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DES MOINES — Democratic presidential candidates descended on Iowa in a flurry of activity this weekend, attending the annual Wing Ding dinner and speaking at the Iowa State Fair, meeting as many voters as they could and kicking off the primary season in earnest. Top-tier candidates like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders attracted huge crowds who followed their every move as they ate corn dogs and looked at the cow made of butter. And then, more quietly, there was Bill Weld. Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, arrived at the fair Sunday morning as a drizzly rain started to...

"Do not put your hands on me. You keep pushing me!" the female photographer yelled. In a widely covered incident in this past June, Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham was manhandled and left bruised by North Korean security as she attempted to protect U.S. reporters from being shut out at the hands of dictator Kim Jong Un's guards. If, a month or so later, President Trump's secret service agents or staff were to likewise get rough with reporters, particularly a female journalist, the comparison to Kim would be at the top of every story on the subject. And there would...

Democratic hopeful Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., faced shouted questions over why he wouldn't plainly call President Trump a "white supremacist" as some of his fellow 2020 contenders have. The questions came as Delaney was surrounded by cameras and apparent members of the press after his speech at the Iowa State Fair on Friday. "Why do you stop short of calling him a white supremacist," Delaney was asked. The apparent reporter went on to ask what the difference was for Delaney between saying Trump supported white supremacists and using that label to describe him. "I think it's a distinction without a...

This week, President Trump obtained a massive amount of money for his re-election campaign. After the first round of Democratic candidate debates, Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren recieved top grades, according to a poll of voters. On this edition of River to River, host Ben Keiffer talks with analysts about the debate aftermath, Trump's campaigning and Fourth of July plans along with other polictical headlines. Also, we continue our series of interviews about the leadership of 2020 candidates with a home state view of John Hickenlooper, former govenor of Colorado. Guests include: Rachel Caufield, professor of political science at...

Club for Growth, a conservative political group, will launch new attack ads against Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden targeting his past statements about race that will run during his first debate appearance next week. The decision by Club for Growth to attack Biden is based on internal polling the organization conducted that was viewed exclusively by Reuters. The ad will air on MSNBC and NBC stations in Des Moines, Iowa, according to the organization. Iowa holds the nation's first nominating contest....

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said on Saturday that there were so many Democrats in the race, they “might as well carpool.” Buttigieg was speaking at an education-focused meet-and-greet on the back porch of a home in Des Moines, Iowa, as he and much of the nearly two dozen Democratic presidential candidates swarmed the state, whose caucuses top the 2020 primary calendar. Buttigieg offered a unifying tone at the event, saying he did not view the massive field “as having opponents so much as competitors.” “You would be surprised how often we are in dialogue with each other,” Buttigieg...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democrat Pete Buttigieg, who hopes to become the first openly gay presidential nominee from a major political party, said at an LGBTQ event Saturday that activists must band together to deny President Donald Trump a second term. "We've got a lot to worry about, a lot to fight for, but we have the means to do it," he said. The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, stressed the need for people to vote and to become involved in politics. Speaking before an audience gathered for Des Moines LGBTQ pride festivities in front of the Iowa statehouse,...

He’s just a likable, plain spoken Midwestern mayor who happens to be about everything that Donald Trump isn’t. Now, South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg has surged to third place in a new Iowa poll, making strides in a crowded field in the key caucus state. The 37-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan vet jumped to earn 11 percent support in the latest Emerson poll of Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa. He trailed two vastly better known candidates: former Vice President Joe Biden, who hasn’t yet entered the race, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Back in January, Buttigieg didn’t even register in the...

STORM LAKE, Iowa — A Minnesota supporter of President Donald Trump is facing a disorderly conduct charge stemming from a weekend altercation at an Iowa rally for Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Photos from Warren's rally Saturday in Storm Lake show 58-year-old Randal Thom, of Lakefield, Minnesota, carrying a sign that read "Keep America Great" — which was a reference to Trump's "Make America Great Again" 2016 campaign slogan. Police say Thom was involved in an argument with supporters of the Massachusetts senator that turned physical, and that some punches were thrown. There were no injuries and no one else was...

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who announced on Monday that she is exploring a presidential run, is quickly assembling a robust and experienced team to lead a campaign in Iowa -- an early signal of the outsized importance of a strong showing in the state. Emily Parcell, who worked as then-Sen. Barack Obama's Iowa political director for the 2008 caucus and as a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton in the state eight years later, has signed on with Warren, along with Janice Rottenberg, according to two sources. Rottenberg was an Ohio organizer for Clinton in 2016 and ran the Iowa Democratic...

It started badly and then just got weird. Arriving at the mid-America arena in the city of Council Bluffs, Iowa, we were drenched in cold rain — part of a front that even brought early snow to nearby Nebraska. Our plan to get the views of flag-clad Donald Trump supporters queuing to see the President literally had cold water poured on it and we ran for the press entrance. No worries — we'll just mingle and find some people to talk to inside, I thought. But, no. When we picked up our press pass we were ordered straight to a...

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was in Davenport on Saturday, saying controversies in the White House are pushing unaligned voters to the left in a way that will help Democrats in this year’s midterm elections. “The crazier things get out of that Trump White House, the more independents look our way, and they’re coming our way strong,” O’Malley told more than 40 people at Scott County Democratic headquarters. O’Malley said that President Donald Trump has been a great recruitment tool for Democrats, and this year’s midterms are a chance to push back on the 2016 losses. “Great countries sometimes make...

Michael Avenatti was in Iowa this weekend. Because he is thinking, actively, about running for president. Of the United States. Which is something we have to take seriously. Because Donald Trump is president. Or something. The logic goes like this: Trump was a businessman who had never run for office before but was famous for being on TV. Avenatti, who, in case you haven't watched cable TV in the past few months (shame!) is porn star Stormy Daniels' lawyer, has also never run for political office before and is famous for being on TV. Avenatti himself is drawing comparisons between...

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa — Michael Avenatti, fresh off his declaration that he may run for president in 2020, used his first big speech as a prospective candidate to call on the Democratic Party to reject Michelle Obama’s oft-quoted advice about President Trump and his allies: “When they go low, we go high.” Mr. Avenatti, the hard-charging lawyer who represents the pornographic film star Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, did not once mention the former first lady in his keynote speech Friday night at the Democratic Wing Ding, a party fund-raiser in northern Iowa. But there was no mistaking his...

Michael Avenatti's crusade for the porn actress taking on the president has already catapulted him to cable news stardom and endeared him to many frustrated liberals. Now the self-styled "dragon slayer" is taking his message to Iowa Democrats. And the attorney who has spent months positioning himself as one of President Donald Trump's leading critics insists this foray into Iowa — an early proving ground on the presidential campaign calendar — is not a stunt. "I am not proposing this to get under the president's skin," Avenatti said in an interview. "I am seriously considering it, and I think a...

PEOSTA, Iowa (KCRG-TV9) -- President Donald Trump is expected to land at the Dubuque around 10:45 a.m. on July 26. Operations Supervisor for the Dubuque Regional Airport Todd Dalsing said many planes have been flying in and out of the airport the past few days preparing for when President Trump arrives Thursday morning. The president plans on heading to Northeast Iowa Community College after landing for a roundtable event to discuss workforce development. HyVee tells TV9 their CEO will be in attendance during the roundtable. President Trump will also be looking at some of the manufacturing labs at the community...

President Donald Trump is making his first visit to Illinois since becoming president, making a stop in Granite City on Thursday where he is expected to tout the reopening of a U.S. Steel Corp. mill. The White House announced Sunday night Trump will swing through Granite City, in southern Illinois near St. Louis and Dubuque, Iowa, on Thursday. The Trump administration has been highlighting U.S. Steel’s Granite City mill as a trade war success story even as the tariffs have sparked concerns in other sectors, with alarms sounded by Illinois farmers whose main crop is soybeans. The visit will have...

Actor-comedian Alec Baldwin will headline the Nov. 27 Iowa Democratic Party Fall Gala, the party announced. “While Alec Baldwin captured national attention for his portrayal of Donald Trump on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ he is just as committed to putting a stop to the irresponsible lawmaking in DC and places like Iowa,” according to the party’s announcement. “Heading into the 2018 midterm elections and beyond, I have decided to rededicate my efforts to helping the Democratic Party win across the country,” Baldwin said in a statement, adding “you can plan on seeing me out there with folks on the ground fighting...

DES MOINES, IOWA — The Democrats who gathered here for a day of fairly anguished strategizing about what they’d have to do to win back rural voters did not speak kindly of their own national leadership or reputation or behavior. Over and over, during a seminar called “Winning Back the Heartland,” they bemoaned the condescending way some of their fellow Democrats talk about their fellow Midwesterners, particularly those who live in small towns. “We forgot how to talk to folks, and when we did, we often talked down,” said Tom Vilsack, the former agriculture secretary under President Barack Obama and...

With a cardboard cutout of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in front of him, U.S. Agriculture Secretary and former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack speaks Sunday at the Central Iowa Democrats' fundraiser at Iowa State University's Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center in Ames. DES MOINES -- Rural Iowa shifted its political direction in 2016 and caught Democrats off guard. The conversation of how to earn back those votes is dominating the conversation among Democrats these days. It was the focus by speakers at a recent fundraiser held by Democrats from Polk County, which is dominated by the city of Des Moines...