Note: Iowa Democrats will almost certainly be able to block any constitutional amendment banning gay marriage if they retain control of either the Iowa House or Senate in 2010.
Conservative blogger Craig Robinson argued earlier this month that "Iowa Republicans Have Plenty of Opportunity in the State Senate" in 2010. The GOP has almost nowhere to go but up. Republicans currently hold 18 of the 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, fewer than at any previous time in this state's history. After making gains in the last four general elections, Democrats now hold 19 of the 25 Iowa Senate seats that will be on the ballot in 2010. Also, several Democratic incumbents are in their first term, having won their seats during the wave election of 2006.
After the jump I'll examine the seven Iowa Senate districts Robinson views as worthwhile targets as well as one Republican-held district that Democrats should be able to pick up. Here is a map (pdf file) of the current Iowa Senate districts.
There's nothing opponents of marriage equality can do to stop gay and lesbian couples from getting married in Iowa starting on April 24, but the political battle over marriage equality will go on for a long time after wedding bells start ringing.
After the jump I will bring you up to date on the political reaction to last Friday's Iowa Supreme Court ruling, prospects for amending Iowa's constitution and the latest statewide opinion poll on same-sex marriage.
I do most of my writing at the Iowa progressive community blog Bleeding Heartland.
Last year at this time I was scrambling to make as many phone calls and knock on as many doors as I could before the Iowa caucuses on January 3.
This week I had a little more time to reflect on the year that just ended.
After the jump I've linked to Bleeding Heartland highlights in 2008. Most of the links relate to Iowa politics, but some also covered issues or strategy of national importance.
I only linked to a few posts about the presidential race. I'll do a review of Bleeding Heartland's 2008 presidential election coverage later this month.
The Des Moines-based American Future Fund is exploiting loopholes in rules governing political advocacy groups in order to run campaign advertising in targeted races without disclosing its donors.
This latest in my continuing series of diaries on Oregon politics will discuss the current status of Oregon's political landscape by using voter registration as a guide. With this model, we can see clearly how strongly the Democratic party is positioned for this fall.
These days, many of us in the blogosphere are turning our attention to the coattail effect in this year's election. I'll leave all the presidential speculation to every other blog out there, but I wanted to open up the floor to discuss the effect of gubernatorial and senatorial candidates on congressional and state-legislature races. Who hurts? Who helps? I can't help but speculate that some down-ballot candidates in Minnesota are waiting with bated breath to see how much of a liability Al Franken turns out to be. And I definitely foresee Mark Warner helping down-ticket Dems in Virginia win new seats in the U.S. House and in state and local offices. Got any other observations and insights? I yield the floor!
