October 24 edition of "Capitol Week" is online

Iowa poll findings, the governor's debate, candidate fundraising, and more

It’s a race against the clock every week, as Dennis Hart and I try to cover as much campaign news as possible during our 30-minute show on KHOI Community Radio. We record the program live on Monday evenings at 7:00 pm, but you can find to the shows anytime by searching our archive.

You can also listen to any of KHOI’s talk or music programs on this page. I realized today that I can download the file from there and embed it in one of these posts. Here’s the October 24 edition of “Capitol Week”:

Here’s what Dennis and I talked about tonight:

• Findings about abortion from Selzer & Co’s latest Iowa Poll for the Des Moines Register and Mediacom. Although 61 of respondents said abortion should be legal in most or all cases, and just 33 percent said abortion should be mostly or always illegal, Iowans are more closely divided on the issue when asked whether abortion “should be illegal once a so-called fetal heartbeat is detected, about six weeks after conception”;

• How Iowa candidates for various offices are talking (or not talking) about abortion in their campaign messaging;

• Selzer’s Iowa Poll results showing that 58 percent of likely Iowa voters support the proposed pro-gun state constitutional amendment, while just 37 percent oppose it. (I’ve written more extensively about the amendment at Bleeding Heartland, including this post, which explored how the Iowa Supreme Court might handle gun-related cases if it passes. I’ve also published guest commentaries urging Iowans to vote against the dangerous proposal, most recently here);

• The lack of any well-funded campaign against the pro-gun amendment, which includes the little-understood legal term “strict scrutiny”;

• Last week’s debate between Governor Kim Reynolds and Democratic challenger Deidre DeJear, where the candidates sparred over abortion and the state’s budget surplus, among other topics (I had much more to say about the debate at Bleeding Heartland);

• Prospects for a new abortion law, if Reynolds is re-elected and Republicans maintain control over the legislature;

• Forecasters shifting their rating of Iowa’s U.S. Senate race from “safe” to “likely Republican,” following the Selzer poll showing a three-point race;

• The Selzer poll finding that a majority of Iowa’s likely voters are concerned about Senator Chuck Grassley’s age;

• Selzer’s findings on job approval for Senator Joni Ernst and President Joe Biden (I find it puzzling that Ernst and Grassley don’t have higher approval numbers, since they have positioned themselves as dedicated opponents of Biden’s agenda, and he is so far underwater with Iowans);

• A federal District Court dismissing the multi-state lawsuit challenging Biden’s student loan debt relief program, and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals putting the policy on hold until it considers the states’ appeal;

• Why I don’t put any stock in the Iowa Poll numbers on the generic ballot in each of the four Congressional districts;

• U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson’s release from the hospital, where she spent two nights last week recovering from a kidney infection;

• The latest tv ad from Democratic challenger Liz Mathis, a direct response to one of Hinson’s recent spots;

• Big-spending Democratic groups mostly not getting involved in Iowa’s first or second Congressional district campaigns (IA-01 is where Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks faces Christina Bohannan, and IA-02 is the Hinson/Mathis race);

• Highlights from Iowa statewide candidates’ fundraising and spending numbers (the latest round of disclosures were due on October 19), including what some of the candidates have dedicated to advertising;

• A quick preview of Iowa’s judicial retention elections (I published a deep dive at Bleeding Heartland on how Supreme Court Justices Dana Oxley and Matthew McDermott have approached big cases in six areas of the law);

• An update on early voting and absentee ballot numbers, with a reminder on how Iowans can make sure their mailed ballots get counted. If you’re voting early in person, which I prefer, make sure you bring some accepted form of ID and (if you’ve moved recently) proof of address.

A quick reminder: this Friday at lunchtime, the Iowa Writers Collaborative will hold the first “Office Lounge” Zoom call. Chuck Offenburger explained the concept here. To receive the Zoom link, you must be a paid subscriber to at least one of the authors in the collaborative. Here’s our current list, in alphabetical order:

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Cheryl Tervis, Boone County, Coming Soon

Thank you to Iowa Capital Dispatch for sharing our commentary with your readers.

And, for a weekly roundup of our columnists, subscribe here:

IOWA WRITERS’ COLLABORATIVE