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Most of us have seen enthusiastic liberals in Bernie shirts and excited Republicans in “Make America Great Again” gear. These shirts are great and all, but you can find some really creative stuff if you play around on a candidate’s webpage. Check out some of the most interesting, creative, and bizarre things I found below. […]

Rand Paul looked tired. Drake was the last of the nine Iowa colleges he had visited in three days, and you could tell. The long line of students snaked along the walls of the Olmsted Center, at least a couple hundred students waiting to shake the Kentucky senator’s hand and pose for a photo. Paul […]

Sarah Fulton & David Redlawsk Sarah Fulton is a senior Journalism and History double major at Drake University. David Redlawsk, is the Harkin Institute Mabry Fellow and Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick and Director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling   During the 2003-04 Iowa Caucus cycle, you could not attend a John Edwards’ event without hearing him talk of being “the son of a millworker.” This time around even political blue-blue Hillary Clinton is claiming humble roots. It seems that running for president means having a personal history tailor-made to appeal to the country’s millions of diverse citizens. But is that even possible? How can one background story speak to a steel worker in Detroit and an upper class mom in Santa Barbara? It is a struggle that candidates and their consultants deal with every election cycle. Writer Chris Witherspoon explained in a recent article that candidates need to be “to be in touch with the dynamics of culture and the needs of consumers at this moment in time to build connections.” They have to relate to the desires of “everyman.” A major way they appear to do this is by creating an origin story. Origin stories […]

Last Friday, I attended the Polk County Democrats Fall Banquet and Auction at the Iowa State Fair Grounds. I’ve seen Martin O’Malley several times, but I was especially interested to see grassroots politics at work with the number of state congressional candidates and candidates for U.S. Senate walking around the room. The opportunity to get […]

In the heat of this high profile caucus season, the first Democratic National Convention debate will be held today in Las Vegas, Nevada. Election frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will go head-to-head to become the party favorite. Lesser-known candidates Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee must utilize the debate opportunity to prove themselves […]

On Nov. 12, two days before the DNC debate at Drake University, Yahoo! News crashed campus to provide Iowans a different platform to interact with the caucuses and, more broadly, our political landscape today. In exploring the relationship between technology and politics, Yahoo is brought in some heavy hitters from a number of administrations, campaigns, and digital platforms. […]

When it comes to Iowa politics, the whole ordeal can be boiled down to one central question when voters make up their minds: Would I get a beer with this candidate? Candidates are forced to exercise retail politics in Iowa, a very personable approach to campaigning that is the antithesis of mass mailers and television […]

Around Iowa the candidates logos are everywhere. They are on billboards, in people’s front laws, on people’s laptop cases, and all over social media. Though they seem to be annoyingly present, there are reasons why we see them everywhere. The logos were designed meticulously, using advertising techniques in an attempt to make us, the voters, […]

Not an empty seat could be found at the Iowa Historical Building during the Iowa Caucus Consortium Series featuring Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Thursday. Bush campaign interns were circling the reception hall handing out “Jeb!” stickers and persuading undecided voters to sign commit-to-caucus cards. Inside the auditorium was a largely elderly crowd in […]

“Iowans don’t pick the president, we narrow the field and set the stage for the rest of the country. That’s why we’ve been shaping presidential politics since 1972.” These are the words that float through the air as I walk into the bright red and blue atrium housing the First in the Nation exhibit at […]