When Barack Obama first announced his candidacy for president in February 2007, his potential for superstardom – evidenced by his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and subsequent election to the United States Senate – may have been swiftly realized, but he still faced an uphill primary battle against New York Senator Hillary [...]

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The following was published as a sidebar to “The Democratic Wave in Iowa” in our October issue.
In his youth, Hubler said he turned down what might have been an opportunity to become a rock star. When he moved to California with his parents in 1961, he met the Love brothers of Beach Boys fame at [...]

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Part I of “Midway” was published in last month’s issue of the Ames Progressive. Read it online here.
Kate came home at five. I was dozing at the table, torn between passing out or nursing my anger and what was left of the bourbon a little while longer. I watched Kate step out of her purple [...]

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Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate and political activist, is running for president as an independent with running mate Matt Gonzalez. He has secured a place on the November ballot in Iowa with the Peace and Freedom Party. Nader delivered a campaign speech at Iowa State University on October 10, 2008. After his speech, Nader sat [...]

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My friends, the American people have spoken and I concede that Barack Obama is the next president of the United States.
I’ve been looking forward to this: now that the race is finally over, I would like to take a moment for some straight talk.
My friends, in the 2000 presidential campaign I was devastated by the [...]

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The George W. Bush that we know today is an irrelevant figurehead, a leader leading no one, a placeholder with a highly anticipated expiration date. He has less-than-zero influence in the international community, he is thoroughly disapproved of in his own country, and his own political party pays little attention to his pronouncements and makes [...]

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On October 29, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Help America Vote Act, a large legislative response to the pandemonium that led to his narrow victory of the White House.  The act was authored by Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut with information from a congressional report co-chaired by former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald [...]

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What if I had died last Thursday before reading Catcher in the Rye? I’d have never been introduced to Salinger. Never known that there is a God and he is made flesh and Salinger is Him. Would I have gone to Heaven anyway?
Good question. I have no idea. What were you doing last Thursday that [...]

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