Iowa Politics with Jeff Stein -- Wed. Oct. 07, 2026

Dueling news releases.

I'm Jeff Stein with today's Iowa Politics Report.

There was a debate between the Republican and Democrat candidates for governor last night in the Quad Cities.

I know this not because I watched or read news accounts in advance.

Rather, I know because of the flood of news releases that clogged my email inbox immediately following the event.

This is not my first day on the job, so I simply deleted them all without opening them.

Now, before you think that short-sighted, consider that the news releases were all prepared before the event was even held, declaring that their side was the clear winner for articulating their candidate's clear vision for the future of our state, and pointing out that the opponent proved how out of touch he was with Iowans.

You don't craft something, a message that long, with direct sources from quotes, have it vetted and hit the send button in only two or three minutes.

But that's how I knew the so-called debate had ended, the flood of emails arriving within just a few minutes after the host said goodnight.

These releases come from the campaigns themselves, the two state parties, the national governor's groups for each party,

And they use the same phrases used in their regular daily emails, where staff members attempt to earn their salaries by dropping those spam-like daily reminders into the inbox.

Tonight, the Republican and Democrat candidates for U.S.

Senate debate.

I doubt I'll watch, but I have a feeling I'll know when it's over.

And that's the Iowa Politics Report for Wednesday, October 7 on Twitter, Instagram, Gitter, Threads and Truth Social at Iowa Politics.

I'm Jeff Stein on News Talk 1540, KXEL.