Pat Rynard
@patrynard
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National politics editor, Courier Newsroom. Founder, Iowa Starting Line.
West Des Moines, IA
Joined January 2013
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With all the old Kamala Harris clips going around, I’m surprised this one hasn’t popped up more: Harris ordering the LA clerk to begin gay marriages after Prop 8 was halted
Harris has been out front on LGBTQ issues long before many in the party
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JD Vance says Americans without children should “face the consequences and the reality” and not get “nearly the same voice” in democracy
Vance: “Let’s give votes to all children in this country, but let’s give control over those votes to the parents of those children.”
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While everyone’s paying attention to the presidential town halls, the biggest moment in the
#IASen
race just happened in their final debate:
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Every Iowa news outlet that ran photos of college students packing into bars should be loading up this one for a story today. There's no excuse for it.
Great to be in Pottawattamie County Iowa tonight to talk about the success of
@realdonaldtrump
. Completely packed crowd. Iowa will deliver again for Trump-Pence! Four More Years.
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Here was Greenfield's answer just before Ernst's:
Here’s the other part of that
#IASen
exchange, where Theresa Greenfield nails the price of corn
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Ten years from now, some former Warren Iowa staffer will still have the deflated massive Bailey in their garage, not really knowing what to do with it but never willing to get rid of it
At Elizabeth Warren’s pre-rally site for this afternoon: a giant Bailey with a two-cent collar
#LJ19
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Wow, Chuck Grassley just lectured college grads/students over student loan relief by talking about how he worked while he was in college in the 1950s
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Release the poll or don’t, I think we’ve got a pretty good idea already of who’s ahead
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The setup for Joe Biden’s early afternoon event in Cedar Rapids, the second-largest city in the state
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“They signed a contract to get that loan and that they would pay that back.” - Kim Reynolds at Monday’s debate on student loans
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The federal government has announced a program that will provide $1.3 billion in debt relief for about 36,000 farmers who have fallen behind on loan payments or face foreclosure.
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I organized SW Iowa for Hillary in 07/08. My memory is a little hazy, but I’m pretty sure this turnout for
@PeteButtigieg
in July 2019 is just as large if not larger than the crowd for Hillary about a month out from the caucus (Hillary got her best % in Page County in 07)
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126 people in Polk County have died of the coronavirus, but it's several broken windows in downtown Des Moines that triggers a "mandatory stay at home."
Local leaders are following the same failed pattern we've seen time and again that only leads to more escalation
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Iowa State Fair in a nutshell:
Reporters: Eat something!
Voters: Eat something!
Staff: Eat something!
Candidate: *eats something*
Everyone: Wooooooo!
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At the end of her press conference, Reynolds blasted Biden's policies after just moments earlier touting the $100 million she was using from Biden's policies for school safety measures
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Elizabeth Warren's been in the race for a full year now. My analysis hasn't changed since my initial look at her first Iowa swing: she remains the candidate who appeals to the broadest segment of the party, just needs some early state successes
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Republican legislator wants to track Iowa women that are searching online for abortion services in order to dissuade them
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Kim Reynolds and most of the Iowa Republican establishment was either openly or quietly opposed to Trump in the caucus
They failed utterly to slow Trump, in part because they’ve defended him on everything for years in order to take advantage of his voter base to win themselves
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Recorded and tweeted with 2% battery left on the phone. Was getting nervous
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Reynolds summary: These schools are teaching your kids awful things so here's money to send them elsewhere, oh but also teachers we actually do know we'd collapse without you so here's a grand to make up for us trashing you please don't leave
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Cool old video bouncing around on Reddit: The moment an Iowa TV station switched from black-and-white to color broadcast. It's WMT, which is now KGAN (cc:
@iowasnewsnow
)
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In 2009 I was working briefly in DC. When the Varnum ruling was announced legalizing gay marriage, I was proud explaining to my surprised coworkers there how Iowa has a strong civil rights history. It is very sadly a much different state now.
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A friendly suggestion to Iowa print/radio/TV reporters: please start talking about Iowa's COVID-19 outbreak in comparison to the entire world. I don't think it's fully appreciated in this state that we're ground zero for spread on the whole damn planet.
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Wasn’t planning on doing much personal HOF commentary, but people keep asking - I think
@KamalaHarris
had the most impressive speech of the day
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My occasional reminder to anyone who thinks Dems should give up on Iowa, that Iowa has the highest percentage of swing House districts of any state in the nation, and that 3 seats can determine the House majority
Just 39 congressional seats are toss ups. Out of 435.
This isn't the best we can do. We can pass the
#FairRepAct
to break the power of gerrymandering.
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Some interesting tidbits from Starting Line's analytics & our readership:
- Buttigieg stories always go viral
- Sanders & Harris do pretty well
- Yang's good
- Steyer & Klobuchar do above average
- Castro does ok
- Biden pretty meh
Who oddly doesn't get many clicks? Warren
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One of the key aspects of Kim Reynolds' legacy as governor is requiring all of Iowa to act, think and live just as she does. Whenever any locality attempts to do something different from her view, she steps in to strip them of their power
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The amount of readership this story has gotten - in Iowa - between 10:30 pm last night and 7 am this morning is uh... something else
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The protesters at Buttigieg’s event in Des Moines appeared to fake a medical emergency near the stage, which after being at many caucus events where there were actual medical emergencies, is not really a cool thing to do
Notably, an ambulance showed up here at the Buttigieg event after the protestors called for one, driving over in a heavy snowstorm. It left after it was clear there was no medical emergency.
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Here's a fun game for all you Iowa politicos: Who do you recognize in the reserved section at the Donald Trump rally?
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Once again, funded by Biden’s American Rescue Plan that Reynolds opposed
Today, I announced $40 million for 24 innovative and shovel-ready projects that will put Iowa's nonprofits in a better position to serve those in need.
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Tonight the Iowa House unanimously passed an amendment to exempt the teacher bonuses from state taxes. So shoutout to those who thought it was silly for Starting Line to cover teachers' concerns over their bonus getting taxed!
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In these dark times, it’s important to have constants in your life. Still seeing John Delaney’s face up on a billboard in Des Moines is mine
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2022 preview:
@RobSandIA
cruises to victory for whatever office he's running for after correctly answering a debate question on the current price of a breakfast pizza slice and the exact minute in the morning a freshly-baked one gets put out
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Say hello to Molly Rynard! Everyone is very happy and healthy, especially Molly’s big sister
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I'm trying to think of a time I've been more disgusted with U.S./Iowa politics, and I'm sure there is one, but listening to packing plant execs get applauded for their basically criminal endangerment of their workers is up there
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Actually, here's a wild stat for you: since Starting Line's expansion in June, a full 25.04% of ALL our website traffic has been for stand-alone Pete Buttigieg stories (and we've done a good job of providing relatively even coverage for the field)
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My take on Reynolds speech: unimpressive and disappointing. Way too hyper-partisan right at the start instead of introducing herself more, was much more just national GOP talking points than it was her unique story of Iowa
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Live your life with the same level of joy as this Bill de Blasio supporter
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Jeff Kaufmann says Iowa Republicans are the "party of law and order." Here is the Henry County Republicans (Southeast Iowa) telling supporters to "stay locked and loaded" for "the coming revolution." Will he do something about it, or pretend like it doesn't exist?
We are the Party of law and order. This is NOT a peaceful protest. What is happening in Washington, D.C. is utterly unacceptable. I condemn any and all violence toward on our government officials and law enforcement and encourage others to do the same.
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I have lots of thoughts on what went wrong in Iowa and possible solutions, but I’m gonna do something super wild: wait until I can dive into precinct/demo turnout data to see if my claims at least halfway match up with the numbers
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I think the one and maybe only useful thing Kim Reynolds did tonight was say that her family was not getting together for Thanksgiving this year. Hopefully skeptical Iowans hear that and rethink. If only she'd thought of personal leadership before going to Trump rallies
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Many are going w/ "Warren Surges" headlines, but the last DMR poll was in June. Warren hasn't suddenly surged 7 points overnight from some "moment," she's slowly, methodically built that support in Iowa, which is more impressive than what "surge" implies
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Good luck staffing Principal, Wells Fargo, Nationwide and more if Republicans keep this fringe stuff up.
Some forget how big the insurance industry is to Iowa's economy (it ain't all ag) and the workers you need to recruit for those jobs get weirded out by the conspiracy crap.
Republican lawmakers and Gov. Reynolds want Iowa schools to stop instruction to students about AIDS and the HPV vaccine
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You know part of the reason there’s so much fatigue among Dem voters? Like 95% of the communications they see from their electeds/candidates is fundraising requests. It’s usually only 2 months before the election we see on a regular basis their actual campaign message.
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This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the comments/discourse on student loan forgiveness appears to be much different on other social platforms outside of Twitter
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Using Decision Desk's numbers, here's how Democratic Senate candidates' margins over or underperformed Biden/Trump margin in key Senate races:
MT: +6.1
AZ: +1.9
IA: +1.6
SC: +1.4
NC: -0.4
MI: -1.0
GA (Ossoff): -2.0
CO: -4.2
ME: -18.3
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How one school district in rural Iowa is dealing with the state’s new bathroom law that targeted trans students
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Is the deputy Iowa health director wearing a Raygun "This Is My Fighting Covid-19 shirt" shirt? If so, respect
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Of note:
@TomSteyer
’s Next Gen organization never left Iowa, even during their founder’s run for President, and continues to work to mobilize young voters here for November (for those commenting on what Steyer should have/should now do with his $)
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Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear takes the stage at Iowa Democrats’ big fundraising dinner in Des Moines, which sold out quickly after Biden’s decision and the news that Beshear was a VP contender for Kamala Harris
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If I were a restaurant or bar owner who got shut down or limited by Gov. Reynolds' most recent order (or a worker laid off from it), I'd be absolutely furious at seeing this. The GOP politicians punishing them for COVID-19 spread are hosting COVID-19 spreading parties themselves!
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Jake Chapman really saw the Saydel High School closure due to a staff shortage and thought the answer was to start imprisoning teachers over books he doesn't understand
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Can confirm that
@KamalaHarris
works very late to try to win over every caucus-goer at her Iowa events
That time we held
@patrynard
hostage until after she had a chance to shake every hand.
#IACaucus
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I know campaigns that would’ve run a poll about this, paid a consultant to mock up ads about it, then decide a month after not to post/do anything about it because Medicare polled higher
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Jeff, you personally molded Iowa Republicans into one of the most pro-Trump parties in the country. I would hope this would cause self-reflection on your part in the future, but I fear you’ve been totally lost for some time now
We are the Party of law and order. This is NOT a peaceful protest. What is happening in Washington, D.C. is utterly unacceptable. I condemn any and all violence toward on our government officials and law enforcement and encourage others to do the same.
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Any Republicans outraged at the de-platforming still don’t grasp the severity of what happened on Wednesday - there was an attempted coup. An attack on democracy itself. And only saying “Oh hey, let’s not do that” and then going back to your normal day isn’t enough
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Watching all these schools give students, parents and staff a day or two's notice that mask requirements are coming back instead of deciding at midnight on a big change for the next morning. Almost like they're considerate/responsible public servants, unlike our Gov
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Now try living on their salary
In Webster County, I put my skills to the test and hopped in as Heartland Market’s newest cashier. I had a wonderful time speaking with the great folks of Gowrie.
#99CountyTour
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Just drove past Hickenlooper and Bennet standing on the side of the street a few blocks out from the Wing Ding, just chatting with each other with no staff for either in sight
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Just a normal day reporting on Iowa politics, quickly reading up on African independence movements
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Story I want to write if it exists: Iowan who has secretly told every campaign that they’ll be their precinct captain for caucus night
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Grassley/Ernst try to shift blame after Reynolds fails miserably to acquire vaccinations for Iowa
NEW →
@ChuckGrassley
and
@SenJoniErnst
are calling on
@CDCgov
to publicly release its weekly formula for allocating vaccines to states and other jurisdictions.
Iowans must have confidence we are receiving our fair share of vaccines.
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Proud of our Starting Line team’s work all thru the night on vouchers. We churned out clips & content non-stop from the debate on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook & in written stories. However Iowans consume their news, we brought the debate directly to them in every format.
Getting pretty late into the evening but your entire Starting Line team is still here in the Statehouse and remotely clipping videos at home to bring Iowans the debate directly on multiple social platforms
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You all getting played. OF COURSE Chuck Grassley will vote for the GOP's national abortion ban if it comes to the floor under a Republican majority. Iowa mainstream media really incapable of reporting on this.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, proposed banning the procedure nationally after 15 weeks.
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.
@ChuckGrassley
is third in the line of succession for the presidency. Two other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have COVID-19. Grassley won’t get tested. It is the absolute height of irresponsibility. He needs to take his job - and democracy - seriously
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I think it might—just might!—be time for GOP comms folks to shelve the boiler plate responses to these Trump indictments
Here we go again! From going after parents to President Trump, the Biden Administration is weaponizing the justice system.
It’s a sham, and we must fix it in 2024!
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She contrasted what she saw as Biden's record with her own Iowa-based record, which she said included "We’re making sure the kids are safe."
The GOP-run Legislature didn't fund the school safety program—never would have happened without Biden's efforts
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@aseitzwald
I loved the photo credit making it clear that this isn’t like a promotional photo the guy uses but that he performed magic tricks for you in person
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Yes, Gov. Kim Reynolds has a Twitter burner account. I’ve been following it for months and taking screenshots.
This is a good piece that focuses on her rather personal shots at Donald Trump that will cause her problems.
But there’s a lot more to this. A 🧵…
NEW w/
@NickNehamas
: So Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has another X account (@ Kimberl26890376), and some opinions about Donald Trump
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Rob Sand carried Winneshiek County by 2,019 votes. His current statewide margin of victory is at 2,650.
Most Republicans won the county. Reynolds took Winneshiek by 1,556 votes, Grassley carried it by 617
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Nothing that was trending on Iowa liberal Twitter yesterday for the first day of session trended on Iowa Facebook, where most voters are at. This is my first of one million reminders to you all about this.
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If these people are not arrested, charged and put in jail, and there’s not a real investigation into how the Capitol was allowed to be taken by terrorists, those terrorists will succeed in overthrowing democracy the next time they try with better planning (if they don’t now)
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I spy some Iowa politicos very upset about DMPD's actions who were also major donors or backers of Frank Cownie in this last election. You all going to make some calls, or should I start running stories with donor lists?
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The Tyson Storm Lake pork plant having 555 infected workers two months into Iowa's massive meatpacking plant outbreaks is an inexcusable failure from Gov. Reynolds and IDPH. They have all learned nothing and are continuing to fail to protect these workers
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I would like to announce my 2020 endorsement:
Joe Biden
Pete Buttigieg
Amy Klobuchar
Bernie Sanders
Tom Steyer
Elizabeth Warren
Andrew Yang
And Cory Booker too why not
Also John Delaney
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Gov. Kim Reynolds puts out statement on the Starts Right Here charter school shooting.
Compare to how she described the East High School shooting last year: "I think the tragedy is our system, our educational system is letting these kids down."
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There's a lot of things being said tonight that will age poorly, but Sen. Sinclair's "The funding's accounted for" is gonna be up there given the direction of the state's budget once tax cuts kick in, new spending balloons, economy slows down, and federal COVID funds are done
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It's a big reason why so many Iowans say they're leaving/won't come back to the state. Look, Republicans have won Iowa elections. Dems don't expect them to suddenly pass really progressive laws, but it's feeling like we can't even live our own lives here as we choose anymore
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Asked a doctor in Des Moines this week during a visit whether it was even safe to be in Iowa right now — they said no, Iowa had hit Brooklyn levels (early in the pandemic), the hospitals were full, if you need an ambulance, you'll be waiting a while (1/4)
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#IA02
: As of right now, IF Rita Hart's +26 in Scott County stands and IF Rita's +9 in Jasper County is real/nothing else changes there and IF nothing else changes in Clinton County's final 6,000 or so ballots, Rita Hart would be ahead by ONE vote
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To give you a sense of how Iowa Republicans still simply don’t get it,
@hinsonashley
’s team is pitching stories to Breitbart in the middle of all this. These right-wing outlets that lie to their voters with wild conspiracy theories are the problem
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We're working on a couple
#IASen
debate stories, but I'll say this now: it's good to have a fighter as the Democratic candidate
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Iowa Republicans' entire strategy of sticking super close with Trump no matter what for the past 4 years isn't looking like it's going to turn out too hot
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Anderson Cooper: Senator Harris, would you like to respond to that attack on your record?
Harris: Yes, and I will respond by dancing to this sick beat
*dumdradumdumdradradumdumdum*
Cooper: Alright, we can call it a night, she's won
.
@KamalaHarris
may just want to bring a marching band along with her to every caucus event, forum, office opening, debate stage why not
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You never know what a day on the Iowa Caucus trail is going to bring
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I’m sorry, but how does a “routine background check” for someone like
@CarsonKing2
entail scrolling back through (and reading?) eight years of tweets? And for what initial purpose? I don’t buy it, especially with someone I’ve seen in the past as unprofessional as Aaron Calvin
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