How often does this podcast release new episodes?

This podcast updates bi-weekly.

Where can I listen to this podcast?

This podcast is available on 6 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

Does this podcast accept guests?

Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

Iowa Down Ballot

Claim This Podcast

by Iowa Writers Collaborative Members

5.0(1 reviews)

57 episodes

Updated Bi-weekly

Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇺🇸

Podcast Authority

Beta

PoorBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more

Quality67

Social0

YouTube0

Engagement32

Learn more

Podcast Overview

Professional political analysts discuss Iowa politics with refreshing, in-depth conversations. <a href="https://iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com</a>

Language

🇺🇲

Publishing Since

7/10/2024

View on Apple Podcasts RSS Feed

🇺🇸 Charts #3

Outreach generated

Apple 142

Spotify 827

Instant mention tracking

Perfect fit!

Unlock The Full Podcast Authority Score Report

See how your podcast performs across key metrics

Podcast Authority

Beta

PoorBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more

Quality67

Social0

YouTube0

Engagement32

Learn more

Excellent Areas

Good Performance

Growth Opportunities

excellent

Episode Length

33 minutes

Performing excellently!

good

Publishing Consistency

Every 11 days

Recommendations available

Unlock the full report to see detailed tips

poor

Episode Thumbnails

Recommendations available

Unlock the full report to see detailed tips

+16 More Metrics

Unlock comprehensive insights including:

• YouTube presence analysis
• Social media reach metrics
• RSS compliance scoring
• Podcast 2.0 features
• Technical standards

What's Included in Your Full Report

Detailed Analytics

Complete breakdown of all 19 authority metrics
Personalized recommendations for each metric
Industry benchmarks and comparisons
Technical RSS feed analysis and compliance scoring

Growth Strategies

Step-by-step action plans for improvement
Quick wins to boost your score immediately
Pro tips from successful podcasters

Get your free podcast insights report

See how your show performs across every key metric

Instant delivery

No spam

Attract Better Guests

High authority scores make your podcast more attractive to industry leaders and influencers who want to appear on credible shows.

Secure Sponsorships

Sponsors look for podcasts with proven authority and engagement. Your score demonstrates your podcast's value to potential partners.

Grow Your Audience

Understanding your strengths and weaknesses helps you make data-driven decisions to expand your listener base effectively.

1 verified contact email on file for Iowa Down Ballot

Pitch yourself as a guest, propose sponsorships, or reach out directly to the host.

See contact details

Recent Episodes

June 20, 2026

Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 6/20/26

Kathie got caught up on Derek Wulf as Lahn’s pick for Lieutenant Governor, this time noting his Ag Committee chairmanship could ease some rural skepticism toward Lahn. Then Laura dropped the real news: court filings show close to a million dollars in foreclosure and judgment cases tied to Wulf’s farm, something his campaign chalks up to broader struggles facing family farmers.We also dug into Kim Reynolds’ legacy as Lieutenant Governor compared to how visible Branstad kept her, plus Laura’s own frustrating run-ins trying to get access during COVID. Read more on that here: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2014/02/03/branstad-determined-to-make-kim-reynolds-the-next-iowa-governor-updated/">Branstad determined to make Reynolds next governor</a> and here: <a target="_blank" href="https://laurabelin.substack.com/p/six-takeaways-from-adam-greggs-surprise">Reynolds hides Gregg</a>And we have some interesting Libertarian news. Two of four candidates got bounced from the ballot, one over a name dispute, one over missing paperwork, with both heading to court. Laura also reported candidates say they got pressure calls from RFK Jr. and a visit from Zach Nunn’s camp urging them to drop out before the challenges hit.To continue to help us cover production costs for this incredibly informative podcast please consider becoming a paid subscriber by clicking the link above, or click the link below to make a one-time contribution that helps Julie Gammack and her work with the Iowa Writer’s Collaborative including Iowa Down Ballot.Auto-generated transcript below:00:00:10.280 --> 00:00:20.650Dave Price: Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Iowa Down Ballot podcast, our weekly confab with two collaborators from the Iowa Writers Collaborative.400:00:20.650 --> 00:00:31.699Dave Price: Usually two. Last week was one. Kathie Obradovich has returned by popular demand. Laura Bellin was here with us last week and returns as well. Hello, ladies.500:00:31.700 --> 00:00:34.219Kathie Obradovich: Hello! Happy Friday, happy Juneteenth.600:00:34.460 --> 00:00:35.720Laura Belin: Yeah, happy Juneteenth.700:00:35.720 --> 00:00:39.310Dave Price: Happy Friday slash Saturday, I’m gonna say, since this… we recorded800:00:39.730 --> 00:00:43.230Dave Price: drops on Saturday. Last week, we were…900:00:43.460 --> 00:00:52.399Dave Price: not so artfully, behind the scenes trying to figure out a record time, because Kathie, despite the fact that she was supposed to be off.1000:00:52.710 --> 00:01:02.819Dave Price: not working on Fridays so she could spend time with family, was still dedicated to try to do the podcast, and we were trying like crazy to make sure we knew the news about1100:01:02.820 --> 00:01:14.430Dave Price: Zach Lahn choosing State Representative Derek Wulf as his running mate, so we were trying to figure all that into our record time, and the math did not work, so we left Kathie1200:01:14.900 --> 00:01:22.729Dave Price: Unfortunately, out of the conversation. So, should we do it like a PS on that, Kathie, since you didn’t get to weigh in? What’d you think of the choice?1300:01:22.900 --> 00:01:38.769Kathie Obradovich: You know, I think, that, I had predicted he would pick, you know, somebody with legislative experience, so that certainly, qualifies, and, you know, his choice of.1400:01:38.770 --> 00:01:55.810Kathie Obradovich: of Derek Wulf as, you know, he’s the Ag Committee Chairman in the House. You know, I think, definitely plays up to rural interests that perhaps Zach Lahn may not be that close to, in the case of some of the big ag1500:01:55.810 --> 00:02:01.750Kathie Obradovich: Manufacturers and producers who, you know, he’s had a kind of an anti-big-ag message.1600:02:01.750 --> 00:02:16.569Kathie Obradovich: That, so I don’t know what the choice of Wulf signals there, that maybe he’s, you know, perhaps a… a little bit of a moderating force on that particular line of questioning.1700:02:16.570 --> 00:02:34.840Kathie Obradovich: And, you know, I think, it seemed like, you know, despite the hiccup at the Republican state convention, where some of Adam Steen’s supporters tried to nominate him, you know, I think that that, you know, ultimately1800:02:34.840 --> 00:02:41.370Kathie Obradovich: Republicans probably felt fairly confident or comfortable with Wulf as a choice.1900:02:41.840 --> 00:02:51.700Dave Price: I always wonder what’s going on behind the scenes, and whether Rob Sands’ choice of Dave Mulbauer as his running mate, and of course, Dave is a farmer.2000:02:51.750 --> 00:03:04.969Dave Price: Derek is a farmer. Did that have anything to do, you know, did that push Derek up the list to try to combat… combat this so we can go cattle rancher versus cattle rancher in this Lieutenant governor debate, where they both…2100:03:05.200 --> 00:03:11.439Dave Price: They both wear their hats, and maybe we do this debate out on a countryside or in a barn or something, in a different.2200:03:11.440 --> 00:03:23.069Kathie Obradovich: I was laughing, laughing at the hats. It’s like, you know, if somebody accidentally switched photos of these two guys, would anybody notice?2300:03:23.070 --> 00:03:25.249Dave Price: They do look a little similar. Their wives would probably disagree.2400:03:25.630 --> 00:03:28.159Dave Price: But they do look really similar when they’re in their heads.2500:03:28.300 --> 00:03:46.550Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, no, I mean, ultimately, I don’t think the choice of lieutenant Governor really makes that much difference, to voters. I mean, unless it turns out to be a terrible choice, and that, you know, the Lieutenant Governor candidate becomes, you know, something of a target. But…2600:03:46.790 --> 00:04:06.369Kathie Obradovich: you know, where it does matter, I think, is whether the governor and lieutenant governor can be a team and work together. That is something that Terry Bransted always lived by, that he, you know, ultimately what was more important to him was picking somebody that he could actually trust and work with.2700:04:06.370 --> 00:04:20.969Kathie Obradovich: And, you know, obviously somebody who could be prepared to take over if the worst should happen. So, I think those are the things that are important. I don’t think that otherwise the Lieutenant Governor Choice really brings that much to the ticket, you know, in terms of trying to get elected.2800:04:21.320 --> 00:04:33.180Laura Belin: Dave, one thing we didn’t talk about last week, because it was so new and I hadn’t had time to look into it, but last weekend, I was looking on Iowa Courts Online and going through some of the filings. There are a lot of2900:04:33.180 --> 00:04:38.400Laura Belin: Legal cases, and a petition for foreclosure, and a few legal judgments.3000:04:38.400 --> 00:04:53.880Laura Belin: against Derek Wulf or his farm, and so I feel like… I mean, that’s only what is available right now on Iowa Courts Online. I feel like if there are more legal issues that we don’t know about that may come out during the campaign, I feel like that’s a risk3100:04:53.940 --> 00:05:07.439Laura Belin: that Zach Lahn didn’t necessarily need to take. Although the Lane campaign told me that this is just an example, a lot of farmers are having hard times, and that basically this is an example of why we need to work to help3200:05:07.440 --> 00:05:25.670Laura Belin: farm stay in family hands, and that they… they told me that Derek Wulf is working on some kind of refinancing, and that all of the debts are going to be paid. But it’s… if you add up all these cases together, it’s close to a million dollars in unpaid bills and other obligations.3300:05:25.850 --> 00:05:33.219Dave Price: I find it fascinating that, you know, probably unintentionally, but on the Republican side.3400:05:33.870 --> 00:05:52.920Dave Price: both of these guys, their private lives will be part of public discussion now, right? With Derek Wulf and his family, and the financial struggles they’ve had with their farming operations, and he’s… as he tries to refinance all of that to get on the right side of that.3500:05:52.920 --> 00:05:57.769Dave Price: Clearly, that if they choose to, that could be… that could,3600:05:57.770 --> 00:06:04.280Dave Price: Provide an entry point to talk about how difficult life is for so many small farmers who live on the margins.3700:06:04.280 --> 00:06:20.649Dave Price: And as they’ve been squeezed with higher input costs, and this whole trade uncertainty, and obviously now the… you’ve got two wars going on with Iran, and then the Russian-Ukraine thing that’s been going on forever, that has disrupted so many different things on the energy side and on the fertilizer side.3800:06:20.650 --> 00:06:23.489Dave Price: If he’s willing to talk about this, and this could…3900:06:23.490 --> 00:06:38.869Dave Price: Obviously, it’s very personal stuff, and his family may or may not want to talk about this stuff. And then we have Zach Lahn, who we’ve already discussed, but here’s a guy in his second marriage, and he has children in two different states, and so people may have different views of4000:06:39.190 --> 00:06:51.819Dave Price: How he and his current wife and ex-wife, because his current wife also had a previous marriage where she had children as well, so they have kids together, they both have kids with other people.4100:06:51.830 --> 00:07:07.040Dave Price: from their former marriages in Kansas, so that becomes a complicated situation, and I sat down with Lane and talked about that. He used the word complicated to talk about this, and I’m fascinated about how, especially on the Republican side.4200:07:07.480 --> 00:07:19.499Dave Price: These two are going to be willing, if they are, to address some of this personal stuff, because it does, if they want to, provide a kind of an opening into some pretty complicated measures.4300:07:20.200 --> 00:07:28.289Kathie Obradovich: not that hypocrisy is a thing in politics anymore, but I can’t see all of these Trump voters, you know, somehow4400:07:28.290 --> 00:07:51.250Kathie Obradovich: being shocked and appalled by someone with a messy personal history and, you know, multiple, spouses, etc, and messy personal finances. I mean, I just, that narrative, seems to have gone right over Trump voters’ heads in Iowa.4500:07:51.250 --> 00:08:00.110Kathie Obradovich: And so I, you know, I do have, you know, I question how much that stuff still matters in politics.4600:08:00.110 --> 00:08:04.530Dave Price: I do too, and I wonder how effective Sam’s side will be.4700:08:04.670 --> 00:08:20.860Dave Price: to try to, you know, paint Lane as a carpetbagger, and not really an Iowan, and really more of a Kansas resident. I mean, does that kind of stuff stick, or does Lane counter that by saying, hey, I’m trying to be active in my kids’ lives, and I have the means to do it, I have a plane, and…4800:08:21.360 --> 00:08:29.729Dave Price: I fly back and forth, and we make sure that this is the arrangement we have with the respective parents, and we want to be there for our kids.4900:08:30.050 --> 00:08:43.610Laura Belin: Well, Rob Sand at his general election rally, he said, you know, God bless Zach Lahn and his commitment to his family, but we need a full-time governor. I think that’s something that we’ll continue to hear from his campaign, because5000:08:43.610 --> 00:09:06.540Laura Belin: Zach Lahn hasn’t yet spelled out exactly how this is going to work. I mean, he said that it’s not going to interfere with his ability to be governor, but is he going to be scheduling official duties and other… and official events around his kids? I don’t know, what’s if one of… if his kids are in a school concert or an important sports game? I mean, what… how is this going…5100:09:06.540 --> 00:09:12.230Laura Belin: to work, with… with… if his kids are continuing to live in another stage. And if…5200:09:12.270 --> 00:09:37.229Laura Belin: if he claims that they’re coming to live in Iowa, I mean, how is it… usually that kind of thing is not something that one parent can decide unilaterally. If there’s a divorce agreement and a custody agreement, that’s not something that you can just up and change right away. So I think that will be a story. I don’t know about Derek Wulf. I mean, all this Rob Sand campaign has said about Derek Wulf so far is that he voted for school vouchers, he voted to defund the5300:09:37.230 --> 00:09:47.869Laura Belin: water sensor, monitoring sensors, and that he’s, you know, part of the status quo, and so they’re… they haven’t brought up anything related to his… his finances.5400:09:49.650 --> 00:09:53.370Dave Price: Did… I’m curious what you both think on…5500:09:53.540 --> 00:10:06.679Dave Price: You know, we just spent the first X number of minutes here talking about lieutenant governors, essentially, and it’s hard to imagine that a lot of people really are going to choose either Zach Lahn or Rob Sand because of the choice and the number 2.5600:10:06.680 --> 00:10:21.960Dave Price: But one thing that I’m thinking about, and Kim Reynolds was just on Iowa Press this week, when you think about her legacy, Kathie, you brought up Terry Bransted, and I just remember covering… I wasn’t here for the first, when Terry Bransted was governor the original time.5700:10:21.960 --> 00:10:29.099Dave Price: But… he seemed to have Kim Reynolds featured prominently, and she was…5800:10:29.100 --> 00:10:43.870Dave Price: usually always there in the news conferences and that. I don’t know that maybe at the beginning when she had Adam Gregg, he was there, but that seemed to change, and Adam Gregg wasn’t really… we didn’t really get public schedules with his events for a lot of weeks.5900:10:43.870 --> 00:11:02.389Dave Price: And then when… when Greg quit, to leave politics, basically, and Chris Kanoyer got in there, she’s been pretty low profile as a lieutenant governor. Does it strike you at all, the difference in the way Bransted used Reynolds versus Reynolds featured her?6000:11:02.460 --> 00:11:02.970Dave Price: Lieutenant.6100:11:02.970 --> 00:11:27.919Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, so, first of all, I think, you know, it’s worth pointing out that Bransted had a lot higher profile than Kim Reynolds did. I mean, he did, he did weekly news conferences every single week, and yes, she was there. And I think, you know, part of it was that he was up front, that he was grooming her to be his successor. I mean, he.6200:11:27.920 --> 00:11:33.940Kathie Obradovich: he… he made that clear up front, you know, and I think that part of it6300:11:33.940 --> 00:11:48.460Kathie Obradovich: You know, might have been because he was older and, you know, a lot more experienced as governor, and probably a lot more secure, you know, in his, his… both his public persona and6400:11:48.550 --> 00:12:05.830Kathie Obradovich: you know, there was a little… now that I think about it, there was a little hiccup early on, where Reynolds said something off the cuff, or sort of off the reservation. There was a message… I don’t remember if it was about gay marriage, or if it was about…6500:12:05.830 --> 00:12:09.960Laura Belin: I thought that was during the campaign. Was it during the campaign? It was about civil unions.6600:12:09.960 --> 00:12:10.869Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, so…6700:12:10.870 --> 00:12:13.949Laura Belin: Something like she wasn’t against civil unions or something.6800:12:13.950 --> 00:12:38.930Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, so that… there was a little bit of a hiccup there, and, she was not as prominent on the campaign trail immediately after that, but… but once they were elected, yeah, she was always a fixture. She traveled with him, a lot, and I, you know, I… I looked at it as, yeah, she’s learning the job. People did, you know, say, oh, well, she’s just, you know, all she’s6900:12:38.930 --> 00:12:47.300Kathie Obradovich: does is stand behind him, you know? Sure. But being… there’s a lot to say for being present and learning that job.7000:12:47.300 --> 00:12:49.480Kathie Obradovich: And, you know.7100:12:49.600 --> 00:13:12.259Kathie Obradovich: I wish that she would have learned the lesson from Bransted that, being present, you know, also means being present for media. I mean, she, she went through, you know, you mentioned Adam Gregg. I mean, she went through periods, not only was he invisible, but so was she. And so, I do think7200:13:12.260 --> 00:13:24.089Kathie Obradovich: You know, it didn’t surprise me when he left when he did, for certainly a job that pays a lot better than being Lieutenant Governor. But yeah, it didn’t feel like she gave him a lot to do.7300:13:24.090 --> 00:13:35.530Laura Belin: We’ll… maybe we’ll see if we can get our producer to put these in the show notes, but I wrote a whole series of posts in around 2013 and 2014 about how unusual it was7400:13:35.560 --> 00:14:00.559Laura Belin: for the way Terry Branstad was bringing Kim Reynolds along to all of his events, because normally you would deploy… the lieutenant Governor would cover a lot of events that the governor didn’t have time to go to. That’s what Sally Peterson and Patty Judge were doing, but Branstad and Reynolds were always doing events together, and he gave her a lot of really prominent roles and jobs. And then, when Adam Gregg resigned.7500:14:00.560 --> 00:14:02.790Laura Belin: unexpectedly, I think, to most people.7600:14:02.810 --> 00:14:19.510Laura Belin: I wrote something about the contrast, where she really didn’t give him anything. I mean, it was shocking how few obligations and responsibilities he had, and he also wasn’t visible to the media. But beyond that, he just didn’t seem to have much of a role in her administration at all.7700:14:19.880 --> 00:14:32.360Dave Price: And I wonder, this might be a deep dive conversation for another day, but especially when Kim Reynolds is out of office and she goes back and reflects on this, I had wondered if…7800:14:32.790 --> 00:14:39.599Dave Price: going through COVID when she was very, very accessible, and my recollection…7900:14:39.600 --> 00:14:40.430Laura Belin: me, Dave.8000:14:40.430 --> 00:14:41.150Dave Price: Well, yeah.8100:14:42.500 --> 00:14:45.180Dave Price: That may be true.8200:14:45.500 --> 00:14:50.960Dave Price: to… for the daily news conferences that she did at Iowa PBS.8300:14:51.390 --> 00:14:58.410Dave Price: which may have been called Iowa Public Television back then, I can’t remember when the rebrand happened, but out in Johnston. She was doing…8400:14:59.430 --> 00:15:03.619Dave Price: updates every day, usually around 11 a.m. during COVID.8500:15:03.930 --> 00:15:09.929Dave Price: Which… That has to… That has to be brutal to go through.8600:15:09.930 --> 00:15:33.129Dave Price: to stand through. Obviously, there were… if you, as we all know, there was so much they didn’t know back then about COVID, and remember way back, we were wondering whether we were supposed to wash down our groceries and all kinds of stuff that we just had no idea, and she’s standing there trying to explain, each day after day after day, are you gonna force masking and vaccinations and shut this down and shut that down and all that?8700:15:33.130 --> 00:15:40.270Dave Price: And that had to really… I feel like she probably changed During that process.8800:15:40.560 --> 00:15:46.450Dave Price: And I’m not sure she was nearly as accessible as frequently.8900:15:46.930 --> 00:15:55.829Dave Price: after that. I mean, she’s been governor for quite a while here, better part of a decade. Lately, this year, it’s a little… I feel like she’s sort of stepped up.9000:15:55.830 --> 00:16:08.170Dave Price: during this last legislative session, it was more frequent doing news conferences and gaggles, as we call it, where we have a chance to ask our off-topic questions and all those kind of things after an event, but9100:16:08.410 --> 00:16:14.809Dave Price: I know that there were years in there where we would… we would go weeks without seeing anything on a public schedule.9200:16:14.980 --> 00:16:20.879Dave Price: And having any ability to really ask her anything, which was really a change from…9300:16:21.110 --> 00:16:36.070Dave Price: the predecessors. We sort of got spoiled by Terry Bransted’s Every Monday Morning thing, because, I mean, man, that sort of set the agenda for the week. Culver wasn’t that way. Vilsack probably did a lot, maybe he did more of those than Culver did, but…9400:16:36.260 --> 00:16:43.059Dave Price: Without a doubt, we, you know, we would like to at least have access once a week where you can ask the governor of the state.9500:16:43.970 --> 00:16:45.600Dave Price: You know, pertinent questions.9600:16:46.140 --> 00:17:02.280Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, and, you know, is weekly access really necessary? I don’t know. I mean, Vilsack didn’t like to do those unless he had something to announce. I mean, Branstead would just, you know, there were times when he would just, you know, stand up there and take questions, and not.9700:17:02.280 --> 00:17:03.440Dave Price: Which is awesome for us, right?9800:17:03.440 --> 00:17:04.390Kathie Obradovich: No, not…9900:17:04.390 --> 00:17:04.980Dave Price: anything good.10000:17:04.980 --> 00:17:22.649Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, and Vilsack definitely wanted to have, you know, something prepared every time that he did it, and didn’t want to do it if he didn’t have, you know, something like that, which I can understand. But yeah, it’s, you know, and, you know, just to spin it forward into the current.10100:17:22.660 --> 00:17:31.349Kathie Obradovich: campaign. I mean, that is something that I think people should ask candidates, you know, that they should ask them, you know, what is your commitment to10200:17:31.390 --> 00:17:46.579Kathie Obradovich: you know, putting out a public schedule, to meeting regularly with the media, to, you know, taking questions, to having your staff respond to questions, for heaven’s sake. You know, I think that that…10300:17:46.580 --> 00:17:59.740Kathie Obradovich: It’s not just for us, it’s for our readers and viewers, and so there’s my little soapbox about, you know, please, please, next governor, you know, be more open and more accessible.10400:17:59.960 --> 00:18:24.919Laura Belin: I’m just… while we were talking, I just looked up a post that I wrote in 2019, because during one of the governor’s debates in 2018, she had been doing somewhat regular press conferences, then she stopped in the summer of 2018, and she didn’t do any more press conferences for about the last 4 months of the campaign, and it came up in one of her debates against Fred Hubbell, and she said that if elected, she would do weekly press conferences, but I wrote10500:18:24.920 --> 00:18:25.900Laura Belin: this piece.10600:18:25.900 --> 00:18:50.900Laura Belin: in, looks like, August of 2019, because she was already not keeping up with the weekly press conference promise promise. And you may say that it’s not important, but I think it is important. And I just… sorry to interrupt you earlier, Dave, but I just had to say that, because during my experience during COVID is that I was never allowed to participate in a single press conference that she did, and her office stopped responding to any of my public records requests, which led to the loss10700:18:50.900 --> 00:19:08.339Laura Belin: that Iowa Capital Dispatch was also involved with in late 2021, more than… I had… I had multiple records requests that were more than a year old, with no response until we filed the lawsuit, so… And I would say… Anyway, we got a little bit off track there.10800:19:08.340 --> 00:19:22.669Dave Price: Oh, sure. I think Governor Reynolds also, and maybe this is typical, but I think she was better served by some of her top staffers at different points during her tenure than she was at others. In particular, what you went through, Laura.10900:19:22.720 --> 00:19:32.100Dave Price: you know, there was a change after that. There are… there’s a big difference between somebody who sort of comes of age during… on the campaign side.11000:19:32.340 --> 00:19:34.920Dave Price: And how that person views…11100:19:35.570 --> 00:19:49.610Dave Price: you know, you’re a public employee, and your job is to provide information to Iowans, in our case, since we’re in Iowa, and the campaign is over, and while those things get intertwined quite a bit, I think11200:19:50.110 --> 00:20:05.789Dave Price: there is a… there is a difference in roles, campaign side versus the official side, and I think we appreciate those who commit to the official side to see this as the conduit of information. They’re always going to spin it to try to make their boss look good, perhaps, but…11300:20:05.990 --> 00:20:09.860Dave Price: We would hope they still see a role in public service of11400:20:10.460 --> 00:20:15.400Dave Price: being the disseminator of information that is pertinent to Iowa’s… Iowans.11500:20:15.400 --> 00:20:33.709Kathie Obradovich: Well, and good… people… it’s a cliche because it’s true, but good policy is good politics. And… and I always thought, and I’ve said this before, that Kim Reynolds was always her own best advocate, you know? And I think that by sort of…11600:20:33.710 --> 00:20:58.499Kathie Obradovich: making herself inaccessible for the periods that she did. She was just… she was missing great opportunities to advocate for her policies. And, you know, those… those opportunities, once they’re missed, they… they never come back. So… so I do think it wasn’t really, you know, it just wasn’t in her best interest, and that’s too bad, because I… I thought… I always thought11700:20:58.500 --> 00:20:59.060Kathie Obradovich: that.11800:20:59.060 --> 00:21:06.799Kathie Obradovich: You know, when she was out on the trail and making a case for her policies, that she was her… she was the best advocate for herself.11900:21:08.490 --> 00:21:12.840Dave Price: Okay, let’s… let’s not talk about Republicans or Democrats.12000:21:13.410 --> 00:21:15.439Dave Price: Let’s talk about libertarians.12100:21:17.230 --> 00:21:26.710Dave Price: That is a party that has interested me almost for the time that I’ve lived in this state, because… no offense to you libertarians listening.12200:21:27.650 --> 00:21:35.449Dave Price: However, the organizational side of this for libertarians could be a Netflix doc.12300:21:35.860 --> 00:21:36.870Kathie Obradovich: And…12400:21:37.050 --> 00:21:43.329Dave Price: two steps forward, three steps back, right? They seem to struggle12500:21:43.790 --> 00:21:59.749Dave Price: they make some progress, they get on the ballot as a major party, and then things blow up, and then they have to sort of start all over again. Without a doubt, they face different obstacles, and Laura, you sat in the room and watched this, and, you know.12600:21:59.920 --> 00:22:10.950Dave Price: As we know, for Republicans, they don’t necessarily want to see a bunch of libertarians on the ballot, especially in 2026, where the governor’s race looks competitive, some of these congressional races look competitive.12700:22:10.950 --> 00:22:21.769Dave Price: They’re not so sure that they remember the case of, you know, Cindy Axne getting elected to Congress when David Young was the Republican incumbent, and there was a Libertarian in that race.12800:22:21.900 --> 00:22:30.469Dave Price: Took some votes, David Young lost, they know how to add up math here. So, Laura, can you kind of walk us through… you were inside that room.12900:22:30.960 --> 00:22:45.069Dave Price: maybe a little setup here about what’s going on, but this… this boils down to whether these libertarians did the process correctly to get on the ballot for November. It’s a little more complicated than that.13000:22:45.450 --> 00:22:55.900Laura Belin: So there were 4 Libertarian candidates who filed, Thomas Lane for U.S. Senate, Nicholas Gluba for Governor, Marco Batali in the 3rd Congressional District, and Rick Stewart in the 2nd.13100:22:55.900 --> 00:23:19.580Laura Belin: And we all knew Republicans are going to go through everything as close… looking as closely as they can to find any reason to remove these libertarians from the ballot. That’s what happened two years ago, where there were three Libertarian congressional candidates, and they were all kicked off the ballot in a challenge brought by Republicans. So, they could… apparently, they could find nothing wrong with Thomas Lane’s nominating papers, because13200:23:19.580 --> 00:23:40.250Laura Belin: he was… was not challenged. But the other three libertarians were challenged, and 2 out of 3 of them were kicked off the ballot, at least that was the ruling of the state objection panel, which normally consists of the Secretary of State, Paul Pate, Attorney General Brenna Bird, and most of the time, State Auditor Rob Sand, although he recused himself13300:23:40.250 --> 00:24:00.330Laura Belin: from hearing the objection to Nicholas Gluba’s nominating paperwork for governor because he’s running for governor, and obviously it could be a conflict because a Democrat would benefit from having a Libertarian on the ballot. So they unanimously ruled that Rick Stewart can stay on the ballot in the second district. The challenge was13400:24:00.330 --> 00:24:25.319Laura Belin: claiming that his petition said Richard Stewart, but his other… his affidavit, and what he wanted to appear on the ballot was Rick Stewart, and that that didn’t match, and they… they held that there are many examples of candidates running under shortened versions of their name, so they, they dispense with that one quickly. Marco Battaglio was not as fortunate. It turns out that that’s not his name. I had no idea. I’ve been writing about this guy since13500:24:25.320 --> 00:24:49.619Laura Belin: since 2018. I mean, I’ve covered… I’ve been very interested in libertarians as well, so I’ve written quite a bit about the Libertarian Party of Iowa over the years. Never knew that his name, his legal name is Mark Anderson. That’s what he signed on his affidavit of candidacy, but all of his petitions said Marco Battalia. And so this was a split decision with… Rob Sand would have kept him on the ballot, but Paul Page and Brenna Bird held that13600:24:49.620 --> 00:25:10.989Laura Belin: Iowa code does not allow somebody to run for office under a fictitious name. And the libertarians are going to appeal to court, and the statute does… it just says the candidate’s name. It doesn’t say the candidate’s legal name or the candidate’s real name, so I think that’ll be the central issue there. Marco Batalia has been on the ballot a number of times before and was never challenged for that reason.13700:25:10.990 --> 00:25:12.769Dave Price: as Marco Battalia.13800:25:12.770 --> 00:25:13.709Laura Belin: Yes, as Mark13900:25:13.710 --> 00:25:38.630Laura Belin: I mean, in fact, and Rob Sands said this during the meeting, it would actually be more confusing to voters if he were on the ballot as Mark Anderson, because there have got to be a lot of Mark Andersons in Iowa, but he’s the only Marco Battalia, and he’s run for office before. His advocate, the Libertarian Party of Iowa State Chair, who was speaking on his behalf at the meeting, Stephanie Berlin, said, you know, I mean, there’s so many articles, if you Google Marco Battalia.14000:25:38.630 --> 00:25:57.370Laura Belin: find all of this coverage. If you were looking for information about Mark Anderson, you wouldn’t have any idea that it was connected to this person. But the argument that the Republicans will bring, and Alan Ostergen was the attorney representing the Republicans who brought the challenge, who are both connected to Zach Nunn.14100:25:57.490 --> 00:26:12.910Laura Belin: he said, look, if you allow this to happen, then next election, somebody can go and collect signatures and be on the ballot and say, my name is Chuck Grassley and I’m running for Senate. You know, if you just let people pick any name. So that… so I don’t know what the court is.14200:26:12.910 --> 00:26:14.049Dave Price: Yeah, it’s complicated.14300:26:14.050 --> 00:26:38.480Laura Belin: It is going… it is going to court. And the Libertarian one, I just… I’m frustrated with myself, because I went to the Capitol on June 2nd, the day they submitted their papers, and I interviewed the candidates at the Capitol. But I did not walk with them over to the Lucas Building, which is where the Secretary of State’s staff are located, and where they actually turned in their paperwork, because there’s a factual dispute.14400:26:38.480 --> 00:26:44.099Laura Belin: And it turns out to be really important. It would have been very helpful if I had been there to see what happened, because14500:26:44.100 --> 00:27:04.290Laura Belin: Nicholas Gluba’s running mate, Jules Cutler, did not submit an affidavit of candidacy to be the candidate for Lieutenant Governor, and she maintains that she was there, that she offered this affidavit, and that the staffer in the office said, no, that’s not necessary, we don’t need that, so she took it home.14600:27:04.290 --> 00:27:27.819Laura Belin: Whereas the Secretary of State staffer denies that that happened. She says she… there are certain things she doesn’t remember, but she denies that she was ever presented with this affidavit of candidacy, or that she ever said that it wasn’t necessary. So, the upshot is that the law says both the governor and lieutenant governor candidate have to submit an affidavit of candidacy, and Jules Cutler didn’t.14700:27:27.820 --> 00:27:40.109Laura Belin: Therefore, the ticket is off the ballot, even though more than 8,000 people signed their signatures… signed their petition. So, that’s going to court as well, and I don’t know how that’s gonna work out.14800:27:42.010 --> 00:27:44.760Dave Price: What’d you make of all this, Kathie? I mean, this is…14900:27:45.110 --> 00:27:55.459Dave Price: I appreciate that these people are, you know, this is their lives for the next couple of months, whether they get on the ballot or off the ballot, but it’s so complex, it’s also so fascinating.15000:27:56.180 --> 00:28:10.430Kathie Obradovich: it will be the most press that the Libertarian Party has had, you know, and probably the most they will have all year. So, on the one hand, I don’t think that it hurts them to…15100:28:10.430 --> 00:28:31.179Kathie Obradovich: you know, make the case that they’re being persecuted by, you know, the major party, that they are so afraid of us, that they… they don’t want to let us on the ballot. You know, that kind of narrative for a… for an underdog, might be… might be helpful for those who actually make the ballot. But…15200:28:31.180 --> 00:28:49.289Kathie Obradovich: it is also a helpful narrative, I think, for Democrats, that, you know, that, Republicans have to, you know, once again, as part of sort of a narrative, with the Trump administration as well, that, you know, they can’t beat us,15300:28:49.440 --> 00:29:08.260Kathie Obradovich: you know, except by, you know, try to rig, rig the ballot, or, you know, make, make a, you know, try to, try to take voters’ choices away, basically, I think, is, you know, what we’re gonna hear there. And, and so.15400:29:08.460 --> 00:29:28.420Kathie Obradovich: I think that the libertarians, what you said before about their organizational ability, you know, they did… they had to have known that their, you know, all of their paperwork was going to be under scrutiny, and… and they still didn’t make it. It always… it always, you know, befuddles me, you know, when candidates15500:29:28.420 --> 00:29:46.400Kathie Obradovich: can’t do… and yeah, these are difficult things, but candidates can’t, do the paperwork to make the ballot. You know, it does make you wonder, well, you know, how are they gonna run a campaign, and how are they going to do in office if they can’t get this part right? So…15600:29:46.400 --> 00:29:49.990Laura Belin: Dave, I forgot to mention that Marco Battalia15700:29:49.990 --> 00:30:11.390Laura Belin: has asserted, and Rick Stewart also, supposedly, they both received phone calls from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, urging them to withdraw their candidacies before these objections were filed. And Marco Battalia further alleges that Zach Nunn and one of his campaign consultants came to his house15800:30:11.390 --> 00:30:16.489Laura Belin: And tried to pressure him to withdraw his candidacy before the challenges were filed.15900:30:17.170 --> 00:30:34.859Dave Price: Which adds yet another layer to all of this. Let’s leave it at that for this week. Kathie, Laura, good to catch up with you. Have a great weekend. Kathie enjoyed… Kathie, once again, is supposed to be spending time with a loved one right now.16000:30:34.950 --> 00:30:41.189Dave Price: And as we record, he’s probably in the other room saying, man, I’m hungry, I sure hope we eat lunch.16100:30:41.350 --> 00:30:42.040Kathie Obradovich: Yes.16200:30:42.490 --> 00:30:55.170Kathie Obradovich: Well, we get Juneteenth off in my organization, so… so it’s a day off. But, you know, I never want to miss an opportunity to talk to you guys and everybody out there.16300:30:56.410 --> 00:30:57.889Laura Belin: Dave, happy Father’s Day.16400:30:57.970 --> 00:31:22.789Dave Price: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Have a great weekend. Thank you all for joining us for Iowa Down Ballot Podcast. Thank you for those of you who’ve become new paid subscribers. We very much appreciate you. You allow us to keep doing this week after week. If you haven’t done that yet, and you have the ability to do that, please look for the link below this post where you can do this, and please also share the links from this podcast to your16500:31:22.790 --> 00:31:29.830Dave Price: Friends and family, coworkers, neighbors, all those kinds of things that allows us to grow week after week as well.16600:31:29.830 --> 00:31:32.080Dave Price: We will talk to you next week. Have a great week.16700:31:36.920 --> 00:31:38.859Dave Price: Thank you both.16800:31:39.120 --> 00:31:41.049Laura Belin: Sorry, I got us off track with16900:31:41.340 --> 00:31:45.299Laura Belin: And then we did… we can circle back on the ESAs and the. Get full access to Iowa Down Ballot at <a href="https://iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com/subscribe</a>

June 13, 2026

Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 6/13/26

Zach Lahn named state rep Derek Wulf as his running mate, a cattle farmer and early Trump endorser, likely a move to shore up MAGA support after Lahn didn’t get Trump’s endorsement in the primary. Trump has since walked that back publicly, saying he got “bad info.”Rob Sand went with Dave Muhlbauer, a rural Democrat who’s held office in deep-red Crawford County. The pick sends a clear message that Sand isn’t writing off small-town Iowa.Both tickets are now set, several Libertarian candidates are fighting ballot challenges on paperwork technicalities, and debate talks are underway. Laura called this the most exciting Iowa election cycle she’s ever covered. Hard to disagree.Thanks for subscribing, we continue to grow! We reached 30k total audio downloads since we launched this show a little over a year ago. If you would like to support the shows production costs, please hit the subscribe button above. If you’d like to make a one-time donation please click the button below.Auto-generated transcript below: Get full access to Iowa Down Ballot at <a href="https://iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com/subscribe</a>

June 6, 2026

Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 6/6/26

Two big results: Zach Lahn edged out Randy Feenstra in the Republican gubernatorial primary — a surprise upset fueled by a dominant Polk County performance and a late push from conservative commentator Steve Deace. On the Democratic side, Josh Turek won the U.S. Senate primary more comfortably than expected.Looking ahead, we talked about why Lahn is a trickier general election opponent for Rob Sand than Feenstra would have been — he’s a change candidate with no voting record to attack. With both the governor’s race and U.S. Senate seat open simultaneously for the first time in 58 years, Iowa’s general election is set to grab A LOT of attention.Thanks so much to those of you that have become paid subscribers or made a one time donation. Please click the subscribe button above or one-time donation button below to pitch in! Also, we reached #70 on Rising U.S. Politics on Substack this week. We wouldn’t have been there without your support. THANK YOU!Auto-generated transcript below:00:00:17.360 --> 00:00:34.689Dave Price: Welcome, everybody, to the Iowa Down Ballot podcast, the post-primary election edition. I’m Dave Price, joined by Kathie Obradovich and Laura Belin. Hello to both of you as we begin this first weekend past the primary. How are you?300:00:35.230 --> 00:00:36.650Kathie Obradovich: Fabulous.400:00:36.650 --> 00:00:39.090Laura Belin: I’m recovering.500:00:39.090 --> 00:00:40.039Dave Price: We survived.600:00:40.040 --> 00:00:40.920Laura Belin: Nights, yes.700:00:40.920 --> 00:00:43.030Dave Price: Yeah, but800:00:43.170 --> 00:00:52.269Dave Price: All in all, to have primary night wrapped up by the time everything essentially was, was not bad. Kathie, what’s your headline?900:00:53.330 --> 00:01:09.919Kathie Obradovich: So, couple of surprises. One, I thought that this U.S. Senate Democratic primary, would be a lot closer than it was. It caught us off guard a little bit when AP called the race, excuse me, for Josh Turek.1000:01:10.070 --> 00:01:34.609Kathie Obradovich: as early as they did, we thought it would go, go later and be a lot closer. And then secondly, you know, I think we saw that this could have been a possibility of Zach Lane edging out, Randy Feenster for the nomination. I mean, we saw the trend lines happening there. But again, you know, I sort of thought.1100:01:34.690 --> 00:01:58.689Kathie Obradovich: you know, we were going to be going till 2AM on this race, or, you know, the potential for it to go to convention, and, the fact that, here’s the surprise, that Feenstra conceded, really, at the… at the… he was less than a percentage point behind Lane, and he conceded even before AP called the race. So, that surprised me as well.1200:01:59.650 --> 00:02:00.890Dave Price: Laura, what was your headline?1300:02:02.310 --> 00:02:13.090Laura Belin: Oh, I think the lane surge. I was kind of feeling the lane-mentum. I went to his rally in Ankeny on Sunday, and on Tuesday night, I started the evening at the Iowa Democratic Party’s1400:02:13.090 --> 00:02:36.220Laura Belin: election night event, but when I saw the Polk County number come in really big for Zach Lahn, he had a margin of about 2,500 votes from Polk County, and Polk County tends to be one of the first to report, I scooted over to West Des Moines to go to the Lahn Victory Watch, because even though it was tight, he was hanging in there. I don’t think he ever gave up the lead at any point when they were1500:02:36.220 --> 00:02:41.810Laura Belin: adding batches of votes. So, but my biggest surprise was not that Lahn won the primary, but1600:02:41.810 --> 00:02:52.570Laura Belin: how many counties he carried. He carried 52 counties, and he actually carried most of the counties in Feenstra’s own congressional district, which I thought was amazing. He got1700:02:52.570 --> 00:03:16.439Laura Belin: 40% of the vote in Sioux County, even. I mean, Feenstra carried Sioux County, but you would expect him to be absolutely dominating in his home county, so that did surprise me. I was also surprised in the second congressional district. Joe Mitchell won the… that was expected that he would win the nomination, but he only had, like, 62% of the vote or so. I thought he would do better against a very underfunded1800:03:16.440 --> 00:03:23.530Laura Belin: opponent. So, in general, there was a pretty big anti-establishment streak in those Republican primary results.1900:03:23.630 --> 00:03:24.149Dave Price: We have…2000:03:24.150 --> 00:03:47.299Kathie Obradovich: It was interesting to see… just a quick addition to what Laura said. It was interesting to see how dominant Lahn was in the third district. You know, that’s really where he won it. Feenstra, they were pretty close, in the first and second district. Feenstra carried his own home 4th district, but not, as Laura just said, not by very much.2100:03:47.300 --> 00:04:03.270Kathie Obradovich: But I think where Lahn really won it, was in the 3rd District, Central Iowa, Polk County, and he, he was… he was quite a bit further ahead there. So, I was a little bit surprised by that.2200:04:04.480 --> 00:04:20.019Dave Price: I also was surprised that the Turek margin was as big as it was, although it really did feel like… I think we all sort of hinted at this the week before, that, it was… he looked like he had established himself as the… as the frontrunner with this.2300:04:20.029 --> 00:04:20.769Laura Belin: It was… it was.2400:04:20.769 --> 00:04:22.189Dave Price: The one thing that…2500:04:23.040 --> 00:04:30.109Laura Belin: I was… I’m sorry, the Vote Vets’ internal polling was showing him 20 to 25 points ahead, so it was pretty consistent with that.2600:04:30.110 --> 00:04:40.120Dave Price: Yeah. The one thing I thought about is, I don’t remember exactly at what time lanes, numbers…2700:04:40.350 --> 00:04:56.269Dave Price: jumped above Feenstra. I was standing behind, in front of this big monitor for our TV streaming broadcast that we did all night, and it would automatically refresh. And I remember looking, and all of a sudden, Lahn had jumped up, the early numbers had Feenstra up.2800:04:56.270 --> 00:05:06.809Dave Price: But it just reminded me that this is not scientific by any means, but I talked about this a couple of weeks ago here on the podcast. Like, sometimes you can just feel some stuff.2900:05:07.330 --> 00:05:21.750Dave Price: When you go out and witness some of these campaigns in action, and it doesn’t… what you… maybe what you feel as the reporter, at least for me, doesn’t necessarily match, maybe, my head.3000:05:21.750 --> 00:05:28.829Dave Price: So, like, when this campaign started, Feenster’s clearly the frontrunner, right? Most money, most well-known.3100:05:28.830 --> 00:05:45.580Dave Price: a member of Congress, you know, whatever. And we have talked numerous times on this podcast about, boy, you know, it doesn’t seem to be a lot of enthusiasm for this guy, whatever. Laura, you went to the Lahn event in Ankeny. I went to the one Friday night in West Des Moines right beforehand.3200:05:45.580 --> 00:06:10.110Dave Price: Which, P.S, great point about Polk County, because they really leaned in hard to point… to Polk County and won handily. And that’s the margin right there, if you start looking at his overall numbers. But you could just feel the juice, and Friday night, I felt like you could still feel the juice in Lahn rally, even though hours before, they got the gut punch that the president had endorsed Feenstra.3300:06:10.590 --> 00:06:27.599Dave Price: and, you know, changed his mind, or whatever happened behind the scenes, or somebody influenced him to get involved in the race. But it was just another indication to me about sometimes what the… I would say head and heart, but, I’m neutral here, so I don’t really have the heart involved in these things, but sort of heart and gut, maybe?3400:06:27.600 --> 00:06:32.100Dave Price: But Gut was telling me that Lahn was gonna surpass, and Head was telling me…3500:06:32.100 --> 00:06:47.040Dave Price: boy, Feenster should probably be able to hold on here, right? And then, boy, once that flip happened, and I was texting throughout the night with, Feenster supporters, and you could tell that there was angst almost from the get-go.3600:06:47.290 --> 00:06:56.230Dave Price: And then desperation sort of set in, like, they were looking at Montgomery County numbers, which were late… later coming in, but that was sort of the Hail Mary…3700:06:57.220 --> 00:07:01.050Dave Price: And, you know, there weren’t enough people there that were gonna make enough of a difference anyway.3800:07:01.890 --> 00:07:02.580Kathie Obradovich: I was…3900:07:02.580 --> 00:07:25.600Kathie Obradovich: You know, beforehand, we weren’t… didn’t really have a lot of information about what Lahn’s get-out-the-vote operation was going to be like. You know, I was sort of assuming that Feenstra and Steen might both have an advantage there, with Steen, you know, having his tried-and-true supporters from the family leader, etc.4000:07:25.600 --> 00:07:50.180Kathie Obradovich: But, yeah, the… either, you know, that organization is not quite as influential as it has been, or, there wasn’t enough difference between Steen and, Lahn and Feenstra in terms of how people felt as far as their, you know, religious, Christian conservative, values.4100:07:50.180 --> 00:07:51.280Kathie Obradovich: So…4200:07:51.280 --> 00:08:00.670Laura Belin: Well, Steve Dace, who was an early Steen endorser and a big Steen endorser, came out on Saturday, the day after the Trump endorsement, and said.4300:08:00.880 --> 00:08:07.269Laura Belin: I’m still voting for Steen, but if you want to stop Randy Feenstra, who’s gonna lose to Rob Sand, you have4400:08:07.270 --> 00:08:31.550Laura Belin: You have to vote for Zach Lahn. That’s what he said. You have to vote for Zach Lahn. And when he… I mean, he has a big megaphone, he has tens of thousands of followers, the Lahn campaign texted this video of Steve Days to everybody, and I gotta believe that that got him a couple thousand votes. I mean, his margin statewide over Feenster was only a couple thousand votes, so that also, I think, when people started to see Steen as less viable.4500:08:31.880 --> 00:08:43.050Laura Belin: That… that could have pushed Lahn over the top for sure. I wanted to mention, this is something we did, like, a special post-election broadcast of KHOI’s Capital Week, and I noticed when I was looking at the county results.4600:08:43.049 --> 00:09:08.030Laura Belin: that Feenster had these clusters where he did, well, like, in the… he won almost all the counties in the Quad Cities market, most of the counties in the Omaha market, in the Rochester, Minnesota market, and I think Lahn only won one county in the Omaha, or not Omaha, Ottumwa, Kirksville market. And I would guess that Lahn probably just wasn’t spending that much on TV outside Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City.4700:09:08.030 --> 00:09:32.410Laura Belin: Because it just seemed to me like in the areas with those smaller media markets, that people just didn’t know as much about Lahn, and Feenstra was able to hang on. So, Feenstra’s strategy all along of, like, well, let’s just assume that nobody else can consolidate the support, if you didn’t have Zach Lane putting in $2.5 million of his own money to fund this very aggressive advertising campaign, I think that4800:09:32.410 --> 00:09:45.270Laura Belin: that would have worked for Feenstra. And the Trump endorsement, I mean, what if Trump had endorsed a few months ago? Maybe Lane never would have gotten that momentum. Or what if he had endorsed last summer, and maybe Lane would have decided not to run for governor at all?4900:09:46.210 --> 00:09:47.340Dave Price: I, I would like…5000:09:47.340 --> 00:09:48.750Kathie Obradovich: Interesting questions.5100:09:48.750 --> 00:09:53.760Dave Price: Yeah, I would love to have… Exit polling on this.5200:09:54.130 --> 00:10:12.119Dave Price: because I had wondered at the time, was it too late when the president got involved, and would it even… these were 5 guys who all supported the president, so you didn’t have any of them who, you know, were speaking ill of the president by any means. I’m still super curious who…5300:10:12.170 --> 00:10:19.660Dave Price: who convinced him to get involved in this so late? There had to be some kind of behind-the-scenes effort. I really question that he did this on his own.5400:10:19.890 --> 00:10:21.430Laura Belin: Oh, no, there, no, yeah.5500:10:21.430 --> 00:10:26.370Dave Price: Some, something, something caused this, and, contributed to this,5600:10:26.640 --> 00:10:42.549Dave Price: within our border, I would assume. But I would love to know, somehow, if we could find out how many people, if any, were motivated to support Feenstra because of the president’s endorsement, but then this whole thing with Steve Dace at the end, and really even Bob Vanderpla’s.5700:10:42.550 --> 00:10:50.629Dave Price: did they… did that make any difference at all? Did people look at this like… because there… I got messages from people about, what is this?5800:10:50.640 --> 00:10:53.879Dave Price: So you got a guy who’s endorsed him, now he’s saying this.5900:10:53.930 --> 00:10:59.669Dave Price: And then he took credit after the election that maybe what he did,6000:10:59.830 --> 00:11:04.240Dave Price: made a difference here and contributed to the win. Would love to know, like.6100:11:05.880 --> 00:11:11.899Dave Price: some proof, one way or the other, you know, like, I don’t know how we’re ever gonna know, it’s all gonna be anecdotal.6200:11:12.510 --> 00:11:37.500Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, I mean, we talked to voters in all four, all four congressional districts on Tuesday, my reporters and some stringers, and some of the Feenstra voters did, you know, specify that the president’s endorsement, you know, made a difference to them. Some said, that they were Trump supporters, but that they hoped Trump’s endorsement6300:11:37.500 --> 00:11:42.060Kathie Obradovich: would not, influence people’s votes, because they were, they were Berlain or steampunk.6400:11:42.060 --> 00:11:42.740Dave Price: Oh, sure.6500:11:42.740 --> 00:11:57.329Kathie Obradovich: So, Trump’s endorsement was, you know, maybe, important to some voters, but, it wasn’t an anti-Trump vote if they… if people chose Lane or some other candidate.6600:11:57.920 --> 00:12:07.109Laura Belin: Oh, Gary Loeffler, the Trump tractor guy, was a big Lane supporter, and he was there… he was there in Ankeny on Sunday, and he was there on Tuesday night at the Victory Party.6700:12:08.400 --> 00:12:14.019Dave Price: I’m, like, looking ahead toward the general election, I’m really fascinated6800:12:14.520 --> 00:12:17.699Dave Price: what the LAN campaign will look like.6900:12:17.950 --> 00:12:27.069Dave Price: how the campaign team will grow, who comes into this, are they gonna bring… bring in some Feenstra people? Are they gonna bring in…7000:12:27.540 --> 00:12:33.419Dave Price: outside people, will Republican Governors Association be part of this? I mean, there had been talk…7100:12:33.680 --> 00:12:43.719Dave Price: about the RGA getting involved if Feenstra held on to get a different-looking campaign post-primary, because there was so much…7200:12:44.230 --> 00:12:51.679Dave Price: consternation about the way they ran it, and I… I can’t remember if I mentioned this on the podcast, so… just…7300:12:51.800 --> 00:12:55.450Dave Price: beat me out here if I’m repeating this, if I’m doing an old man,7400:12:55.660 --> 00:13:07.879Dave Price: a recount that I’ve already said this once before, but big picture, and maybe I was only talking to a friend of mine, and I didn’t say this on the podcast, so I’m a little careful with what I say on here before something happens.7500:13:08.220 --> 00:13:08.960Dave Price: I…7600:13:09.130 --> 00:13:16.569Dave Price: I would be curious with you two, with all the campaigns we’ve covered over the years, both statewide and presidential.7700:13:16.970 --> 00:13:36.739Dave Price: When I was talking to a friend, I was trying to think of a time when there was a legit candidate, not some fringy, nobody knows who this person is kind of thing, but somebody who’s, like, legit, who was looked upon as somebody who could win. I don’t remember ever covering a campaign like Randy Feenstra’s.7800:13:36.740 --> 00:13:42.240Dave Price: where I had so many true supporters of his, Complaining.7900:13:42.550 --> 00:14:01.479Dave Price: about what they were and were not doing, and I’m wondering if either of you can help me… I’ve got 25 years here now, and I was going through my middle-aged memory bank to try to see if I could remember anybody, and I can’t think of anybody that would be a good comp, and I’m wondering if either of you can?8000:14:01.730 --> 00:14:11.540Kathie Obradovich: I mean, I think the closest parallel I can draw is with Jim Ross Lightfoot, where, you know, this was,8100:14:11.540 --> 00:14:35.249Kathie Obradovich: again, an open governor’s race. He was the prohibitive favorite, and nobody knew who Tom Vilsack was. And, you know, that it wasn’t a situation where Lightfoot wasn’t getting out, and wasn’t doing media, or wasn’t doing debates, etc. The concern was his, was more like his message discipline, that8200:14:35.250 --> 00:14:58.049Kathie Obradovich: he couldn’t stop talking about, you know, and sort of in technical terms, legislation in DC, as opposed to stripping down a message and focusing on state issues. So I think that that was the main thing that you would hear, you know, supporters of his saying, yeah, he’s got to stop talking about Washington, D.C. so much.8300:14:59.160 --> 00:15:16.029Kathie Obradovich: You know, but that… that’s… I think that… that is not a direct, comparison, and… and you’re right, it’s been a, you know, it’s been a long, long time since we’ve seen, that much kind of grumbling behind the scenes about, you know, the party frontrunner.8400:15:16.790 --> 00:15:32.609Laura Belin: I was living overseas at the time of the Vilsack-Lightfoot race, so I was not on the ground to observe it. I’ve never seen a worse candidate than Randy Feenstra in my life. I mean, and we had a warning sign when he only got 60% of the vote in his own primary.8500:15:32.610 --> 00:15:57.049Laura Belin: two years ago against Kevin Virgil, but it seems like they didn’t learn any lessons from that. He was completely inaccessible to people, even in his own district, heavily conservative areas, and I think that he was just counting on being able to sail through in a fractured field, and I also thought that he was on track to win. I thought that several of the other people could beat Feenstra one-on-one, but with four-on-one, I thought that they would all8600:15:57.090 --> 00:16:14.050Laura Belin: split the vote. So, but then when you have one of those four being extremely well-funded, and able to get his message in front of voters, and people were just looking… I mean, what reasons was Randy Feenster even giving people to vote for him? His ads were just all about how he’s with Trump.8700:16:14.050 --> 00:16:20.360Laura Belin: But he wasn’t really giving anyone any reason to feel inspired about his campaign.8800:16:20.410 --> 00:16:28.170Dave Price: And I believe we talked about that on here, that clearly they felt like the Trump thing was a problem.8900:16:28.540 --> 00:16:31.540Dave Price: And they had to convince the base that…9000:16:31.730 --> 00:16:45.370Dave Price: Feenstra was with the president and would support the president, and it was Trump, Trump, Trump, all the time in his launch videos, really everything, his introductory videos, and that was… they kind of ran on Trump, and he’d never…9100:16:45.880 --> 00:16:51.109Dave Price: never shared any kind of vision. I was trying to think through, like, you know, you try to think of, like.9200:16:51.840 --> 00:17:01.659Dave Price: obviously, from our standpoint, we want everybody to debate, and I did a four-candidate debate and really wanted to do a moderate a five-candidate debate for obvious reasons, right?9300:17:01.660 --> 00:17:16.030Dave Price: But I guess I understood their point in that they felt there was nothing to be gained, and they thought he could be… if he was going to get pulled too far to the right on some issues, standing up there with the other four, it’d be hard to…9400:17:16.079 --> 00:17:22.510Dave Price: to push back toward the middle, let’s just say, if that was one of their concerns or whatever. But they didn’t counter-program.9500:17:22.940 --> 00:17:24.139Dave Price: So if that’s what.9600:17:24.140 --> 00:17:24.640Kathie Obradovich: what you’re.9700:17:24.640 --> 00:17:30.549Dave Price: about, then you could choose to go do… look what Rob Sand does with the 100 town hall things.9800:17:30.890 --> 00:17:44.320Dave Price: Like, Feenstra could have done something similar, and just non-stop… and I appreciate he’s got a job in Congress, so it makes it a little more challenging to do it. But he had time. He also took a long time to officially get into the race.9900:17:44.490 --> 00:18:01.880Dave Price: Which, frankly, annoyed some Republicans who were wondering, do you want this job? Do you not want this job? What the heck’s going on? But they could have counter-programmed, they could have been all over the place, and they chose not to. It was a really low-profile thing, and it wasn’t really until some of the activists and donors were grumbling that he…10000:18:01.880 --> 00:18:04.549Dave Price: Kinda got out there a little bit more, but…10100:18:04.790 --> 00:18:09.700Dave Price: Doing these sort of small pizza ranch gatherings and little select…10200:18:10.020 --> 00:18:19.649Dave Price: almost felt like private-type things, they weren’t really private, but there was just no energy when you compare it to Lane, and even on a smaller extent, to Steen.10300:18:20.100 --> 00:18:23.370Kathie Obradovich: One of the few… one of the few times that he actually did10400:18:23.370 --> 00:18:45.480Kathie Obradovich: do an event. Was it the Westside Conservative Club, where he put his foot in his mouth, you know, and basically said, yeah, the ESA program, the Educational Savings Account, public dollars for private tuition, that those private schools should, if they’re going to take that money, should have to accept10500:18:45.490 --> 00:18:52.440Kathie Obradovich: all students. And, you know, that, was basically a democratic talking point against.10600:18:52.440 --> 00:18:57.259Dave Price: Yeah, which… Which is probably a pretty good general election. Yes, it would have been.10700:18:57.490 --> 00:18:58.380Kathie Obradovich: Yeah.10800:18:58.380 --> 00:19:21.970Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, but I, you know, all of the other candidates jumped on him, the governor jumped on him, the Republican lawmakers were unhappy with that, and so, you know, that sort of made me wonder, it’s like, okay, is this why they’re keeping him away from, you know, that he’s gonna put his foot in his mouth if he gets asked the right question, by a reporter?10900:19:21.970 --> 00:19:24.660Kathie Obradovich: Or, you know, or somebody in the audience.11000:19:24.660 --> 00:19:49.659Laura Belin: Look, I mean, even the last week, we talked about this because you went to that house party, Dave, that he did, but I was following his social media last week, and he was doing these private events, basically, at somebody’s farm or somebody’s home for 20 or 25 people. I was just speaking to the Urbandale area Democrats last night, and they had about 50 people just at their regular monthly meeting. I mean, I’ve seen larger meet and greets for city11100:19:49.660 --> 00:19:56.490Laura Belin: council candidates than Randy Feenster was having in the final week of a statewide campaign for governor. It’s just ridiculous.11200:19:56.820 --> 00:20:08.740Dave Price: I also wondered, you know, does it demonstrate, and we’ll see how Lane does this, he, he, Lane has brought in some new subjects, right? He is talking about some stuff, and we’ll have to see how it plays with people.11300:20:08.880 --> 00:20:09.890Dave Price: But…11400:20:11.110 --> 00:20:36.090Dave Price: We knew going into this, the challenge is, no matter who the Republican nominee is, you’re following long-time Republicans in the… who have been on the job, right? Since Brandstick got back in in 11. That’s a long time of Republicans, they’ve had the trifecta since 17. You’re not gonna realistically go in there, you wouldn’t think, and rip on what your party has done, so you have to11500:20:36.090 --> 00:20:40.420Dave Price: Thread a needle about how you’re gonna… sort of,11600:20:40.490 --> 00:20:55.060Dave Price: stay the course, to use George W.’s line from 04, you know, kind of build on it, though. And that… there is a little bit of a thread there, because you don’t want to rip on it, and you saw Feenster try to do that a little bit with Butt. He questioned how they did the budget.11700:20:55.110 --> 00:21:08.010Dave Price: He doesn’t think that they should be dipping in all the reserves to make up for the deficits. And, you know, there were some people who didn’t like that, but that’s probably a theme he was going to have to have for the fiscal management side if he was governor.11800:21:08.520 --> 00:21:32.390Kathie Obradovich: Right, and Lane, you know, a big part of his campaign was, you know, pushing back on big corporate control, you know, big pharma, and, you know, that comes out with, sort of with his MAHA affiliation, Make America Healthy again, and, you know, aligning himself with RFK Jr, who’s the Health and Human Services Secretary.11900:21:32.390 --> 00:21:35.310Kathie Obradovich: There’s an anti-vaccine component to that.12000:21:36.430 --> 00:21:59.850Kathie Obradovich: And then, you know, second, and this is, you know, he’s talking about Iowa’s skyrocketing cancer rate, and tying that concern to Big Pharma to that. Also, the big ag, and, you know, tying, tying farm chemical contamination also to Iowa’s rising cancer rate, which most other Republicans are not willing to do.12100:21:59.850 --> 00:22:16.980Kathie Obradovich: they’ll talk about cancer, but they’re not really… they really don’t want to make that connection to farm chemicals, so… so he broke away from his party a little bit there. I’ll be interested to see how much he, emphasizes that part of his message now, going into the general election. I think that that…12200:22:17.450 --> 00:22:30.590Kathie Obradovich: part of his message, can appeal across party lines, and so it may be worth it for him to continue with that discussion. But yeah, Lane, I think he’s… it’s going to be more difficult12300:22:30.590 --> 00:22:40.109Kathie Obradovich: for Rob Sand to run against Zach Lane. He’s more of a wild card than it would have been for him to run against Randy Feenstra. You know, I think that Zach Lane12400:22:40.230 --> 00:23:04.439Kathie Obradovich: there’s still a lot of things that we don’t know about him. He doesn’t have a voting record, etc. The Republicans did raise some negatives about him during the primary campaign, especially right at the end, when suddenly he started looking like a threat. But, you know, his part-time, residency in Kansas, or previous residency in Kansas, you know, his… some of his invest…12500:23:04.440 --> 00:23:28.160Kathie Obradovich: investments that were sort of eyebrow-raising. Those, those things have, you know, started to come to light, or, or, you know, people are sort of digging into those a little bit more now, and I think that there’s, you know, more to know about Zach Lane, you know, potentially, things that are good for his campaign, maybe some things that aren’t so good. Rob Sand, on the other hand, you know.12600:23:28.160 --> 00:23:37.110Kathie Obradovich: Republicans have been, running against him now for at least 7 years. They’ve raised a lot of, you know, they’ve raised concerns about him.12700:23:37.250 --> 00:23:48.370Kathie Obradovich: over 7 years, but I don’t know if there’s anything new that we’re likely to hear about him, because they, you know, Republicans have been running negative, messaging about him for such a long time.12800:23:48.560 --> 00:24:12.899Laura Belin: I think this is a very tricky matchup for Rob Sand. I’m sure that he would have rather run against Randy Feenstra, who was completely uninspiring and part of the old guard, and could be tied to both the state management and mismanagement fiscal, according to Rob San, and also the unpopular things that Congress has done, whereas Zach Lane basically blank slate, Dave, as you’ve mentioned, running on a change message.12900:24:12.960 --> 00:24:18.379Laura Belin: And we saw the first memo from Rob Sand, and in some of his comments.13000:24:18.380 --> 00:24:43.079Laura Belin: to reporters since the primary, saying things like, well, we’ve had 10 years of one-party rule, and Zach Lane just wants to continue another 4 years of one-party rule. Well, Zach Lane is going to present himself as very different from what Iowa’s had up to now. So that’s part of what Rob Sand is trying to do now, is going to be to convince people that he’s really going to bring more change, because he would bring divided government and13100:24:43.080 --> 00:25:08.069Laura Belin: and all of the other things, rather than Zach Lane. But I do think it’s trickier. But Rob Sand is already making fun of all the time that Zach Lane spends in Kansas. There was Des Moines Register reporting about his many trips in Kansas where some of his children live, and that he made a comment to the Register, Zach Lane did, something like that he’s already had this conversation with his family, that if he’s elected governor, he’ll have13200:25:08.070 --> 00:25:15.499Laura Belin: to spend as much time in Iowa as humanly possible. And Rob Sand quoted this in a video, and he said, most of us just live here.13300:25:16.890 --> 00:25:25.340Laura Belin: Instead of saying, I’m gonna spend as much time in Iowa as humanly possible. So, that’ll be a theme we hear quite a bit about during the general election campaign.13400:25:25.340 --> 00:25:35.859Dave Price: I do wonder how people are going to look at that. I mean, he’s… this is not a… this is not a summer home he has in Wichita. He has a home there because he has children there.13500:25:36.300 --> 00:25:47.470Dave Price: And so, he goes back and forth. I’m gonna be curious how willing he is to be open about this, because you start talking about this, then this gets into your tricky first marriage and all of that stuff.13600:25:48.610 --> 00:25:51.300Dave Price: But it’s probably… he’s going to have to…13700:25:51.950 --> 00:26:00.560Dave Price: Probably speak at length about this, to explain how this is going to work, and how is he going to navigate this if he’s the governor.13800:26:01.010 --> 00:26:09.609Dave Price: When I was… when you were talking about the ads that went against him, can we just get these dual ads out of the way, where…13900:26:10.020 --> 00:26:18.970Dave Price: Lane invested in a company that later produced sex toys. Rob Sand used to be an underwear model. Can we just do a split-screen14000:26:19.330 --> 00:26:31.190Dave Price: joint ad, get it over with, so we can then start talking about issues. They’re gonna find… Rob’s saying they already have the video of him, like, on a skateboard, or whatever that stuff is. They’re gonna make…14100:26:31.910 --> 00:26:35.859Dave Price: The idea’s gonna be maybe make the other guy look like a weirdo.14200:26:36.400 --> 00:26:40.989Dave Price: But I also think we can get rid of…14300:26:41.220 --> 00:26:48.710Dave Price: the nature of these two candidates, it’s gonna be tough for Republicans to rip sand for being…14400:26:48.850 --> 00:26:49.859Dave Price: The rich guy.14500:26:50.490 --> 00:26:51.810Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, I think.14600:26:51.810 --> 00:27:02.299Dave Price: I think Lahn has probably made money on his own, too, but he married into money, so you’re gonna have to deal with that. Then you’ve got two guys who are really kind of pushing for change, so that kind of…14700:27:02.740 --> 00:27:19.720Dave Price: balances each other out. I need to ask you both about… I don’t even know if you had time to read this. Kathie, you… you were knee-deep in a conference while you were doing everything else this week, covering the election, but have you read the release from the SAN campaign about the debate proposals?14800:27:19.860 --> 00:27:20.640Laura Belin: Yes.14900:27:21.560 --> 00:27:28.100Dave Price: So, he is… He’s basically trying to take charge…15000:27:28.230 --> 00:27:39.549Dave Price: of the debate system, rather than having the media outlets, like we usually do, propose it, and then we negotiate with the candidates. He is saying he wants 4 of these, and this is…15100:27:39.550 --> 00:27:50.039Dave Price: Part of this is similar to what Lahn did when he challenged Feenstra. He wants four regional debates, so spread across the state, and he picked the four bigger media markets.15200:27:50.110 --> 00:27:51.350Dave Price: And…15300:27:51.470 --> 00:28:07.999Dave Price: essentially, if I’m reading this right, the media outlets sort of apply to be able to do debates. I don’t know if SAN’s campaign thinks they’re the ones who are gonna make the decision on this, and put it all together, and then it’s up to Lahn to agree or not agree, but it’s gonna be four regional ones.15400:28:08.180 --> 00:28:27.410Dave Price: And, if it doesn’t happen, then I think he’s got a challenge in there that Lahn needs to do a bunch of town halls or something like that. Clearly, it’s different. I like the idea about having four of them. I know, selfishly, as we put the one together that we did statewide with my company and with KCCI in Des Moines.15500:28:27.580 --> 00:28:35.170Dave Price: that it’s hard. We had 90 minutes with 4 candidates, and so much that you want to ask about, you can’t.15600:28:35.360 --> 00:28:51.679Dave Price: And you don’t get in-depth enough on stuff, you know? I mean, with 4 of them, you could get into a lot of things if, they would actually agree. It does sort of feel kind of an old-school way to do this, but I’m not sure what the media outlets are gonna think about SAN, if it looks like sand’s kind of in charge.15700:28:51.680 --> 00:29:16.650Kathie Obradovich: Well, and if I were… if I were Lahn campaign, I would be really uncomfortable with having my opponent be the one to, you know, organize and bet the debates. I mean, the reason that the media outlets are the ones who organize it is that they’re, you know, at least, you know, expected to be neutral in terms of not, you know, trying to give an advantage to one campaign or another, or, you know, to15800:29:16.790 --> 00:29:36.919Kathie Obradovich: you know, choose their moderators, you know, based on, you know, whether we think they’re going to ask tougher questions of the opponent. So I am uncomfortable with the… I love the idea for debates, regional debates. It’s good to get out around the state. Don’t love the idea of the SAN campaign trying to be the one to organize it.15900:29:37.090 --> 00:29:48.920Laura Belin: Well, I… what I thought was interesting about the proposal is he kept saying, if our opponent does not agree, so it seems like he’s only interested in debating Zach Lahn, whereas16000:29:48.920 --> 00:30:13.889Laura Belin: I mean, most of the time, Rob Sand is talking about how the two-party private clubs shouldn’t have a monopoly on this or that. I went to watch him vote on Tuesday morning, and he spoke to reporters, and the first thing he said was that this is… a third of the state is disenfranchised because independents have to declare with a party to vote in the primary, and so on, but it looks like a libertarian is going to be on the ballot. They’ve qualified for the ballot, Nicholas Gluba.16100:30:13.890 --> 00:30:37.290Laura Belin: filed his nominating papers on Tuesday. I haven’t seen whether those will be challenged. He told me on Tuesday he was very comfortable that he was way above the threshold and wouldn’t be knocked off the ballot, but I didn’t see anything in Rob Sands’ proposal that indicated that he’s willing to debate anyone other than his Republican opponent, so that’s something I’m gonna try to find out next time I get a chance to ask him a question.16200:30:38.050 --> 00:30:44.550Dave Price: Laura, you… I wanted to, do a little PS on what you just said there. I’ve heard the criticism16300:30:44.580 --> 00:31:01.929Dave Price: from some Republicans about sand, and that he’s basically trying to run away from being a Democrat. The one thing listening to you talk there reminded me that for almost as long as I’ve covered him, he has talked about the weaknesses of a two-party system.16400:31:01.930 --> 00:31:12.030Dave Price: He is not talking about ranked choice voting, but I know he’s done… I think he’s read books on this, and he’s looked into how this would work and all of that. I mean, he’s got his own…16500:31:12.030 --> 00:31:22.629Dave Price: his own, ideas that he’s put out there, but there are certain things for those who have talked to him for quite a while, he has been consistent about16600:31:22.770 --> 00:31:28.399Dave Price: some of the things he’s talking about out there on the campaign trail as governor. This isn’t just…16700:31:28.720 --> 00:31:41.020Dave Price: that the Democratic Party brand stinks, or something like that, and he’s trying to get away from it. He has… he has been talked… he has talked about the traps of a two-party system for quite some time.16800:31:41.020 --> 00:31:46.639Laura Belin: Oh, yeah, years ago, I remember hearing him talk about it, and this primary, sort of a jungle primary.16900:31:46.640 --> 00:31:47.060Dave Price: system.17000:31:47.060 --> 00:31:48.050Laura Belin: That he wants to have.17100:31:48.620 --> 00:32:12.270Laura Belin: That’s a newer proposal, but I think that he’s been open to that. I forgot to say, to pick up on something that you were talking about earlier, that the Zach Lahn wealth maybe makes it difficult for Republicans to campaign against Rob San. Zach Lahn, in his victory speech on Tuesday, tried to thread that needle by saying, kind of a Trumpian line of, I’m my own biggest donor, and therefore, I can’t be bought.17200:32:12.540 --> 00:32:29.460Laura Belin: But Rob Sand is putting Iowa on the auction block because he’s taken money from these billionaires and also his wife’s family, so kind of… and glossing over the fact that Rob Sand has raised millions of dollars from thousands of donors, and17300:32:29.460 --> 00:32:42.970Laura Belin: Zach Lahn has very few small grassroots donors by comparison, but in any case, they’re going to try to differentiate it that way, but I do think that it makes it complicated, that message is complicated, by Zach Lahn.17400:32:43.800 --> 00:32:49.790Dave Price: All right, well, we will have much to discuss in the months ahead, and we are going to continue17500:32:49.990 --> 00:32:57.459Dave Price: our weekly podcast. We may take a break, late summer, for everybody to get a little time off, but we’re gonna keep this sucker going.17600:32:57.570 --> 00:33:15.990Dave Price: Can you seriously imagine what this year is going to be? We didn’t even really deep dive into the U.S. Senate race, which we will do in the weeks ahead, but the Hinson-Turek matchup is gonna be so fascinating, Sand and Lahn fascinating. We’re gonna have…17700:33:17.070 --> 00:33:19.000Dave Price: 2, maybe 3?17800:33:19.000 --> 00:33:20.160Laura Belin: 3…17900:33:20.160 --> 00:33:38.359Dave Price: competitive congressional races, plus, I mean, you know, they’re always… I feel like the legislative races are always interesting on their own, you know, maybe they’re more hyper-local, I suppose, but seriously, though, for a non-presidential year, this is gonna be something else, right?18000:33:38.670 --> 00:33:41.170Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, oh, I think so.18100:33:41.170 --> 00:34:04.800Kathie Obradovich: I’ve referred to this before as it’s basically a generational opportunity for change in Iowa. You know, considering that it’s the first time we’ve had both an open governor and simultaneously U.S. Senate… open U.S. Senate race in 58 years, that is longer than almost everyone has even been able to vote.18200:34:04.800 --> 00:34:27.040Kathie Obradovich: Let alone, you know, a lot of voters weren’t alive the last time that, that we had this wide open of a race. So, so yeah, and, you know, of course, it trickles all the way down the ballot. So, so this is a really big opportunity for change. Somebody also asked me, you know, could Iowa go back into the purple state category?18300:34:27.489 --> 00:34:31.960Kathie Obradovich: And it’s like, well, if it can, this is the year, you know?18400:34:32.350 --> 00:34:33.300Kathie Obradovich: It’s gonna be the year.18500:34:33.469 --> 00:34:51.839Laura Belin: And, yeah, absolutely. I’m a believer in that second congressional district in Northeast Iowa. That is in play, definitely, in addition to the first and third, and we haven’t even talked about the Attorney General, Secretary of Agriculture race. Those are both going to be very interesting. So, I think it’s the most exciting Iowa election cycle I’ve ever covered.18600:34:52.260 --> 00:34:56.600Dave Price: This… our Writers Collaborative features a lot of…18700:34:56.699 --> 00:35:14.080Dave Price: different perspectives on things. For my personal standpoint, I don’t, I don’t go partisan either way, I’m neutral, I don’t take part in primaries. But may I just say, the most unsettling part of 2026? Do you know what that is for me personally?18800:35:15.620 --> 00:35:19.239Dave Price: Regardless of which candidate18900:35:19.720 --> 00:35:32.140Dave Price: becomes our next governor, regardless of which candidate becomes our next United States senator, I am guaranteed that I will be older than both of those winners.19000:35:32.450 --> 00:35:35.539Dave Price: And I don’t know how to come to terms with this.19100:35:36.810 --> 00:35:53.990Kathie Obradovich: This would be a first time for me, as well, so I… I would, yeah, you start to feel old when your, when your doctors, your priests, and your, you know, your governor are… are actually younger than you, so…19200:35:53.990 --> 00:36:05.049Dave Price: I noticed that this was the first cycle where, like, especially talking to friends, I more frequently found myself referring to people, by their first names.19300:36:05.500 --> 00:36:12.849Dave Price: And I don’t think that it was a sign of disrespect for anybody, I think it was the fact that some of these people are well younger than I am.19400:36:13.390 --> 00:36:15.600Dave Price: It’s just what came out, so I…19500:36:16.240 --> 00:36:18.940Dave Price: This is how it’s always going to be now, and I need to…19600:36:19.630 --> 00:36:22.470Dave Price: Sit down in a quiet place and come to terms with this.19700:36:24.680 --> 00:36:38.019Dave Price: Oh, that’s definitely a good place to wrap this sucker. Thank you to all of you who have joined us for all of our conversations about the Iowa legislative session. Let’s see if there’s going to be a special session, by the way.19800:36:38.500 --> 00:36:40.410Dave Price: just… I’m just gonna throw that one out there.19900:36:40.410 --> 00:36:41.370Kathie Obradovich: Probably not, but…20000:36:41.370 --> 00:37:06.129Dave Price: You know, that’s still gonna… we’re gonna… those rumors will percolate occasionally. Anyway, for sticking with us on the long legislative session, getting through the primary election, now that we look ahead to the general election, we very much appreciate your support. We don’t do ads on this. We very much appreciate all of you who have made contributions to keep this going week after week after week, and we are committed to continue doing these throughout the general20100:37:06.130 --> 00:37:11.350Dave Price: election, and the more support we can get from the community, the more20200:37:11.350 --> 00:37:19.470Dave Price: that allows us to keep this going. So we very much appreciate all of you who have helped us do that, and if you’re thinking about doing it and haven’t yet.20300:37:19.470 --> 00:37:36.070Dave Price: This would be a great time to get on there and do it. I’m gonna sound like those, fundraising drives on Iowa Public TV or Iowa Public Radio, but if you’re able to do it, we’d very much appreciate it. Thank you to Kathie and Laura. Ladies, have a great weekend, and we’ll talk to you next week. We will talk to everybody next week. Get full access to Iowa Down Ballot at <a href="https://iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com/subscribe</a>

57 total episodes available

Recent guests on Iowa Down Ballot

Guests from recent episodes — sign up to see every guest that has ever appeared on this show.

Kathie Obradovich

Guest

Laura Belin

Guest

See every guest on Iowa Down Ballot

Similar Podcasts

Discover related shows you might enjoy

KHOI's Capitol Week

Laura Belin, Spencer Dirks

On Iowa Politics Podcast

The Gazette

Iowa Press

Iowa PBS

Hacks On Tap

Vox Media

PBS Washington Week with The Atlantic - Full Show

Washington Week

The Bulwark Podcast

The Bulwark

PBS NewsHour - Brooks and Capehart

PBS News

The Focus Group Podcast

The Bulwark

Impolitic with John Heilemann

Audacy | Puck

Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast

iHeartPodcasts

#SistersInLaw

Politicon

The Ezra Klein Show

New York Times Opinion

Talking Feds

Harry Litman

The Josh Marshall Podcast

Talking Points Memo

POLITICO Playbook Daily Briefing

POLITICO

Deep-dive analytics for Iowa Down Ballot

Frequently asked questions

Have a different question and can't find the answer you're looking for? Reach out to our support team by sending us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

What is Iowa Down Ballot?: Professional political analysts discuss Iowa politics with refreshing, in-depth conversations. <a href="https://iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com</a>
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates bi-weekly.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 6 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

Legal Disclaimer

Pod Engine is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected with any of the podcasts displayed on this platform. We operate independently as a podcast discovery and analytics service.

All podcast artwork, thumbnails, and content displayed on this page are the property of their respective owners and are protected by applicable copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to, podcast cover art, episode artwork, show descriptions, episode titles, transcripts, audio snippets, and any other content originating from the podcast creators or their licensors.

We display this content under fair use principles and/or implied license for the purpose of podcast discovery, information, and commentary. We make no claim of ownership over any podcast content, artwork, or related materials shown on this platform. All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are the property of their respective owners.

While we strive to ensure all content usage is properly authorized, if you are a rights holder and believe your content is being used inappropriately or without proper authorization, please contact us immediately at hey@podengine.ai for prompt review and appropriate action, which may include content removal or proper attribution.

By accessing and using this platform, you acknowledge and agree to respect all applicable copyright laws and intellectual property rights of content owners. Any unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or commercial use of the content displayed on this platform is strictly prohibited.