to try to lay it all out and organize it, and Andrews said that he then ran into somebody from the Adam Steen campaign, where there was some kind of, like, conversation or something, and the way Andrews explains it, the Steam folks were like, you know, hey, if you want to drop out and support us. 39 00:05:27.540 --> 00:05:44.609 Dave Price: So he doesn’t do that, and he’s kind of perturbed by it, so they turn in their stuff, and he also didn’t fill out the, affidavit that the candidates themselves have to do, so he did that in Pate’s office. So they turn it all in, they think they have enough. 40 00:05:44.960 --> 00:05:54.760 Dave Price: They get challenged, and then we sort of have to go forward some days, and then they have the state objection panel, the three… 41 00:05:54.760 --> 00:05:58.659 Kathie Obradovich: One more thing, though, before you go there. He also alleged that. 42 00:05:58.660 --> 00:05:59.070 Dave Price: Yeah, sure. 43 00:05:59.070 --> 00:06:06.419 Kathie Obradovich: were stolen out of his car, which is… this is a bizarre thing that I have never heard of, anything like that. 44 00:06:06.420 --> 00:06:07.740 Dave Price: I did not file a police report. 45 00:06:07.740 --> 00:06:27.389 Laura Belin: When he… I was trying to press him, was it… I said, were they taken from your home, an office, or somewhere else? And he was really vague. He didn’t want to say that. I mean, I have not heard of candidates’ petitions being stolen. I think it’s more likely that a volunteer or somebody misplaced them, or lost them, or whatever. 46 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:37.229 Laura Belin: It’s unlikely that a group of county petitions… so he claimed that he had to go back, he and his volunteers had to go back and get several counties, get more than 100 signatures. 47 00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:53.560 Laura Belin: in those several counties just in the last 3 days. But he clearly had not read the rules. I mean, if he didn’t know that they have to be organized by county, and they have to be fastened in some way, I mean, there was a… a certain lack of preparation was evident in that. 48 00:06:53.560 --> 00:07:01.949 Kathie Obradovich: There are actually rules about the paper size, you know, and this is a very picky, picky little process, so… 49 00:07:01.950 --> 00:07:10.929 Laura Belin: But then he was able… he apparently got permission, or I don’t know if somebody, staff in the Secretary of State’s office said it was okay. He had some 50 00:07:10.930 --> 00:07:28.529 Laura Belin: petitions on non-standard paper size, that was wide, so it had extra columns, and that was one of the reasons why some of his petitions were challenged, but that was ruled that that was okay, because I think he had received assurances from the Secretary of State’s staff that he could have that. I mean, I… 51 00:07:28.530 --> 00:07:52.199 Laura Belin: You know, people talk a lot about election integrity, and I know… I understand that it’s very important that candidates meet these thresholds. You want to make sure that there are a significant number of people who want to see a candidate on the ballot. But to me, I mean, whether somebody signed a page that was 8.5 by 11, or a different size paper, I mean, that’s not, to my mind, an election integrity issue at all. I mean, there

    41 min
  7. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 3/21/26

    MAR 21

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 3/21/26

    We recorded this one ahead last Friday so Dave can spend some well-earned spring break time with his family. Last week we got into the candidate filing deadline, and we wanted to drill into some of the more marquee races such as governor and senate. The last time Iowa had an open race for governor and a senate seat was in 1968 so almost 60 years. In the senate race the prohibitive favorite on the republican side is Ashley Hinson, although Jim Carlin could pose a challenge. On the democratic side it seems to be a pretty close race between Josh Turek and Zach Wahls. In the race for governor, it’s the inverse. The democrats have a frontrunner nominee in Rob Sand while the republican race is far from settled. Reminder to share us with your friends and family, we appreciate all of you for helping us continue to grow this podcast. We’re getting consistently over 1,000 views and around 750 to over 1,000 video watches. Plus over 200 podcast downloads. It’s great to know people are still looking for and finding real news. Have a great weekend! AI generated transcript below: 00:00:34.510 --> 00:00:47.540 Dave Price: Hi, everybody, welcome back to the Iowa Down Ballot podcast. I am Dave Price, joined by my fellow Iowa Writers Collaborative columnist, Kathie Obradovich and Laura Bellin. Hello, ladies. 12 00:00:48.150 --> 00:00:49.000 Laura Belin: Hello. 13 00:00:49.430 --> 00:00:56.140 Dave Price: I will… we’re gonna start with a confessional that we are recording this ahead of time. 14 00:00:56.370 --> 00:00:57.800 Dave Price: Totally because of me. 15 00:00:58.820 --> 00:01:09.999 Dave Price: Because I am going to be spending some time with my kids, and I did not want to… not that I don’t enjoy joining you every Friday, but… 16 00:01:10.160 --> 00:01:28.169 Dave Price: I wasn’t going to be able to work that out quite as easily, and didn’t want to stop the fun to do that. So thank you for recording in advance, but your words will transcend time limits. They will just live on your wisdom and insights that we’re going to share with the masses, correct? 17 00:01:28.170 --> 00:01:28.860 Kathie Obradovich: I don’t know. 18 00:01:28.860 --> 00:01:29.970 Dave Price: We’re terrified. 19 00:01:29.970 --> 00:01:40.130 Laura Belin: Well, we just… we just want people to understand that if there’s some massive breaking Iowa politics news story next week, that it’s not that we’ve purposely ignored it. 20 00:01:40.130 --> 00:01:59.340 Dave Price: Exactly, but they can find that, undoubtedly, in your other work. Correct. Which is perhaps not here. So we’re going to talk kind of big picture, and so now that we’ve gone past the filing deadline, we can start to look ahead, and this week, we want to zero in on the U.S. Senate race, because we have an open race. 21 00:01:59.340 --> 00:02:03.459 Dave Price: We have an open primary on both sides, we don’t get that a lot. 22 00:02:04.530 --> 00:02:15.969 Dave Price: I’m trying to do this off the top of my head, and I forget the stat. I wasn’t planning on saying this, but when… somebody already did the research. When was the last time we had open U.S. Senate race and open governor? 23 00:02:15.970 --> 00:02:17.060 Kathie Obradovich: 68. 24 00:02:17.060 --> 00:02:17.850 Dave Price: 68. 25 00:02:17.850 --> 00:02:19.150 Laura Belin: 1968. 26 00:02:19.150 --> 00:02:42.259 Dave Price: Okay. I knew it was a bit. Yep. So, who knows what we’re in store for? Let’s start with the Republican side. So, Joni Ernst, as we know, frankly, she’s honoring her campaign pledge that she said during a debate in 2014 that she said she would not do this more than two terms, right? And I think… was that prompted by Matt Whitaker? Did he say it first in that debate? 27 00:02:42.970 --> 00:02:43.580 Dave Price: Remember that? 28 00:02:43.580 --> 00:02:54.899 Laura Belin: I can’t remember whether it was Whitaker or one of the other candidates, that’s a good… but… and I can’t remember whether the person said it unprompted, or whether there was a specific question about the term limits. 29 00:02:54.900 --> 00:02:59.329 Dave Price: But so, you know, there was all this speculation, but she followed through with it, yeah. 30 00:02:59.330 --> 00:03:03.569 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, that’s probably the least of the reasons why she’s not running. 31 00:03:03.570 --> 00:03:21.759 Laura Belin: I mean, she did tell several reporters in 2024 that she intended to run for a third term. She’s mentioned that to our Iowa Writers Collaborative colleague, Doug Burns. I’m pretty sure she also mentioned it to Breanne Fonschiel of the Des Moines Register, so something changed during calendar year 2025. 32 00:03:21.760 --> 00:03:35.289 Dave Price: I think in 24, she teased it at the roast and Ride, too, if I remember right, when I was there. I think she had… because Doug had already asked her about running, so yeah, it does seem like, you know, sort of a Kim Reynolds scenario, right? I mean, we… 33 00:03:35.290 --> 00:03:35.800 Laura Belin: Hmm. 34 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:39.089 Dave Price: It seemed like both were running until they weren’t. 35 00:03:39.090 --> 00:03:39.410 Laura Belin: Right. 36 00:03:39.410 --> 00:03:48.939 Dave Price: Okay, so that’s the dynamics here, so she’s not going to run, so now we have this open primary on both sides. We talked about in last week’s show. 37 00:03:49.050 --> 00:04:04.389 Dave Price: how, while some people maybe don’t look at it like this, we can probably come up with a pretty good list of reasons why a competitive primary could be beneficial for candidates. Now, on the Republican side, we have to see if it will be a Republican primary, right? 38 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:16.960 Laura Belin: Yeah, I mean, the Democratic primary is a true case where either candidate has a good chance of winning, whereas the Republican primary is much more of a heavy favorite versus a long shot. But Jim Carlin 39 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:25.479 Laura Belin: He’s… I consider him a serious candidate. He got about a quarter of the vote as a primary challenger to Senator Chuck Grassley in 2022, so that’s… 40 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:36.750 Laura Belin: Nothing to sneeze at. There are… there’s a big chunk of Republican voters who are not happy with the establishment, and Ashley Hinson is certainly the establishment candidate in this primary. 41 00:04:36.910 --> 00:04:37.430 Dave Price: Can I… 42 00:04:37.430 --> 00:04:59.139 Kathie Obradovich: A big part of Carlin’s, just the last time, though, running against Grassley, is completely different, because I think a big part of his argument, and the one that probably resonated most with voters, was that Grassley had just been there too long. He can’t make that argument against somebody in an open race. And secondly, I would just say. 43 00:04:59.140 --> 00:05:04.730 Kathie Obradovich: Carlin running against Ashley Hinson, from the right. 44 00:05:04.730 --> 00:05:10.910 Kathie Obradovich: Is a much harder path than running against Joni Ernst from the right one about. 45 00:05:11.780 --> 00:05:14.979 Laura Belin: Why, I mean, their voting records aren’t very different, though. 46 00:05:15.190 --> 00:05:39.180 Kathie Obradovich: But they’re a little bit different. I mean, I think Joni Ernst has been a much more reliable MAGA vote than… I mean, Ashley Hinson has been a much more reliable MAGA vote than Joni Ernst was. I think that Joni Ernst upset conservatives on a number of occasions, most recently, with her sort of wavering about Pete Hegsus. 47 00:05:39.180 --> 00:05:43.410 Kathie Obradovich: You know, his… And Elsa. 48 00:05:43.810 --> 00:06:01.380 Kathie Obradovich: She, yeah, his nomination. But she had done also, I think, bipartisan work. She made a point of working with Democrats, especially female senator Democrats over her period, and I just don’t think we’ve seen that same kind of thing from Ashley Hinson. 49 00:06:01.380 --> 00:06:07.589 Laura Belin: I think if you’re a MAGA nihilist, though, I mean, they both voted to certify the 2020 Electoral College count. 50 00:06:07.690 --> 00:06:19.700 Laura Belin: And they both voted for the, what was it, Respect for Marriage Act that acknowledged marriage equality. And so I think that there’s still gonna be a hardcore contingent who won’t be happy with Ashley Hinson. 51 00:06:20.670 --> 00:06:28.280 Dave Price: I… I think that the… there is a chunk in MAGA that definitely did not like Joni Ernst. 52 00:06:28.540 --> 00:06:31.290 Dave Price: I think we really saw that. Maybe Hegseth… 53 00:06:32.080 --> 00:06:34.130 Dave Price: Sort of blew that up, but… 54 00:06:34.280 --> 00:06:36.920 Dave Price: I mean, you know, she faced all kinds of threats. 55 00:06:37.110 --> 00:06:41.670 Dave Price: Both professionally and otherwise, because of her initial stance that… 56 00:06:41.780 --> 00:06:58.090 Dave Price: There’s some revisionist history, I think, with some of her critics on this, too. Never did she say early on with the Hegstass situation that he was terrible, his acts were terrible, the accusations were terrible, or that she could never confirm him, all that stuff. 57 00:06:58.090 --> 00:07:08.560 Dave Price: All she said and called for was the process, which is traditionally what happens in hearings, is the investigatory 58 00:07:08.740 --> 00:07:17.140 Dave Price: process into somebody’s background, and you try to feel them out, what they’re all about. And that is not… that was not what some in the party wanted. 59 00:07:18.730 --> 00:07:20.729 Kathie Obradovich: So, you know, I just think that… 60 00:07:20.890 --> 00:07:36.169 Kathie Obradovich: by saying that Hinson is a little bit more reliably MAGA. Yeah, Joni Ernst went along with the party, you know, the vast majority of the time. She, you know, I think had a… 61 00:07:38.100 --> 00:07:58.089 Kathie Obradovich: I wouldn’t say relat

    22 min
  8. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 3/14/26

    MAR 14

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 3/14/26

    The filing deadline for deadline for federal and statewide races was yesterday March 13th. We have who’s in and who’s out (as of recording time) and what that means for the races for governor, senate, congress, and state races. We spent most of our time discussing each campaign’s strengths and weaknesses as we get closer to the June 2nd primary date. Towards the back half of the show, the state’s three-member Revenue Estimating Conference projected a $1.2 billion budget shortfall for next year. Democratic candidate for governor Rob Sand has called it the ‘fiscal time bomb.’ Uncertainty surrounding the current war in the Middle East and other geopolitical challenges could make the situation worse than expected. We also discuss how these budget issues could effect political races come the fall as well. Thanks so much for following along here with IDB whether that’s listening, watching, or reading. Special tip of the cap to those of you who have become a paid subscriber, that helps tremendously. Have a great weekend! AI generated transcript below: 00:00:24.560 --> 00:00:37.359 Dave Price: Hi, and welcome to the Iowa Down Ballot Podcast. I’m Dave Price, joined by Kathie Obradovich and Laura Bellin. Hello, ladies, as we record on Friday the 13th. 6 00:00:37.360 --> 00:00:40.520 Kathie Obradovich: And what a lucky day it is. 7 00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:45.230 Dave Price: Indeed. Fun fact, I got engaged on Friday the 13th. 8 00:00:45.230 --> 00:00:48.219 Kathie Obradovich: Yay, lucky for you, and lucky for Emily. Excellent. 9 00:00:48.570 --> 00:00:54.959 Dave Price: Yeah, well, I hope she still feels that it was lucky. I’ve not asked her that recently. Perhaps I should. 10 00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:56.290 Laura Belin: filing deadline day. 11 00:00:57.050 --> 00:00:59.600 Laura Belin: Filing deadline day is always very exciting, so… 12 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:02.350 Kathie Obradovich: It may not be lucky for some candidates today, we’ll see. 13 00:01:02.440 --> 00:01:07.420 Dave Price: Indeed, when I was doing, recording my TV show this week. 14 00:01:07.420 --> 00:01:26.380 Dave Price: I was starting off by… and it’s probably because my teenage son is such a sports fan, and follows every sport under the sun, I swear. But, you know, he’s in high school, he has aspirations of playing college baseball, and so, like, National Signing Day is, you know, such a big deal for high school athletes, and for especially the ones that are… 15 00:01:26.380 --> 00:01:35.880 Dave Price: maybe more sought after, you know, they sit at, like, a table, maybe in their high school. Maybe they have the real big ones, you know, they get up there with… 16 00:01:35.990 --> 00:01:49.539 Dave Price: with their family behind them, and they maybe put, like, hats or helmets or something for some of the big schools in front of it, and there’s all this fanfare, and they’re like, da-da, and then they make their… make their big decision. It’s not quite… 17 00:01:49.670 --> 00:01:52.470 Dave Price: As dramatic, perhaps? 18 00:01:52.680 --> 00:02:08.499 Dave Price: But it is sort of, like, it’s… I don’t know what you both think of this, but… I mean, it is sort of fun to watch the candidates come in, and I’m always fascinated with sort of the theatrics of it, and how they each do it. 19 00:02:08.650 --> 00:02:09.810 Dave Price: And… 20 00:02:10.389 --> 00:02:27.599 Dave Price: for the most part, the statewide candidates where I was there, the Republicans, when they filed… Republicans and Democrats, well, one of the two Democrats, when they filed for governor, you know, kind of had supporters with them. Zach Lane. 21 00:02:27.600 --> 00:02:38.769 Dave Price: filed on Friday morning, and he just brought his family. Now, they have, like, 100 kids, in their blended family. I don’t remember how many they have, 6 or 7 or something like that, or if my kids were here, 6, 7, 6, 7. 22 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:42.189 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, yeah, no, they’ve got a basketball team, it’s good. 23 00:02:42.190 --> 00:02:48.930 Dave Price: They do. So it was primarily, he just did with his… with his wife and their kids, and some staffers, and a couple of… 24 00:02:49.100 --> 00:02:50.859 Dave Price: A couple of supporters. 25 00:02:51.020 --> 00:02:55.139 Dave Price: But a few of the other ones, you know, really brought in an entourage, and… 26 00:02:55.140 --> 00:02:55.519 Laura Belin: And what? 27 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:11.960 Dave Price: to have you. But it is also fascinating, because, you know, we just keep checking the Secretary of State’s website, and it’s not like it’s immediately posted when they go in there and drop their signatures, and all of a sudden they’re there. So there is a little kind of drama to the whole thing about, alright, who… 28 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:17.679 Dave Price: Who collected enough signatures to submit? Who decided, it’s not gonna work? 29 00:03:18.310 --> 00:03:18.839 Kathie Obradovich: It’s odd. 30 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:43.820 Kathie Obradovich: You know, the theatricality of it, the… I think Rob Sand, wheeling his dolly with the crates of petitions through the Capitol, was probably one of the better, you know, displays that I’ve actually seen. Plus, he was able to announce that he broke a record, for the number of signatures. Now, the Secretary of State’s 31 00:03:43.820 --> 00:03:56.650 Kathie Obradovich: potentially could throw out some of those signatures. But still, I mean, that… the visual of him actually wheeling this dolly full of petitions through the Capitol, I thought was something I hadn’t seen before. 32 00:03:56.650 --> 00:04:02.410 Laura Belin: Well, and I don’t think that Christina Bohannon told anyone when she was coming, am I right about that? 33 00:04:02.410 --> 00:04:03.620 Dave Price: Alright, I didn’t know. 34 00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:13.309 Laura Belin: Yeah, I don’t think that anybody realized that she was coming, because some of the candidates, they put out an advisory ahead of time so people can get pictures, they can ask questions, and… 35 00:04:13.310 --> 00:04:23.909 Laura Belin: I didn’t know, and I haven’t talked to anybody who knew, and then all of a sudden, Christina Bohannon’s name was on the ballot, but… so some people are not seeking out that publicity for when they’re filing. 36 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:28.319 Dave Price: I’m sort of surprised by that, maybe I’m just, like… 37 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:34.510 Dave Price: An old, washed-up, outdated media reporter here, but don’t you want that free bite of the apple? 38 00:04:34.830 --> 00:04:47.690 Laura Belin: I would think so. I mean, several of the counties in the first district are in the Des Moines media market. I mean, you… you might think that a lot of the Southeast Iowa counties wouldn’t be getting the Des Moines TV, but some of them, I mean. 39 00:04:47.690 --> 00:04:52.789 Dave Price: But we have state… I mean, I work for a statewide TV network, so we go all over the place. 40 00:04:52.790 --> 00:04:54.060 Laura Belin: That’s right, so you’d be in the clock. 41 00:04:54.060 --> 00:05:04.400 Dave Price: So, yeah, it’s… I’m just sort of… and I’m not just saying her, necessarily, but I guess I’m just sort of surprised that if you’re running for Congress or some other statewide 42 00:05:04.510 --> 00:05:13.619 Dave Price: why you wouldn’t try to get the State House Press Corps there to get that video or picture, or… people just must have different philosophies. 43 00:05:13.620 --> 00:05:19.969 Kathie Obradovich: Especially because that video, you know, gets used as B-roll, it gets used 44 00:05:19.970 --> 00:05:37.479 Kathie Obradovich: I mean, you know, we like to go to those things, not because we really think they’re really news, but it gives us an opportunity to get some fresh pictures of the candidate, etc. So, so yeah, there’s a lot of reasons to let Des Moines media know about that, and I’m surprised that they didn’t. 45 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.400 Dave Price: So, our, 46 00:05:41.130 --> 00:05:49.839 Dave Price: when… you already mentioned when Rob Sand, the Democratic candidate for governor, he went in there, so he’s got the… the dolly with all the boxes and all that stuff, and… 47 00:05:49.840 --> 00:05:52.670 Laura Belin: And they were holding the signs that said 24,000. 48 00:05:54.210 --> 00:05:55.110 Laura Belin: 56. 49 00:05:55.110 --> 00:06:12.889 Dave Price: So that… and he had… he was on… on message with his… with his campaign t-shirt, with his slogan and all that stuff. So, you know, that was clearly a moment that they wanted to use. I’m curious if either of you two were surprised that Julie Stouch 50 00:06:13.070 --> 00:06:22.470 Dave Price: collected the signatures to submit and to file for that race as well. Did you think she was going to do that, based on what you had heard? 51 00:06:22.860 --> 00:06:39.670 Kathie Obradovich: I mean, we’ve heard zero from her, really, since she announced. There hasn’t been much. She didn’t raise… didn’t raise much money. But she’s an… I mean, she’s a Democratic organizer. It didn’t surprise me that she could raise the signatures. I mean, I think that it’s gonna take 52 00:06:39.670 --> 00:06:51.430 Kathie Obradovich: more than that, for her to be able to make any headway in the race, but, but yeah, she, I mean, this is what she does, right? So it would be… 53 00:06:51.430 --> 00:07:10.430 Kathie Obradovich: it would have been surprising to me if she intended to file and couldn’t. I know it wouldn’t have surprised me if she, at some point, decided not to file or not to run, but but yeah, I mean, she… coming up with those signatures for somebody like her, not that hard, I don’t think. 54 00:07:10.430 --> 00:07:24.420 Laura Belin: I reached out to her after the fundraising reports came out, becaus

    37 min
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Professional political analysts discuss Iowa politics with refreshing, in-depth conversations. iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com

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  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    50
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    Clean
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