Free Republic

Tyshon VanBlueA Davenport man faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a mentally disabled person at a Davenport residential care facility in August. Tyshon M. VanBlue, 24, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a single count of third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors from Story County will drop five counts of third-degree sex abuse stemming from an unrelated case involving two Special Olympics participants. VanBlue will be sentenced April 15. VanBlue's plea comes less than a week before he was to be tried in the Scott County case. VanBlue,...

Texas Republican Ted Cruz, bolstering his national network for a possible 2016 presidential bid, named conservative Iowa GOP activist Bryan English as a top political advisor. English served as director of communications and public relations for the Iowa Family Policy Center (now the Iowa Family Leader), where he was instrumental in the group’s efforts to oppose same-sex marriage during the 2009 Iowa Supreme Court battle. Prior to that, he worked as U.S. Rep. Steve King’s policy advisor and district representative in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa, where he managed relationships with key constituent coalitions, particularly faith-based and community groups...

More than two dozen states have joined the Texas lawsuit opposing President Obama’s executive amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, but more eye-opening is the list of Republican governors whose names still do not appear on the suit. The seven Republicans who have thus far elected not to join the suit aimed at reining in Obama are Chris Christie of New Jersey, Terry Branstad of Iowa, Larry Hogan of Maryland, Susana Martinez of New Mexico, Matthew Mead of Wyoming, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Bruce Rauner of Illinois. Five of those seven states – Maryland, Iowa, New Mexico, Massachusetts and...

An early look at likely Iowa Republican Caucus participants shows a strong conservative tilt as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leads the pack with 25 percent, twice as high as his nearest rival, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Voters who identify as "very conservative" make up 45 percent of the caucus participants surveyed by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. Tea Party supporters make up 32 percent of likely caucus-goers and Walker gets 33 percent of that Tea Party vote. There is a horse race for second place, with 13 percent for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, 11...

An early look at likely Iowa Republican Caucus participants shows a strong conservative tilt as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leads the pack with 25 percent, twice as high as his nearest rival, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Voters who identify as "very conservative" make up 45 percent of the caucus participants surveyed by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. Tea Party supporters make up 32 percent of likely caucus-goers and Walker gets 33 percent of that Tea Party vote. There is a horse race for second place, with 13 percent for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, 11...

Less than 11 months remain before the first votes are cast in the process of selecting our next president. The Granite Staters like to say Iowa picks corn and New Hampshire picks presidents. The truth is Iowans decide who's left for New Hampshire to pick from. I wrote last month I'd be exploring the GOP field in my coming columns, but this column will be my last for the Journal so I’m compelled to do a Cliff Notes version. Ted Cruz: The Spoiler. The junior senator from Texas has made as many, if not more trips to Iowa than anyone...

AMES, Iowa–An Iowa State University student is recovering at the hospital after his family says he was attacked. Twenty-year-old Cale Truhlsen was leaving a party last weekend when his family says he was confronted by a group of adult males. ...........................

A leading Republican consultant has ranked the top 10 presidential candidates for 2016 while claiming that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has about the same odds of winning the party’s nomination as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, The Washington Post reported. The unnamed strategist divided the GOP race for 2016 into "four lanes" — establishment, tea party, social conservative and libertarian, according to the newspaper. Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker are the leading candidates in establishment, the largest lane, while former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is battling it out with retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum...

President Obama’s pick to serve as the next attorney general is having a hard time finding Republican supporters. To be confirmed by the Senate, Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch only needs four Republicans to support her nomination. But it is unclear where those votes will come from. Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) is the only Republican so far who has signaled his intention to vote for Lynch, though several others have spoken favorably about her. But many Republicans are expressing concerns about Lynch's stance on immigration and what they suggest is a lack of “independence" from the White House. Lynch’s confirmation...

The debut edition of our leader board of the Republicans most likely to win the presidential nomination, based on what we know now, shows the field may not be as big as most people think. 1) JEB BUSH (age 62, to Hillary’s 67): He’s got money, momentum, Florida, big ideas. His surprise, early signal that he’s running is THE PLAY OF THE CAMPAIGN so far — pushing OUT Mitt and perhaps Christie by freezing or stealing their money and talent. Jeb will be first Republican to $100 million by a mile. Now, watch for the use of overwhelming force to...

The Walker surge in Iowa, Hillary’s Obama problem and other news from Week One of our yearlong insiders’ survey from the ground in 2016’s first-in-the-nation races.Most Iowa insiders believe Scott Walker would win their state’s Republican caucuses if they were held this week. But they’re not this week, and virtually none of the most influential thought leaders in the Hawkeye State believe that the Wisconsin governor will sustain his recent bounce in polls. This is one of several intriguing findings in the debut survey of The POLITICO Caucus. More than 100 of the most plugged-in activists, operatives and elected officials...

Cissy has never run away from home before. But on Saturday the miniature schnauzer from Iowa did, in order to find the person that ishome.  Cissy disappeared from her yard in Cedar Rapids, only to show up about 20 blocks away at Mercy Medical Center. Her owner, Nancy Franck, has been at the hospital for the last two weeks, after undergoing surgery for ovarian cancer. But it remains a mystery how the dog managed to find her way back to her beloved 'mom'.

Speaking today in Iowa, Vice President Joe Biden called out to his "old butt buddy" Neil Smith, wondering whether his friend was in attendance for his speech:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is the front-runner in a new 2016 Republican presidential preference poll in South Carolina, while U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is close enough to make it a statistical tie here. But the news is less favorable for Graham in three other early voting states - Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada - where his level of support registers at negligible among GOP voters, totalling at 1 percent and below. The poll, by the conservative Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, put Walker is out front in South Carolina but statistically tied with Graham, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and...

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa widow is charged with a crime and had nearly $19,000 seized from her bank after depositing her late husband's legally earned money in a way that evaded federal reporting requirements. Janet Malone, 68, of Dubuque, is facing civil and criminal proceedings under a law intended to help investigators track large sums of cash tied to criminal activity such as drug trafficking and terrorism. But some members of Congress and libertarian groups have complained that the IRS and federal prosecutors are unfairly using it against ordinary people who deposit lawfully obtained money in increments...

Des Moines, Iowa – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is opening the first Iowa office among the potential 2016 Republican contenders for the presidency. Walker, who has led all other GOP presidential aspirants in recent polls, leased the space at 2775 86th St. in Urbandale, the Des Moines Register reports. The office building has a lengthy political history with Republican candidates – although Walker hasn’t officially tossed his hat in the ring for the 2016 election. Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses are tentatively expected to be held on Feb. 1, 2016 and are crucially important for presidential campaigns looking to establish a national...

WEST DES MOINES — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told an Iowa crowd last night he will bring blunt, straight talk to fill a leadership void in Washington and give the country hope again if he decides to seek the Republican Party’s 2016 presidential nomination. “Leadership matters,” Christie told about 100 Republicans who turned out for a Dallas County fundraiser at a suburban hotel to hear the New Jersey governor who made his third Iowa appearance within a month and his 13th trip overall. He met privately with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds before attending the...

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa – An early Saturday morning political event on an unusually warm February day might not be the ideal conditions to draw a good crowd. However, 140 Marshall County Republicans packed into the Legends American Grill in Marshalltown to hear their new representative in Congress, Rod Blum, and likely presidential candidate Rand Paul. Most of Rod Blum’s brief remarks focused on his tangle with President Obama’s budget director, Shaun Donovan, last week on Capitol Hill. Iowa’s new First District representative also relayed his controversial first vote in Congress, supporting Daniel Webster over John Boehner for House speaker. Many in...

HOUSTON — The political operation of potential 2016 presidential candidate Ted Cruz continued to beef up Monday as a top aide to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich signed onto the senator’s team. Rick Tyler, Gingrich’s longtime spokesman who served as a top strategist to a super PAC that supported Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign, will join Cruz’s campaign-in-waiting to serve as a senior communications adviser. “I am honored to come on board with Sen. Cruz and join the effort to make D.C. listen to the American people,” Tyler said in a statement. “I believe he will emerge as the...

Less than a year before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, it appears that every Republican contender is making a serious play to win the state, setting up what is likely to be one of the most active, competitive campaigns here in recent memory. Political observers in Iowa say that the field is wide open and that numerous candidates have a legitimate shot to win or do well enough to come out with momentum. That is partly because moderates in the Iowa Republican Party, led by Gov. Terry Branstad, have reasserted themselves into the caucus process after watching social conservatives dominate in 2008...