Iowa

Dear GOP presidential field: Iowa does not matter

Published

1 year ago

June 7, 2023

Dear GOP presidential field: Iowa does not matter

The Iowa caucuses get a lot of buzz in politics, but only because they go first. In the grand scheme of things, what happens in Iowa means almost nothing.

Yet for reasons of stupidity or bad political strategy, candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president dump a ton of money and hinge their fate on a state with a worse record for predicting winners than Dick Morris.

Given the history, you don’t even want to win Iowa if you want to win the nomination. You want a good showing, yes, but a victory brings with it a better chance you’ll flame out than that you’ll win.

If you go back to 1980 , only two non-incumbent candidates won Iowa and went on to win the GOP nomination. Those were Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000. And only Bush went on to with the general election.

Every other time the Iowa winner has lost the nomination. This includes George H. W. Bush (1980), Bob Dole (1988), Mike Huckabee (2008), Rick Santorum (2012) and Ted Cruz (2016).

That’s a wasteland of losing candidacies.

For Democrats, things have been different. Five times in that period has the Iowa winner won the nomination – Walter Mondale (1984), Al Gore (2000), John Kerry (2004), Barack Obama (2008) and Hillary Clinton (2016) – with only two of them eventually winning the presidency.

Democrats can’t ignore Iowa, but as Pete Buttigieg can attest, anyone who bets the farm on it is destined to lose.

For Republicans, New Hampshire has a much better track record of boosting candidates to victory. Again since 1980, New Hampshire primary voters have successfully voted for the eventual Republican nominee five times when there was no incumbent Republican president on the ballot. Granite state primary voters picked Ronald Reagan (1980), George H. W. Bush (1988), John McCain (2008), Mitt Romney (2012) and Donald Trump (2016). Think what you will of those nominees, but the only way to win the presidency is to first win the nomination, and New Hampshire is much better than Iowa at choosing Republican winners.

(Curiously, on the Democratic side, the results are nearly the opposite, with New Hampshire primary voters only picking three eventual nominees in that period — Michael Dukakis, Al Gore and John Kerry — who all lost the general election.)

In spite of Iowa’s track record, we see a conga line of Republicans marching through the state every four years, appearing in diners and at fairs, eating deep-fried whatevers and burning up a huge pile of campaign cash trying to win what amounts to a giant bucket of fool’s gold.

Maybe this time it’s different. Maybe the campaign consultants they hire this year have a strategy that will somehow buck history and get them the nomination. But don’t hold your breath. Republican candidates need to show signs of life in Iowa, but the Republican field only gets weeded there, then plucked almost clean in New Hampshire. If you win Iowa, there’s nowhere to go but down, and history says that’s likely where you will go.

On the Democratic side, the opposite is true: Iowa is where it’s at. The momentum from a victory there can carry a candidate much further. Historically, after Iowa, Democrats get in line much more easily than Republicans do. But the party of individuality does not acquiesce to the caucus results.

The people of New Hampshire have different attitudes and interests than Iowans do, and that’s reflected in how they vote. A win in New Hampshire will carry you much further in the Republican primary than a win in Iowa. Whoever recognizes this sooner and campaigns accordingly will stand a better chance of winning the nomination, not just a corn-on-the-cob-eating championship and first prize for pancake-flipping.

Derek Hunter is host of the Derek Hunter Podcast and a former staffer for the late Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).

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Iowa

These Iowa communities want traffic cameras

Published

4 hours ago

July 3, 2024

Press Room

These Iowa communities want traffic cameras

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray TV Iowa State Capitol Bureau) – The Iowa Department of Transportation confirmed to Gray TV Iowa that 25 cities and one county have applied to operate traffic cameras. Lawmakers passed legislation this past session that requires communities to apply for a permit through IDOT if they want traffic cameras.

IDOT reported that these communities applied for a traffic camera permit by the July 1st deadline:

Buffalo
Cedar Rapids
Charles City
Chester
Davenport
Des Moines
Fayette
Fort Dodge
Fredericksburg
Hazleton
Hudson
Independence
La Porte City
Le Claire
Lee County
Marion
Marshalltown
Muscatine
Oelwein
Postville
Prairie City
Sioux City
Strawberry Point
Tama
Waterloo
Webster City
West Union

Some lawmakers have tried for the past several years to ban traffic cameras. Instead, legislators agreed to require changes that took away some of the local authority.

Communities have to demonstrate the need for the cameras, provide annual reports detailing collisions and citations at the intersections, and they can only give a ticket if a driver is going at least 11 miles per hour above the posted speed limit.

There are several changes for drivers. Previously, the owner of the vehicle that received the traffic citation received the ticket. Owners can now notify the jurisdiction if someone else was driving.

Drivers will also notice standardized fines in all communities, another state mandate by the legislature.

Fines for speeding offense:

11-20 miles per hour above the speed limit: $75
21-25 miles per hour above the speed limit: $100
26-30 miles per hour above the speed limit: $250
More than 30 miles per hour above the speed limit: $500

About the author: Midwest native Dave Price is Gray Television’s Iowa Political Director for 10 stations that broadcast in the state and has been covering local, state and national politics from Iowa since 2001.

Dave produces and hosts “Inside Iowa Politics,” a weekly, in-depth show focused on interviews with top leaders on politics, issues, challenges and solutions that impact the state.

He has written two books about the Iowa Caucuses (“Caucus Chaos” and “Caucus Chaos Trump”). Email him at dave.price@gray.tv. Follow him on X (Twitter): @idaveprice Meta/Facebook: DavePriceNews Instagram: idaveprice and LinkedIn: Dave Price.

Dave welcomes your thoughts on what answers to seek from politicians and what issues challenge our communities.

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Iowa

Iowa DOT announces partial re-opening of I-29 and I-680

Published

11 hours ago

July 3, 2024

Press Room

Iowa DOT announces partial re-opening of I-29 and I-680

ATLANTIC, Iowa (WOWT) – Iowa Department of Transportation announced Wednesday a partial re-opening of Interstate 29 and I-680.

Following the closures of I-29 and I-680 amidst the flooding of the Missouri River, the Iowa DOT is announcing re-openings of the two roadways, though there will still be intermittent lane closures and head-to-head traffic. All lanes will be open on I-29 south of I-680.

Iowa DOT also reminds drivers that the westbound I-29 on-ramp from Crescent remains closed.

Currently, flood waters do remain in the area, and they ward drivers to never drive over roads that are still covered in water. Drivers are also reminded not to go around barricades or fencing, as they are there to keep drivers away from flood waters.

If you have any questions, Iowa road closures are updated regularly on their 511 website, and to download the Iowa 511 app on whatever devices are available to them. You can also contact the Iowa DOT for any general information at 712-388-6893.

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Iowa

Iowa couple ticketed after old license plates turn up in NYC

Published

18 hours ago

July 3, 2024

Press Room

Iowa couple ticketed after old license plates turn up in NYC

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (WOWT) – A mystery has resurfaced in Pottawattamie County and more vehicle owners are frustrated by a lack of answers.

Two years ago, 6 News exposed how old Iowa license plates turned into the treasurer a decade ago have been caught on speed cameras in New York City, most recently in April.

It’s been 12 years since Vern and Debra Harness turned in their Iowa license plates that recently showed up on a bumper in New York City.

“I’ve never been to New York City, and I’ve never had an inkling to go there,” Debra Harness said.

However, New York City Traffic citations have sure come to them. The NYC finance department sent threats of a civil judgement if the couple doesn’t pay $300 on four speeding tickets since April. All the citations on a van caught by a school zone camera with their old license plates.

“They don’t care, they just want us to pay these bills, and if we pay these bills, we are admitting that they’re still our plates and I’m not going to do that,” Debra said.

The Pottawattamie County Treasurer says there are about 40 vehicle owners in the same boat.

“Well, I hope it solves all of them,” Pottawattamie Co. Treasurer Lea Voss said. “This is just ridiculous what these people have gone through, and I’ve contacted everybody.”

The Harnesses say when they turned in those plates 12 years ago, they came off their pickup truck. Now, those same plates turned up on a white van in New York City and it shouldn’t take the world’s greatest detective those plates are on the wrong vehicle.

“It seems very simple, but they’re not being helpful at all,” Debra Harness said.

The New York speed camera caught the same van on the same street in less than a month, so innocent Iowans say undeserving fine notices can be averted by New York’s finest.

“Pull over the vehicle, detain them until they come up with why they got that plate,” Vern Harness said. “When, where, and why.”

That might help Iowa’s department of transportation investigation into how ole plates got new life in New York City, because for years Iowa Department of Corrections picked them up.

“I didn’t ask, I just assume they are going to recycle them.” Voss said.

The DoT Investigations Bureau Director says solving this ongoing issue has not been easy. He says unfortunately investigations have not been able to determine if the Iowa plates in New York are counterfeit, or actual plates issued in Iowa at one time. Multiple attempts to work with New York Law Enforcement will continue, as does the mystery for the Harnesses and many other Iowans who turned in plates, never expecting to see them again.

“If I turn mine in, I turn them into them but from now on they’ll be cut in half,” Vern Harness said.

In a positive development, Vern and Debra Harness got an email from the New York City Finance Department saying all the speeding citations against them have been dismissed. The treasurer hopes that others with undeserved fines will have the same outcome.

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