[Eric in the Ozarks]

Liberals and Dems are centered in the larger Iowa cities. Des Moines, The Quad Cities area, Sioux City and Cedar Rapids-Iowa City. In almost every case, they are connected to the remaining UAW locals that used to be quite powerful in tractor making plants (which are almost gone now). Sioux City, Dubuque and Fort Dodge used to be big meat packing communities but the average meat cutter now speaks Spanish or Viet Namese so this base is gone.
The southern and western part of Iowa is generally conservative.