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Paul Ryan’s latest swing through the state of Iowa has begun in two communities where the Republican nominee for Vice President has family ties. On Monday, Ryan rallied Republicans at his grandfather’s alma mater, Loras College, in Dubuque. On Tuesday, Ryan begins his day in Clinton, where his mother-in-law was born. The bus tour of Mississippi River towns continues through Muscatine before it concludes in Burlington Tuesday evening. Republicans packed the Loras College field house on Monday evening to see Ryan, and even more stood outside because the building was over capacity. Ryan was greeted with thunderous applause and cheers...

Mitt Romney remains slightly ahead in the swing state of Iowa. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Iowa Voters shows Romney with 47% support to President Obama’s 44%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and five percent (5%) are still undecided.

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For in-depth polling analysis, I defer to my colleague Mike Flynn. This latest poll out of Iowa, however, is noteworthy because what you have is the same pollster using the same polling methods and finding Obama's standing in that crucial swing state collapsing fast. Just a few months ago, back in May, according to Democratic pollster Public Policy Polling, President Obama held a commanding 51-41% lead over Mitt Romney. What was especially notable is that Obama was over the all-important 50% mark. This is crucial for an incumbent, because undecideds historically go with the challenger. Two months later, though, in...

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- With the first lady at his side, an energized President Obama wrapped up his bus tour of Iowa on Wednesday, firing up crowds in Dubuque and Davenport by outlining the huge stakes in November and urging Iowans to stand with him to "finish the work we started together four years ago." Under mostly clear skies in picturesque settings along the Mississippi River, the Obamas recaptured at least some of the magic that embodied the unlikely 2008 run that put them in the White House. Yet despite the meticulously scripted events and adoring crowds during the president’s three-day...

Democrat Barack Obama won Iowa handily in 2008, but polls show a much closer race this time around. Those polls, coupled with an analysis of Iowa's voter registration data, offer some very encouraging news for Obama's Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Bud tent owner says Obama visit cost him $25,000By DONOVAN SLACK | 8/14/12 12:13 PM EDT The Des Moines Register follows up on consternation at the beer tent at the Iowa State Fair when President Obama stopped by, forcing the tent to shut down for security reasons. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) tweeted on Monday, "How does PresO justify havin secret service shut down the bud tent @ the state fair nd the owner told me he loses 50,000 n 1 nite," and "Who does PresO think he is. He comes to StateFair the SecretService shut down all small business vendors...

President Barack Obama assailed rival Mitt Romney's opposition to tax supports for wind power, delivering an Iowa-specific critique Tuesday on the Republican challenger in that crucial Midwestern state. Obama's deputy criticized GOP budget plans to overhaul Medicare, cut trillions of dollars from social programs and lower taxes on high-income taxpayers. Iowa is a center of wind energy production in the United States and the Obama administration credits tax breaks for helping build that industry. Obama has called on Congress to extend the breaks. Romney opposes it. Obama, on the second of a three-day Iowa bus tour, noted that Romney once...

OSKALOOSA, Iowa — President Obama will continue his three-day swing across Iowa Tuesday with a new attack against Republican Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, over their opposition to extending tax credits for the wind energy industry. Across a landscape where wind turbines are nearly as common as corn fields, Obama will push Congress to extend the production tax credit for wind companies. In Iowa alone, the industry employs more than 7,000, according to the Obama campaign; across the country the number is 75,000. Obama has said that 37,000 jobs nationally would be at risk if the wind...

Paul Ryan spoke at the Iowa State Fair today, and his speech was interrupted by two women who first heckled and then stormed the stage. My first thought was, Where is the Secret Service? Apparently Ryan’s Secret Service protection hasn’t begun yet; the scene could easily have turned scary. Here is the video: Video here No word yet on who the women are, or what connection they have to the Democratic Party or the Obama campaign. One wonders whether the Democrats will turn to heckling and stage-storming as a routine matter. It might not be a bad strategy: by turning...

Paul Ryan gave a campaign speech at the Iowa State Fair on Monday, addressing an appreciate crowd of thousands… plus a few protesters who grew violent, and had to be escorted from the venue by state troopers. The Des Moines Register reports: The audience of more than 3,000, many holding up Romney campaign signs, hooted and cheered, but a handful of protesters shouted at him about cutting Medicare and “the war on the poor.” It was an intense 12 minute speech, with much shouting and Iowa State Patrol officer dispatched into the crowd multiple times to quell unruly behavior. One...

DES MOINES, Iowa — Paul Ryan's remarks at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines today turned into a confrontational scene when hecklers sought to drown him out and then rush the stage. Ryan had barely begun speaking when a woman shouted, "Are you going to cut Medicare?" Two women rushed the stage, and one was apparently arrested by three Iowa State Patrolmen after getting on stage with a banner. "Woah...hey...alright...she must not be from Iowa," said a rattled Ryan as the woman got on stage and grabbed by police. The officers bounded out from behind the stage to pull...

GOP Vice Presidential pick Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) spoke at the Des Moines Register’s soapbox area at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. This is the first time he has campaigned on his own since being named by Mitt Romney on Saturday as his VP running mate. Each speaker at the soapbox is given 20 minutes to speak on whatever topic they choose.

Mitt Romney made Iowa state fund-raising history Tuesday evening by bringing in between $1.8 and $2 million at an event in West Des Moines, a Romney aide confirmed. "Because of your participation and your presence here tonight, this event, in this room at this time is the largest and most successful presidential fundraiser we have ever had in the history of the state of Iowa," David Oman, Romney's Iowa state chair, told a crowd of supporters. Romney, whose campaign organization has out-raised President Barack Obama's for the past three months, spoke to roughly 280 top dollar donors at a country...

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has started taking "bets" on its website over when Sen. Charles Grassley will die, after the Iowa Republican scolded the Department of Agriculture for advocating a vegetarian diet. The USDA drew the ire of rural state lawmakers over a newsletter urging department employees to embrace "Meatless Mondays." The USDA later retracted the newsletter and said it wasn't properly vetted, but Grassley vented on Twitter that he plans to "eat more meat on Monday to compensate for stupid USDA recommendation."

MUSCATINE, Iowa, March 14 (UPI) -- An Iowa Republican running for Congress said he arrived early for an event and accidentally ended up addressing a group of Democrats. Dan Dolan of Muscatine said he and a staffer arrived early Saturday for the Republican convention at the Monroe County Courthouse in Albia, The Quad City Times reported Wednesday. "My staffer runs up and says, 'Hey, Dan Dolan is here. Can he speak?' So they stopped everything, and I get up there and give my speech," Dolan said. "I get done, a guy raises his hand and says, 'I think you want...

Is Barack Obama electable? Further evidence of the erosion of President Obama’s electability comes from Iowa as the liberal Des Moines Register’s latest poll shows the president is behind 3 of the 4 remaining Republican presidential candidates by 2 to 7 points — in a state he won by 10 points in 2008. The numbers: Ron Paul 49% Barack Obama 42% Rick Santorum 48% Barack Obama 44% Mitt Romney 46% Barack Obama 44% The increasingly irrelevant Newt Gingrich is down 51%-37% to the president. Iowa is one of 11 states that are considered “toss-up” by Real Clear Politics.

Mitt Romney made a "polite" phone call Thursday to rival Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum to "concede victory" in Iowa, according to Santorum's spokesman Hogan Gidley. But Romney's team objected, saying his campaign didn't concede. “He just called him. They talked, and he recognized his efforts," a top campaign aide told CNN. Santorum finished the Iowa Republican caucuses 34 votes ahead of Mitt Romney, but results from several precincts are missing and the full actual results may never be known, according to a final certified tally released Thursday by the Iowa GOP. The new numbers show 29,839 votes for Santorum...

Reacting to this morning’s news that not only has Rick Santorum won the Iowa Caucuses after all but that they’ve managed to lose more ballots than the margin of victory, the Telegraph’s Toby Harnden tweets, “What a debacle for Iowa. Hard to see why candidates should take Iowa caucuses seriously in future.” Indeed. This is truly a joke. In a contest with fewer total votes (121,503 counted; goodness knows how many lost) than your average election for a school board seat, the powers that be have managed to have wild shifts in the vote count in several districts and be...

The Iowa Republican Party will certify this month's presidential caucuses as a split decision between former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, citing missing data from eight precincts, the Des Moines Register reported on Thursday. The party had previously awarded the contest to Romney, with an eight vote margin. The official certified caucus results are due out Thursday at 8:15 a.m. local time (1415 GMT). The Register said the new count put Santorum ahead by 34 votes. However, results from any one of the eight precincts with "missing data" could hold an advantage for Romney, the...