Pat Rynard founded Iowa Starting Line in 2015. He still keeps a close eye on Iowa politics, his dog’s name is Frank, and football season is his favorite time of year.
Pat Rynard
Latest from Pat Rynard
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Joni Ernst Got $3.1 Million In NRA Money, Made Gun Laws More Dangerous
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is a national darling of the NRA’s effort to eliminate any and all meaningful gun safety laws that might keep children like those at Parkland, Florida from getting blown to pieces on a regular school day. Ernst received over $3.1 million in financial support from the NRA, the seventh-most of any…
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David Young Has Thoughts, Prayers And $700,000 Of NRA Cash
The nation is coming to terms today with yet another horrific mass shooting at a school, this time in Parkland, Florida. Will anything substantive on gun laws change now that we’ve had our 18th mass shooting in just the first month and a half of 2018? As long as Iowa Congressman David Young is office,…
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Ep11: 3rd District Democratic Primary & Interview with Austin Frerick
The six Democratic candidates in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District held a forum on Tuesday night this week. the Iowa Starting Line sat down with several of the students involved and who attended to get their reaction to the field. We also interview Austin Frerick, one of those 3rd District Democratic candidates, and discuss his…
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Iowa Republicans’ Copy-And-Paste ALEC Constitutional Convention Bill
Iowa Republicans are pushing a sneakily dangerous resolution through the Iowa Legislature that could upend the nation’s constitution in unpredictable ways if successful. A Senate subcommittee recently moved forward Senate Joint Resolution 8 to full committee, which would add Iowa to a national movement calling for a convention of all 50 states to amend the…
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The Most Laughable Part Of Kim Reynolds’ New Tax Cut Plan
Governor Kim Reynolds released her wide-ranging tax cut plan earlier today, which included a total of $1.7 billion in tax reductions for Iowa businesses and taxpayers. In-depth details of the proposal have not yet been made public, and the initial plan put out today essentially amounted to a bullet point press release of all the…
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Bernie Sanders Plans Iowa Trip To Boost Pete D’Alessandro In IA-03
Democratic 3rd District candidate Pete D’Alessandro has a big guest coming in to campaign for him later this month: Senator Bernie Sanders will hold a rally with D’Alessandro on February 23. It will be the biggest surrogate of the cycle to come in specifically for a congressional or statewide candidate, and should give D’Alessandro, who…
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Ep10: Governor Martin O’Malley & Private School Funding in Iowa
Episode 10 features our biggest guest yet – former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.
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Boulton Returns To Energy Theme In New “Fired Up” TV Ad
Senator Nate Boulton is returning to the early themes of his gubernatorial run in a new TV ad that starts running on Saturday. Back is the “stomp/clap” music that gave his campaign kick-off announcement video an energetic feel last year, as well as the senator’s “greatest hits” videos from the past legislative session. “Some folks…
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Do Billionaires Really Need To Be Subsidized?
Who you are makes all the difference in the world. Or so it seems. Two examples illustrate this fact of modern day life in our United States. If you walk up to someone in Iowa and demand $5,000 and threaten economic harm to the person if he does not comply, don’t be surprised if you…
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Democrats Brave Blizzard For Off-Year Caucus – How Things Played Out
You might say that weather conditions for tonight’s Iowa precinct caucuses were less than ideal, but precinct caucus rooms were still packed with enthusiastic Democrats across the state. As of 11:30 p.m., with 80% of their precincts reporting, the Iowa Democratic Party had a “soft report” of 8,599 attendees. They expect that number to top 9,000…
