Category: Iowa (Page 6 of 14)

Can Democrats Win Iowa in 2022?

August 1, 2022 / baseblogger

Here’s the short answer to the title of this post: No.

But for a slightly longer answer, I’ll point out that many things could happen. Kim Reynolds could get caught driving drunk while cheating on her husband. Chuck Grassley could die from old age. And so on. But assuming nothing outrageous happens, Democrats won’t win the major federal or statewide races this fall. They will lose Iowa in 2022. Normal campaigning and GOTV efforts won’t be enough to win.

Incidentally, wealthier Democratic donors and party officials already know this. It’s a big part of why donors haven’t given as much money as usual by this point. A few progressives in the state have even criticized Democrats for ‘throwing in the towel.’

Co-Crafting the Just City

July 11, 2022 / baseblogger

Recent Iowa City mayor Jim Throgmorton wrote a book about his time on the city council in Iowa City. He calls it Co-Crafting the Just City. I’ll get to why he called it that in just a bit. But for now, I’ll say it’s a rare kind of book. People don’t often write about the politics of a small U.S. city. And certainly not in the kind of detail one finds here.

As some readers know, I moved to Iowa City in 2007. And I served on the city’s Housing and Community Development Commission from 2019 to 2022 (the final year as chair). So, I know about many of the political debates Thorgmorton mentions. I followed most of them closely – some very closely.

Overall, Throgmorton does a fine job listing the basic issues at play. He does so, of course, from his own (in some ways limited) perspective. That’s to be expected. I’ll sketch out some of the book’s goals and insights into Iowa City politics.

4 Lessons From Local Activism

June 27, 2022 / baseblogger

So, I’ve taken part in a ton of activist groups in Iowa City over the last 15 years. A couple of months ago, I wrote some reflections on the good and bad of Iowa City activism. I kept most of that rather local to Iowa City. In this post, I’d like to extend this to broader lessons.

With that in mind, here are 4 lessons from local activism!

Housing Commission and Housing Ideas

June 24, 2022 / baseblogger

Some of you who know me might know I spent the last three years serving on the Iowa City Housing and Community Development Commission (HCDC). And I’ve been the chair of HCDC since July 2021. As I finish up my 3-year term, I wanted to write a bit about all that and about housing in Iowa City (and elsewhere!).

The short version: HCDC does great work on community problems, but it’s not built for solutions to deep or structural problems.

The Limits of Mobilizing

May 9, 2022 / baseblogger

I’ve posted a few times on Jane McAlevey’s book No Shortcuts. Readers looking to catch up can read the most important of those posts here and here. But I find one other big lesson that McAlevey gives to us. That concerns the limit of mobilizing as a method and basis for an org.

Let’s explore that a bit.

Category: Iowa (Page 6 of 14)

Can Democrats Win Iowa in 2022?

Co-Crafting the Just City

4 Lessons From Local Activism

Housing Commission and Housing Ideas

The Limits of Mobilizing

Categories

About This Site

Base and Superstructure RSS

Archives

Recent Posts