|
Post by Webster on Jan 4, 2024 14:15:01 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump plans two rallies on 6 January in IowaDonald Trump, whose false claims of election meddling set the stage for the January 6 insurrection, will be campaigning in Iowa on the third anniversary of the attack. He has two rallies planned in the afternoon that day, one in Newton, and the other in Clinton. The former president is leading in polls for the Republican nomination, and also facing federal criminal charges in Washington DC for his plot to disrupt Joe Biden’s election win, of which the January 6 attack was its most violent development. It’s unclear what he will tell attendees at the rallies he has planned.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 4, 2024 14:15:41 GMT -5
(The Guardian) While polls of Iowa Republicans are far less plentiful than they are of the national electorate, those we do have show Donald Trump with an overwhelming advantage in the state. The poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight shows the former president with 50% support in the first state to vote in the GOP’s nomination process. The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, is his closest runner-up, with 18.4% support, and Trump’s former UN ambassador Nikki Haley is in third place, at 15.7%.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 5, 2024 17:19:06 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Haley warns country 'won't survive' another Trump administration, DeSantis says he ‘didn’t deliver’ as rivals pile on ahead of Iowa caucusWe are 10 days away from the Iowa Republican caucuses, where we will find out if Donald Trump’s persistent lead in polls will translate into votes. But his main rivals for the GOP presidential nomination aren’t letting his momentum deter them, and dialed up their attacks in two separate town halls hosted by CNN on Thursday evening. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as Trump’s United Nation ambassador, said of her former boss that “chaos follows him” and warned “we won’t survive” another four years of him in office. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, responded “of course not” when asked if he thought Trump was “pro-life” and said the former president “didn’t deliver” during his administration. Earlier in the campaign, most of Trump’s Republican rivals hesitated to criticize him, wary of infuriating his substantial group of dedicated supporters. That dam appears to have broken for the two politicians seen as having the best chance, if anyone does, of beating him in Iowa on 15 January, and then in the New Hampshire primary set for 23 January.
- Haley keeps up attacks on former boss Trump after saying 'chaos follows him'Nikki Haley is not backing down from attacking Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination whom she served as his United Nations ambassador. The rivalry picked up on Thursday evening at a CNN town hall, where Haley said: I personally think President Trump was the right president at the right time. I agree with a lot of his policies. But, the reality is, rightly or wrongly, chaos follows him. And we all know that’s true. Chaos follows him. And we can’t have a country in disarray, and a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won’t survive it. And you don’t defeat Democrat chaos with Republican chaos.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 5, 2024 17:19:54 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 5, 2024 17:20:55 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Donald Trump responded to Ron DeSantis’s and Nikki Haley’s attacks against him with his customary volley of accusations and insults published on his Truth Social network: Ron DeSanctimonious has one minor flaw against the Democrats — He has ZERO personality. If I didn’t endorse him, he would have finished, during the Primary, at 3%. NO LOYALTY! Bobblehead is now in third place, Jeff Roe has taken all of his money and quit, and he should get on a plane and go back to Florida today. He never told the people, during the Florida Governor campaign, that they would be abandoned. Just like Sloppy Chris Christie did to New Jersey (He finished up at an 8% approval rating!). Birdbrain said, over and over again, that she would NEVER run against the President, “He was a GREAT President” – and then she ran. Two very unreliable and disloyal people! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!But the former president appeared much more cheerful about the day’s travel plans: Heading out to the Great State of Iowa today. A TWO WAY LOVE FEST!!!
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 8, 2024 19:36:03 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Donald Trump may get a welcome distraction from his legal troubles next week, when Iowa Republicans hold their caucuses. The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports the former president is tipped to win the first state to vote in the GOP’s presidential nomination process: Donald Trump’s presidential campaign anticipates winning the Iowa state caucuses and advisers have suggested internally they would only be concerned about the former president being upstaged if another candidate started polling within five or 10 points, according to people close to the campaign.
The margin of the expected win has been an informal litmus test for several weeks, and with none of Trump’s rival candidates close to breaching that threshold, the campaign has been confident Trump will win the state’s first-in-the-nation nominating contest.
Victory for Trump in Iowa would give him crucial momentum that advisers hope will propel him to the Republican nomination for 2024, as well as the personal satisfaction of attaining what eluded him in 2016, when he finished second – after Ted Cruz, the senator from Texas – despite leading in the polls.
The confidence inside the Trump campaign is tempered mainly by the recognition that low turnout from supporters could undercut Trump’s commanding position, a situation he has attempted to address by scheduling a blitz of rallies before the 15 January caucuses.
Trump returned to Iowa on Friday to run through four campaign rallies in two days after visiting the state infrequently in recent months, at least compared to his main rivals, Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, and Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor.[
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 10, 2024 18:02:29 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Meanwhile, in Iowa, two of the leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination will debate this evening, though frontrunner Donald Trump will not be joining them, the Guardian’s Alice Herman reports: Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis will face off one-on-one in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday night in their fifth and most high-stakes attempt to take support away from Donald Trump before Monday’s Iowa caucus, the country’s first state primary election.
The former president has repeatedly declined to debate his party’s opponents, and will again forgo this debate, instead participating in a town hall hosted by Fox News, also in Iowa.
Unlike the prior debates, this one was not coordinated by the Republican National Committee (RNC), which decided in December to stop hosting GOP debates for the rest of the primary season.
The RNC debates narrowed the field of Republican contenders to five, and CNN’s debate requirement that candidates poll at 10% in at least three national or Iowa-based surveys has left only Haley, DeSantis and Trump qualifying. Chris Christie, Trump’s most vociferous critic among the Republican contenders, did not make the cut, but will likely qualify in New Hampshire.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 12, 2024 16:11:23 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Haley and DeSantis campaigning in Iowa snarled by winter stormThe Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and the former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley have both had to rearrange their campaign plans today because of the blizzard hitting Iowa. Never Back Down, the Super Pac backing DeSantis, postponed two planned events in Clear Lake and Marshalltown, while Haley replaced her in-person visits to Fort Dodge, Le Mars and Council Bluffs with tele-town halls. The National Weather Service in Des Moines reports that inches of snow have already fallen in the state capital, and people should be prepared for “life-threatening winter weather”.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 12, 2024 16:20:48 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Today is, of course, Friday, and Iowa’s Republican caucuses are not until Monday. Snowy winter storms are also not unusual for the midwestern state. So, it remains to be seen whether today’s disruptive blizzard will at all affect the outcome of the vote three days from now. But Axios reports that some think it will, and the candidate who could suffer most is Donald Trump. “Local Democratic political consultant Jeff Link told Axios the frigid temperatures could dampen turnout among Trump supporters who assume he’s already ahead,” the outlet reports.
Donald Trump fears that the winter storm tearing through Iowa could discourage voters in the caucuses he is expected to win, potentially giving a boost to his rivals for the Republicans presidential nomination, CNN reports. Trump has led polls of the Republican electorate for all of 2023, and is hoping for a big victory in Iowa to help seal the case that the nomination is his for the taking. But CNN now says his campaign worries that his voters will stay home. “The weather issue may take away the intensity. But first of all, a win’s a win. And I know the expectations, but no one’s ever won Iowa by more than 12 points now. So that’s our goal,” a senior Trump campaign adviser told CNN. “As the president made clear this weekend, he totally gets it as it relates to, you know, making sure that you show up making sure that you turn out. That’s been our focus. That’s been our message and that’s what it’ll continue to be.”
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 12, 2024 16:42:56 GMT -5
(The Guardian) With her schedule of campaign events in Iowa cancelled today due to the blizzard, Nikki Haley held a telephone town hall with voters in Fort Dodge. It was a fairly typical stump speech for the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador, who took pains to point out the exceptionally bad snow storm, and the relief Iowans will feel in a few days, when politicians stop bugging them. “I definitely know I’m not in South Carolina anymore. It is beyond cold,” Haley began. Nodding to the fact that aspiring Republican presidential candidates have been criss-crossing the state for months, hoping to win its first-in-the-nation caucuses, Haley said: I know you are excited, because it is three days until the commercials stop, and the mail stops coming to you, and the text messages, everything else. And, so, I can tell you as a governor of the first in the south primary [state], we always loved to see presidential candidates come, and we always love to see them go, so I can appreciate where you’re coming from, and I appreciate you putting up with all of the activity that happens during this time.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 12, 2024 16:43:46 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 12, 2024 16:44:50 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Here’s the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly and Sam Levine with a rundown of all the ways in which Iowa’s blizzard has disrupted presidential campaigning ahead of the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses on Monday: Candidates and caucus-goers faced extra challenges in Iowa on Friday as a second major snow event in a week hit the state, three days before Republicans are due to kick off their presidential nomination process for the critical election year.
According to the National Weather Service in Des Moines, most of Iowa could expect significant, possibly record snowfall, high winds stoking blizzard conditions. “Life-threatening winter weather is expected beginning tonight with heavy snow,” the NWS said on Thursday. “White-out conditions likely Friday into Friday night. To follow, extreme wind chills as low as -45F [-43C] possible through early next week. Plan ahead for this dangerous stretch of winter weather!”
In Washington DC and New York, reporters packed thermal underwear and tried to find flights still scheduled. In Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa, heavy snow covered streets overnight and continued to fall. Save for the occasional car, the streets were largely deserted as the temperature hovered at about 15F (-9C). At the local Target, students and other residents stocked up on supplies as snowplows worked outside.
Schools and businesses closed. In the state capital, Des Moines Performing Arts announced the postponement of Civic Center shows by the percussion group Stomp.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 15, 2024 16:11:15 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump forecast to get nearly 50% of vote in final Iowa poll as brutal cold grips stateThe 2024 US presidential election begins in earnest in Iowa on Monday, when voters across the midwestern state will battle freezing temperatures to gather in the unique caucus format to select their Republican candidate of choice. The final Des Moines Register/NBC News poll before Monday night’s caucuses found former president, Donald Trump, maintaining a formidable lead over his opponents, supported by 48% of likely caucus-goers. After trailing the two-term Florida governor, Ron DeSantis for months, the latest poll showed Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, in second place in Iowa, winning the support of 20% of likely Republican caucus-goers, compared to DeSantis’s 16%, with Vivek Ramaswamy at 8%. Should DeSantis finish lower than second place, it could prove fatal to his ability to continue competing in New Hampshire, the next state to vote, and later in the primaries. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign hopes that a victory in Iowa would give him enough momentum to win the next contests in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan, putting him ahead of the field for Super Tuesday on 5 March.
Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley have both expressed confidence that they would exceed expectations on Monday. DeSantis – whose pitch to voters has been that he would replicate his conservative remaking of Florida on the national stage – told Fox News on Sunday: “I have a record of doing well as the underdog … we’re gonna do well.” “The only numbers that matter are the ones that we’re going up and everybody else went down,” Haley told the network. “And that shows that we’re doing the right thing.”
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 15, 2024 16:12:41 GMT -5
Donald Trump supports carry placards as they brave the below zero temperatures to attend a rally in Indianola, Iowa, on 14 January 2024. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images Nikki Haley holds final rally in Adel before Iowa caucus day. Photograph: Gage Skidmore/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jan 15, 2024 16:16:41 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Iowans told to 'limit outdoor exposure' as the 'dangerous cold' sweeps the stateIowans have been told to “limit outdoor exposure” as much as possible with forecasters saying the wind chill temperature could go down to as low as -35F on Monday evening in the “dangerous cold”. The life-threatening cold blanketing the midwest, which already forced the campaigns to cancel several events over the weekend, could lead to a lower turnout later today. Unlike a regular election, Iowa’s caucuses require voters to gather in person. Monday has been forecast to potentially be a record cold caucus night with temperatures as low as -20F (-29C). Biting winds could make it feel as cold as -45F in some places. Data from the National Weather Service indicates that the coldest caucus before this year was in 2004, when temperatures did not rise above 16 degrees.
|
|