KXEL Presents: The Jacobsen Group Podcast – June 27, 2026

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Welcome on a beautiful Saturday in summertime in eastern Iowa.

You are listening to the Jacobson Group on KXEL, North America's original Clear Channel 50,000 watt blowtorch.

caroming from Waterloo and Cedar Rapids on 1540 a.m.

100.5 FM you can always listen live and this show will be put up on podcast kxel.com slash podcasts and look up the Jacobson report or the Jacobson group it will be under either moniker there we are back for a special edition our homage to the McLaughlin group we have this great panel

of experts in this unrehearsed up-to-date sequence of analyses on current events nationally and in Iowa.

And before we begin, I want to tell you that our program as always is sponsored by Jim and Cindy Jandron, both in their capacities, heading up renewable fuels, ethanol, that great industry out of the southeastern plains of Nebraska at Midwest,

renewable energy, LLC.

Energy for a strong America.

It's lean, it's clean, and it's green, providing revenue vectors for our ag families, keeping our food supply in our hands, not in a broad and not in corporatist hands, but in those tens of thousands of American farm families.

Ethanol, also every dollar you put in your tank is

less negotiating with these miscreants over in the Middle East.

And we salute Jim and Cindy for their sponsorship through Life Runners, that magnificent organization run by Dr. Patrick Castle, that great veteran of American military.

He has those runs and walks across the country from north to south to west to east in the shape of a cross.

running and walking for life, helping those mothers and their babies in the womb, both before and after birth.

Do what the loving, gracious Deborah Jacobson does.

Go to liferunners.org, get your t-shirt, walk and run for life.

Often they culminate their events in that great college in Edson, Kansas, Benedictine College.

I encourage all of you to go there and check that out.

Magnificent.

school.

And also, we have the folks at Haymes Homes, the Homes people.

Barbara Haymes Bryant and their great multi-generational family, of course, founded by the late great Kurt and Norma Haymes, building safe, affordable, beautiful, manufactured homes in eastern Iowa.

Well, let's go and introduce our audience.

We have Craig Bergman.

Craig Bergman is a well-known national political consultant, campaign manager, university lecturer, and cryptocurrency king, Craig.

Welcome to the show.

Very glad to be here as always, John.

We do not do this often enough.

No we don't, but when we do, it gets feted with recognition as Sean Torres and I were recently up for the

Des Moines, ConFab, the Iowa Broadcast News Association, annual convention, banquet, and seminar, and at the annual award ceremony, this program, number one in the state of Iowa for all large, medium, and small broadcasts, for best radio public affairs, also winning a major prize for political coverage, thanks to you guys.

And as we continue through

the alphabet of our regular panelists, Curtis Bauer, Mayor Bauer, US military veteran, Intel man, Bauer, and dad of many kids raising those sons and daughters.

Curtis, how are you?

Good to have you back on the show.

Hi, well, John, thank you very much.

I got six boys, no girls.

Well, you know, when they discover the fumes, the perfumes, the car fumes will be plenty of girls in tow.

So you'll have plenty of daughters-in-law before we know Curtis Bauer.

Welcome to the hour of Bauer power.

And

then

that great intellectual scion and author, a high-tech guru, conscience of the conservative, and one of my favorite Calvinist libertarians,

Uh, married to a wonderful lady, a great father, Joel Kirtanitis.

Joel, welcome back.

Hey, thanks so much.

I gotta make one correction there.

I'm the un-Calvinist, brother.

I'm the un-Calvinist.

Oh, thanks.

That's right.

That's why I always agree with you on so much good

stuff.

I'll put it this way.

Arminius was actually a little too Calvinist for me.

Well, I think there's a Baptist in here somewhere.

You know, I spent a lot of time in Ottawa, Kansas, where the last dry county in the nation.

And it is impossible to buy a bottle of wine here anywhere, anywhere after nine o'clock at night.

And we won't talk about Sundays.

Let's go to our guest panelists, gubernatorial candidates, state representative representing Des Moines, ordained minister, and the voice of one of the great.

advertising animated characters in the nation of New Zealand.

Eddie Andrews.

Hey, Eddie.

Hey, what's up, John Jacobson.

I am here ready and reporting for duty.

And I have the pleasure of sitting next to you, one of the smartest minds in Iowa politics for two solid years.

So you can about imagine the year full that I got.

Well, you're so good.

You never picked up on a bad language, which is very edifying and

representative.

Brilliant advice.

Well guys, we're going to have a lot of fun tonight.

Many of you remember of a certain age, the great McLaughlin group, which for 30 years graced public television alongside Glenn McBuckley's firing line, the great former Jesuit, former Reagan cabinet advisor, his wife, and Dora McLaughlin was actually in the cabinet, and John McLaughlin

did such a good job in being MC that Saturday Night Live in the Dana Carvey area did many, many McLaughlin group spoofs.

So let's follow the format.

Issue one.

I love that musical background.

Keep playing it, Sean.

Harkins back to a great era.

Issue one.

The Iowa primary is over, right?

Brand spanking new, our first panel program after the primary.

We have a gubernatorial battle.

Two gentlemen in exact lane, the Republican in what some deemed to be an upset victory.

President Trump's first endorsement loss, the GOP candidate versus state auditor Rob Sand, University of Iowa law alum in the interest of full disclosure.

So am I.

I've always got to mention a Hawkeye, a classic conservative versus liberal tilt, or is it?

Let's do the handicapping of the November election.

I go to you, Mr. Bergman, Craig.

You're going to make me start it off.

All right.

Well, it does not look good, as I would say.

This is a dark time for the rebellion.

You know Rob sand has been running for governor as a moderate in the centrist Dealing with the rhinos making deals behind their backs and I mean behind the backs of the party but with certain GOP operatives for six years and Zach Lane is yet to be actually running for governor I'm not sure what he's doing, but my grassroots tells me hires have not happened

Events have not been set up time is ticking and what we saw in the primary was this Don't do anything because nobody pays attention till the last 30 days and then spend five million dollars on TV I didn't think that would work and I think the grassroots did a heroic save in the ninth inning I don't want to play that game again

And I fear that we are.

Well, guys, that's a great initial take.

Let's move to Curtis Bauer.

Curtis, what say you?

You spent a lot of time at the Capitol during the legislative session.

You are the king, the master of Intel.

Talk to me.

All right.

So the close of the primary with Kat Shunhan, Rob Sandhead, $18 million.

He is funding a coordinated effort with all of the Democrats.

on the statewide level.

And when you compare that to what Zach Lane has cash on hand, that's $636,000.

He is out fundraised.

Rob Sand is out fundraised.

Zach Lane substantially.

And then when you pair this up with only the House Republicans have rallied around Lane, there's only one senator that is a Republican, a member of the Republican Senate that is in Doris Lane.

And that is Adrian Dickey, which to me,

speaks very heavily about the Republican establishment being very displeased with Zach Lane winning.

So with that sentiment, I have to agree a little bit with our friend here.

Mr. Bergman is right.

The grassroots saved Zach.

So that's what I got right now.

Well,

let's talk to the ultimate grassroots man, Joel Kirtnitas.

Joel?

your take on this very fascinating landscape this cycle.

Yeah, I'm going to give an analogy that I think you and Craig will both appreciate.

You guys remember Tebow time with the Denver Broncos?

Absolutely.

Remember when he used to, you know, they get down 24 nothing and then he'd have the last four minutes of the game and try to pull off a miracle.

And sometimes it happened.

Sometimes it didn't.

It worked in that beautiful playoff win against the Steelers.

And then everybody thought the magic was going to carry through and they got crushed the next week by a disciplined

hardworking team that did not take that.

And I think that's what Mr. Lane is up against in this against Rob Sand.

100%.

I've known both of these guys a little bit.

I think there is a political machine right now behind Rob Sand that is truly, I think, a litmus test for the direction of the Democrat Party nationwide.

I think a lot of states are watching this race because this is there if Sand wins.

This is their time to throw the crazies out because that will be that they're choking the life out of their left flank right now saying, be quiet, be quiet, be quiet.

We're going to win.

And so this this is truly everything is at stake right now.

As far as the Democrats are concerned, my issue with Lane and where he's at, what he's going to have to get around is that he runs on meat and potato issues.

He runs on the things that everyone cares about.

But that is his land that's already been claimed by sand.

And that's the problem is he has a 200,000 voter advantage.

He's already got all the advantage he needs to excite the base and turn us out.

That's where I think the challenge is.

Distinguish himself as a Republican, he'll get the win.

Joe Kirtanitis with a profound insight.

Eddie Andrews, you ran along with this GOP nominating group.

I know you also know state auditor sand.

Eddie, you bring a unique perspective.

Welcome to the show again.

Great to have you tonight.

What's your take on this gubernatorial race?

Well, I won't disagree with what's already been said, but I'll add a different angle to it.

So I don't think the the last minute primary victory that from Friday to Tuesday was about Zach Lane so much as it was anti-Feinstra.

And once we realized that, and I talked with all of them, right?

I talked with the guys, we had long conversations on that Friday after that endorsement and

We didn't think it was going to move the needle, but once we found out it, it did move the needle.

That whole movement was about not getting beanstrap, which meant ultimately getting Rob sand.

So going forward, I think the next two weeks is going to be extremely critical because like has already been mentioned, there's no the hires of the local people, you know, who had their contracts up to June 3rd.

Um, they're not been really rehired yet.

And so we're like three weeks out.

It's like, uh, I'm asking for advantage apps and they don't have them, you know, uh, door walking apps.

And so, uh, there's also some, some things that haven't hit the news yet that I think are going to be critical and how he handles those, uh, over the next couple of weeks will be critical.

If he manages those over the next couple of weeks, uh, well, I, I, I'm actually optimistic, but, um,

You know, it's, it's, you got to show it first.

Well, there we are guys.

A outro question.

Where's the race stand right now?

Alpine sand up 53 46 to one.

What say you Bergman?

Uh, polls don't lie.

Bauer

sand is up by at least nine points.

Uh, and, and you said, uh, sand not.

Zane or Zane or Lan or Lane.

So you both are in concurrence with me on that.

Let's see if he's unanimous.

Curtinitis, Joel.

Yeah, I think he's got the edge right now, but I think that this is heavily, I think it's going to be on a knife's edge because of the registration advantage.

And so I really think national politics is going to play a big part as far as turnout goes.

And Eddie, where do you see the race right now snapshot in time?

Not to quote Kim Reynolds, but quoting Kim Reynolds, if Republicans show up.

We win.

And that's the key.

Can he excite the base?

There you have it.

We move to issue two.

U.S.

Senate race.

Joni Ernst retiring GOP nominee Ashley Henson, former colleague of mine in the Iowa House versus from my territory, council boss Josh Turrick, also a former legislative house.

alumni, who's going to win that matchup?

Does Henson have the edge?

We're going to rotate and go to Bauer first up.

Curtis.

Well, right now, Kirk's internal polling shows him ahead 2%.

Henson's internal polling shows her ahead 2%.

It's too close to call.

It's going to go back to what we know about the gup, the gubernatorial race.

The Republicans got to turn out because if they don't turn out, Henson loses, hands down.

So this could be a blue wave if we're not careful.

Republicans got to turn out and our Republican candidates have to get with it and excite the base.

The GOP to retain the Senate, they're counting on Iowa and Nebraska and Maine and Ohio staying in the fold.

I go to Joel Kirtnitis.

Could Iowa throw the Senate?

to the Democrats, although some would say that under Thune's leadership, it de facto is a 53 to 47 Democratic Senate anyway.

Kurt Nytus, I go to you, Joel.

You know, it could happen.

They could flip that.

I think it's a little less likely than the governor's race just because of the, you know, the charisma and the network that sand has built up over time.

I do think that Hinson's got the slight edge there at the same time.

Again, it's about getting the base excited and

Henson is running on the old Joni Ernst playbook of, you know, cute stories about kids and things like that.

They've got to update that playbook.

People watching Minnesota and what's going on up there and looking around America, they're much more concerned about that than, you know, whether you had bread bags of shoes, okay?

So that may have worked back then.

I don't think it works now.

And so I think the messaging has to change.

The gravity of the situation has to bleed its way into the campaigning.

And I think that's what Henson needs to do to keep this.

great vantage points all the way around tonight.

Our guest, Eddie Andrews.

Eddie, you know both these people.

Ashley Henson versus Josh Turrick.

I would bet on Ashley Henson.

Remember, she has always been a strong candidate.

She has flipped the seat before.

She's great looking.

She's a great speaker, great communicator.

I would say she has two caveats that you probably don't think about, but she does have a very strong candidate on the libertarian side, Thomas Lane.

And if you heard that name, that's the second caveat, because his name can easily be confused with Zach Lane.

They're pronounced the same spell differently, and some people are just going to vote for Lane.

Um, you know, and so she has to overcome that.

She has to win that by probably four or five points just to overcome those two caveats, in my opinion.

Wow.

That take from Eddie Andrews.

Craig Bergman, you get the final say on this round.

All right.

I'm going to echo everything everyone else just said.

We'll do it in reverse order.

Eddie's correct.

The libertarian on there is going to be a problem, especially with the name thing.

I had a long talk with Paul about what they should do.

They did not take my advice.

So to war we go and ready or not, I totally agree with Joel that the numbers are going to tell what it is.

But I go right back to what Curtis said in the consensus that she only has a couple of points to play with, whether it's two, three or four.

This is going to be very tight.

And here's the turn card.

If Lane does not perform, and by that I mean Zachary Lane, if he does not perform and loses, everyone on the ticket will drop half or equal to his drop.

So if he loses by two, everyone's gonna drop two to one.

If he loses by three, they're gonna lose between three and one and a half.

And by lose, I just mean those votes.

I don't necessarily mean that if Ashley Hinson wins by half a percent, because Lane loses by one that she'll be elected, she won't actually lose, lose.

But Meeks and none, which aren't on our agenda to talk about here yet, or maybe are, they fall into that too.

The speed of the leader determines the speed of the pack and the race cars at the side with the hood up.

Greg Berman, who brilliantly analyzed and pre-dipped

did almost with precision, the exact vote totals of the Iowa gubernatorial primary.

So lightning round interregnum, yes or no question, the Republican ticket coattail effect with respect to the Senate and congressional performance will be better under Lane than it would have been under Feinstra when loser draw.

Lane lifts up, a rising boat lifts all ships.

Lane does it better than Finstra?

True or false?

Yes or no?

Bergman?

Yes.

Five points.

Easy.

Bauer?

Yes.

At least three points.

Kurt Nytus?

Absolutely.

Andrews?

100%.

Issue three!

For our congressional races, a lot going on nationally.

How much will the national issues impinge?

on tight races in Iowa, the Iran war, gasoline prices, the economy, inflation.

We've got four congressional districts.

We're going to go staccato fast here in congressional district one, Miller Meeks incumbent Republican and rematch against Christina Bohannon.

I start with Kurt Nytus.

Who's got the edge there?

I think incumbency wins this one by a smidge.

And we go to Andrews.

Triple L wins.

Bergman.

Same thing.

Whatever happens at the governor's race determines whether we get Meeks or not.

Ann Bauer.

I have to disagree.

I think in this particular district, Bohannon's going to edge out Miller Meeks.

I think you may be correct, unless the economy really snaps back.

These have been down to dozens of votes each time.

District two, Joe Mitchell, Lindsey James, I served with both in the house, both young

somewhat charismatic figures, Mitchell the Republican, Lindsey James the Democrat to succeed to the Hinson seat, which includes my hometown of Cedar Rapids and Marion, within the sound of all of our radio voices here.

Who wins that one?

Andrews, you're up

first.

I think Mr. Donald Trump wanted to want to be.

wins that one.

I think he's a good looking guy, not quite as charismatic as Ashley, but he has the money.

He's worked for Donald Trump.

He's got the whole Charlie Kirk phenomenon going on.

He's started run Gen Z. I think he wins.

Bingo with the TPUSA Charlie Kirk connection.

Craig Bergman, who wins that

race?

I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but winning isn't

everything.

It's the only thing and the governor's race isn't a thing.

It's the only thing.

We win it all or we lose it all.

There's

no purple.

Thank you, Vincent T. Lombardi.

So now where's that governor race going to stand as of today?

If it comes out the way you think it will, does Mitchell win or lose that race?

Mitchell loses right now.

All

right, Curtis Boward.

I think Lindsey James is going to edge out Joe Mitchell.

I really think that

Lindsay James is more in touch with the voter base because Joe Mitchell's from Clear Lake, clear in the northwest portion of that district.

But Lindsay James is more closer to the Dubuque area.

And she's more in touch with that eastern Iowa corridor all the way down Highway 151 and the Cedar Valley.

I'm sorry, I think Lindsay takes it.

And Joel Curtinitis,

what say you?

I think it's going to be a knife's edge, but I'm going to give that edge to Mitchell in this one.

I do think he's got the charisma to pull it off.

It really depends on organization.

OK, split verdict on that one.

This is Weight Watchers, built for real life and real results, no matter what mode you're in.

Maddie went all in for her big day and lost 33 pounds.

Emily lost 85 pounds and hit her goal while still living her life.

Weight Watchers gave me the tools, and I feel amazing.

Join the millions of members and lose weight with the number one doctor recommended weight loss program.

Get started at WeightWatchers.com slash works.

At six months, participants in the clinical trial of Weight Watchers program lost an average of 12 pounds.

If you're enjoying this KXEL podcast, then we invite you to listen to KXEL's great programming in real time too.

You can hear us on the radio, statewide at AM 1540 and in the Cedar Valley at FM 100.5.

We stream live on the web, not only through KXEL.com, but also through our free KXEL mobile app.

and Alexa knows how to find us too.

It's where Iowa comes to talk, News Talk 1540, KXEL.

Congressional District 3, incumbent Republican.

He's one, he's come from behind.

He's done it a couple times.

Zach Nunn, another former colleague of mine, versus Democrat, Sarah Throne Garriott.

Let's go back to be any of the alphabet.

Craig Bergman, your territory.

All right, I'm gonna say my broken record.

But the thing of it is we have two Zaks here and Zack Nunn is a real worker, a real fighter.

He leans enough moderate to not piss people off and his opponent is far left crazy and Polk County has good leadership.

We're having a special convention tomorrow to fill the ballot.

Uh, so I'm bullish on Polk County.

I saw what the grassroots in Polk County did for Zach Lane.

I was part of that.

I live here.

Uh, Eddie knows Polk County and all these people.

I think he squeaks it out unless Lane performs terribly.

By the way, I heard Polk County had a good platform chair.

I got you, Curtis Bauer.

I think Zach Nunn is gonna edge this out.

I do think it's gonna be close, but I have to...

I have to echo my colleague, Mr. Bergman here because Zackman does really well in this district.

He's really pounded the streets with his feet and he's got out and he's talked to all of these constituents over and over and over and over again.

And he is a moderate in a slightly blue district, which means he's more, more middle of the road and people can't get behind something that they know.

So.

The question is, is are you going to trade the devil?

You don't know for the devil, you know?

I think they go with Zach Nunn.

And culturally and athletically savvy, I love Zach's ringing defensive, Caitlin Clark on his video on social media.

Well done, Zach Nunn.

Joel Curtinitis, what say you?

I think Zach's done a phenomenal job of marketing and of capitalizing on his exposure so far.

I wasn't sure when he came out of the state house if he'd be able to hang in this seat.

It's been hotly contested many times.

But I think his messaging is outstanding.

He does have the ability to

you know, bring home, bring home wins for the conservative base and keep them showing up.

I do think that he can, he can pull off the win here.

But I, but I think that for he and Lane, both in both of their cases, they need to expose the left of their, of their opponent in a big way.

And that's what's missing from this picture.

That's the insurance they need because too many people don't know Sarah Trone, Gary, what she's about.

They did not pay attention to the Chapman race.

They did not pay attention to what she's said and done since then.

Same with Rob Sand.

And so I think

You know, even though this is Iowa and we like to be Iowa nice, the truth needs to be out there and I think none's got to be a little bit stronger on that message.

Don't Gary, it definitely has some liabilities that could be exploited.

Eddie Andrews, you get the final word.

You know, I could take all of those comments and just echo them, but I'm going to add just a little bit more.

First of all, Zach.

checks all the boxes.

He flipped a house seat when he was in the state house.

He flipped a Senate seat when he was in the Senate, a state Senate.

The guy's good looking.

He's a veteran.

His wife is gorgeous.

He's got adopted kids.

I mean, and he's a great communicator.

And most of all, no one's going to outwork him, um, at least in district three.

And, uh, I got to give it to, um, I got to give it to my man, Zach Nunn.

There you have it, guys.

Now final.

Congressional District 4.

Any disagreement here, that's my neck of the woods.

Chris McGowan, Republican from Sioux City versus Dave Dawson, the Democrat to succeed to the fiends for race.

I say it's going to be a runaway McGowan game set match.

It's already over.

However, we'll go through the paces here.

What say you, Curtis Bauer?

Chris McGowan wins the fourth because the fourth is redder than Texas.

Yeah.

Yeah, I

don't think there's any, I don't think Democrat has any chance there, but because I don't want to go with a full sweep, I'm going to flip my vote on Miller Meeks to loss.

Okay.

Oh, okay.

Kurt Nygus with the, with the post script.

Eddie Andrews, Fort District, fate accompli.

Look, Chris McGowan could go to Haiti today and show up on election day with 80% of the vote.

I mean, he's going to win that hands down.

I think you're right.

Bergman, is it unanimous?

It's unanimous.

I thought for a second, Eddie Andrews was going to say, hey, D's.

But yes, if Chris departed this world, he would still win.

There you have it.

We move on now.

We've done issue one, two, 2.5 interregnum lightning round, issue three, ABCD.

Now issue four, predict the Iowa Statehouse races.

Almost a supermajority currently exists in the Iowa Senate.

A supermajority exists in the Iowa House.

Could that change this cycle after arguably a mixed legislative session in Iowa?

What will the D versus R approximate tallies be in the Senate, in the House, after the election?

I turn to you, Joel Curtinitis.

Yeah, I actually think that we're going to lose some of our space in the majorities.

I think that part of it is the

you know, the legislative priorities that data didn't get done.

I also think there's some ill will through the through the political process.

I wrote up a piece about convention.

I think there's a lot of mistrust between different factions within the GOP right

now.

By the way, great commentary.

Everybody should read that.

No, I appreciate it.

And and then just along with that, you know, those things can usually if you're in a good year, if you're not in a second administration administration mid term, you can get away with those things.

But in the year that we are in, I

don't think you get away with those things.

I think that some of that misplaced trust and maybe mixed priorities comes back to hurt us in the legislative races.

Great take out of the gate.

Eddie Andrews, you were there.

We're at 67 in the house.

I predict 65 in the Senate.

We're at 33.

I predict 32.

All right.

Staying and salvaging a save, according to Eddie, Craig Bergman.

Uh, where do you think this, uh, takes us?

I'm going to be both minds here, and it's not a divided mind, uh, because I'm going to repeat the thunder.

Uh, what happens at the top trickles down.

Uh, if we win the governor's ship, we maybe lose those one seats, uh, in the House and Senate that Eddie was talking about.

But if Zach does what he needs to do, if the grassroots are motivated to do what they need to do, if the 200,000 voter advantage does what it needs to do, all politics is local, all politics is personal, nobody loses, and we may even have gains.

Wow.

Fascinating take from Craig.

Curtis Bauer, I don't know if I'm as optimistic for the GOP.

I'm going to say a few words here.

Budget deficit, property taxes, eminent domain.

How did the GOP not get routed?

So I have to agree with Craig, but I'm going to throw this.

I don't think, I truly don't think Zach Lane is going to get it together by November.

So I really think that the current vote is going to decrease.

So I think 59 Republican 41 Dems in the house.

and 29 to 21 in the Senate.

If Zach Lane can get it together, it's going to be 61 to 39 and 30 to 20.

Curtis, I got to say, I agree with you on that one.

I kind of see it the way you do there, Mr. Bauer.

We shall see.

Issue five.

U.S.

midterms.

In a second presidential administration, the midterm usually goes south.

Not always, but we can certainly know, those of us who have lived long enough, the bloodbath for the GOP in 74, the bloodbath for the Democrats in 1966, the bloodbath for the Republicans in 2006, and nationally again, the specter

of another flare in Iran.

Gas prices high, inflation high.

Will the public forgive the GOP?

I'm not so sure.

Or can Trump, as he has always done, pull yet another rabbit out of his hat in the nick of time?

Predict the U.S.

midterms.

Do we lose the House for the Republicans in the U.S.

Congress?

Do the Democrats win the Senate?

Who wins the House?

Who wins the Senate in the US Congress?

We'll start right now with Eddie Andrews.

Everything depends upon Iran and affordability.

I believe Donald Trump has pulled a rabbit out of the hat once or twice or three or four times.

I think he can do it again.

Remember, Iowa bucked the trend in the last midterms four years ago.

However, that's when we had a strong

incumbent governor who was well liked.

And so sounding like some of my colleagues, so much depends also on the the the turnout and the strength over what happens over the next, in my opinion, the next two or three weeks.

Here in Iowa, that determines the the ground game.

So I still think we I still think Iowa bucks the trend and that Donald Trump

is not impeached in 2027 through the end of this presidency.

A great kick from Eddie before I have Craig talk.

Craig, I'm just going to set it up this way.

I think the GOP loses the house, but not by a very large margin because of the redistricting efforts of the president.

However, I give John Thune no credit for anything, anywhere, any place, and we'll be lucky to even keep the Senate.

Right now, I'm worried.

about Iowa, even Nebraska, Ohio, and Maine.

Those are all pivotal, must keep.

I think the Senate may be in danger.

Craig, you're the master of the national scene.

Handicap this for us.

Hey, John, I'm going to handicap it by saying I family disagree.

Good.

We are.

We

are.

We are plus two in the Senate.

When all said is done, we are plus five to plus eight in the house.

When all said is done, the plus eight or five depends on Iowa.

If Iowa is routed, we're only plus five.

If Iowa carries the day, we are plus eight.

We have no worry.

We have redistricting.

We have the U.S.

Post Office not dealing with crappy fraud mail-in ballots, which is 99% of the fraud.

We have everyone watching this election, unlike the times they did before, because Donald Trump was not president in 2024.

So there's no doom and gloom over Iran.

Tucker Carlson can go blank himself in the dark, as Elon Musk said.

And I am totally bullish on the national mood of the country.

They do not want to commit suicide.

Local politics is different.

Individual races are different.

But I am very, very bullish on Donald Trump and his rabbits.

Greg Bergman, it's a good thing that you are slimmer and you have good eyesight because to quote Robert DuVall and true grit to John Wayne, I would say otherwise it would be bull talk for a one-eyed fat man.

What say you, Curtis Bowen?

So I'm going to disagree Bergman.

Bergman raises some good points.

However, the Fed issuing the statement earlier that they were going to raise interest rates by a factor or three times.

over the next course here that we're really going to be in bad shape when you talk about the economy and the economy is essential to all of our growth and the fact that the house is the one chamber that is most supportive of the president right now and the president is starting to slip a little bit.

I think the house is going to go to the Democrats and the Senate to me it was no question it was going to go Democrat.

So

I think they'll still edge out as both Democrat and both chambers.

Wow.

The first three all over the board here, including yours truly, Joel Curtinitis, you kind of have the deciding vote here.

Yeah, I think we're going to split in the results.

I really cannot see the president overcoming the history on this one.

I do think we're going to lose seats in the house.

I think we're going to lose the house.

The Senate is probably going to be right at that 50-50 mark.

I think we're going to be right on the knife's edge with the Senate.

The reasons, obviously, the economy.

But I think it's not just that the economy is bad.

It's that there's not really any vision for fixing it.

The tariff your way into prosperity really hasn't shaken out the way that

we wanted so far.

And so I just think that there's there's too many unknowns for the American population to have any confidence in continuing this direction.

The other part is there's a wing of the Democratic Party that is ascendant and does offer a vision as perverse as that vision is that's starting to gain excitement.

And then finally I

disagree with Craig a little bit about the impact of the Tucker Carlson Candace Owens minority out there.

I do think that as subversives they're really doing more than we think with the younger part of the electorate especially and the GOP has come to rely on that.

And so I think that that lack of excitement there, I don't think we have enough steam to get over the hill of history on this one.

our bonus intregnum staccato round here.

53 to 47 right now, the Senate.

The GOP can hold on.

If they lose three, they would sell the tie breaking vote with Vice President Vance.

What four states could flip to give it to the Dems?

What four states are you worried most about?

I will tell you, I'm worried about Ohio.

I'm worried about Nebraska.

I'm worried about Maine.

I'm worried about Iowa.

If those four fall, it's over.

Go to you.

What say you, Bergman, about those four?

OK, I lived in Maine.

I worked in Maine.

I ran the governor's race in Maine.

We're not going to lose Maine.

Iowa, we could.

Nebraska, no.

Ohio, no.

So I remain bullish.

52.

A great take from Craig, who knows that landscape.

Well, Curtis.

I have to agree with you, John, on this one.

I'm not so confident on Nebraska.

And the reason I'm not confident on Nebraska is whenever you go to the population centers like Omaha, Lincoln, they have the most populated areas and they always go blue.

Omaha has gone radically blue dot in the last 10 years.

It's unbelievable.

Yeah.

And with that being said, yes.

And then you go and you look at how this

Senate races is transpiring in Iowa, really and truthfully correct.

Let's lay out some demographics here.

He is a paralyzed guy who is incredibly hardworking.

He doesn't make excuses for his disability.

And you know what?

He is incredibly likable, approachable, and down-to-earth people love relating to him.

And he returns your emails.

It's wonderful.

That's where I think we're going to run afoul on the Republican side.

And with regards to Ohio and Maine, I think people are just getting tired of the economy not going the way it should.

And when you talk about the blue areas in Ohio, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, you just go right down the line.

I think they're going to bring it in for the Democrats.

Maine is probably the one that I would say is more the toss-up, but I still think it edges out

blue.

Well, Curtis chiming in with kind of my thinking here.

Eddie Andrews, welcome again.

This award-winning panel, these dudes right here, winning the major awards for Iowa broadcast news for radio in Iowa, for best public affairs, best political coverage.

This composite group is right more often than not.

Way in here, Eddie.

U.S.

Senate.

What about those states?

I think they all stay red.

Wow.

Is that easy enough?

Eddie, bullish on the GOP.

That was the penultimate word from Eddie Andrews.

And you have the final say, Joel Kirk-Nytus.

Yeah, I think that Nebraska stays red.

I don't see that switching anytime soon.

I again, knifed edge here in Iowa.

I just don't think it's going to be easy to call.

I think there's a good chance we swing blue.

I also think that Maine, I think that Maine's probably going to go blue despite the crazy that they've got going on up there.

And then Ohio, I think is probably going to stay red.

And you have no concerns about Texas.

There's a lot of bluster there about Tallarico.

But what do you think?

So I don't have any immediate concerns about Texas, but watching demographic trends and migration from other states, I think that Texas is absolutely a political time bomb and redistricting has to happen everywhere else to account for that political time

bomb.

Boy, I think you're right on the mark there, Joel.

Joel Curtinitis with a very profound insight in the demographics and the trend lines in the great state of Texas.

something that should never have come out of any of our mouths, all that we wished that Jasmine Crockett would have won that primary.

Well said, Eddie.

Well said.

Issue six.

Wither Iran, memorandum of understanding, cease fire, but tweets from the president by the hour vary from aggression,

to pacifism, is the president merely buying time to salvage midterms?

Did he cut a bad deal?

Did he cut an ingenious deal playing 4D or perhaps even 5D chess?

And can you trust the current Iranian regime?

to uphold any bargain or has Trump brilliantly put the Iranians in a position where if they now default on the MOU, the entire world will rally behind the United States and go full throttle in sanctions against Iran.

This could be the issue that affects the midterms.

So let's take a look here.

The Iran MOU is even divided the White House.

You've got team Vance.

Wanting more of the MOU ceasefire route, you have skeptics like Radcliffe and Hegseth and Rubio on the other end.

President Trump, almost humorously, acknowledging the rift, acknowledging the ideological differences, and even joking that if the plan works, he'll take all the credit.

If it doesn't work, Vance gets all the blame.

Meanwhile, Marco take into sightedly lower profile during this.

probably deliberately so.

Put this in the context for us.

I'm going to start with a great Joel Kurt Nytus on this one.

Joel, take it away.

All

right.

Well, I could go an hour on this one.

You know about me and Ron Paul and foreign policy, but I

think...

So, I think, unfortunately, there was one way.

There was only one way that this could have gone really right for Trump, and they missed that window.

It was either complete and total victory and surrender and the way that he and many within the GOP have preached over the years.

Full concession, full, you know, we put somebody else in, or it's gonna be disaster.

And so I think long term or short term, it's going to be disaster.

I think Israel knows this, by the way.

And that's why there's been a growing rift between Israel and the president lately on that policy decision.

I just think they ran out of time before the midterms.

And so I don't think that it's going to be wrapped up.

I don't think it's going to go well.

And I think a lot of folks in the region are bracing for all of the adjustments that Iran makes both politically and societally in the wake of this.

You are eerily

giving me consternation that I also feel in my bones, but I know Craig Bergman has been triumphal during this process with an astoundingly great logic of his own on the other end.

So I'm going to go directly to Craig and say, Craig, can you gaince us on this?

Yeah, here.

I was national political director for Ron Paul.

I know the libertarian arguments on this.

I butted heads with Ron Paul one time over stoop at the Imanicolony's restaurant there along Interstate 80.

We had a headbutting in front of the whole staff and Ron put his spoon down on the table and looked at me.

He goes, why do I have you as my political director if you're always arguing with me?

And I looked right at him and I said, because you're a man who wants the truth and wants the opinions so that you know how to frame your messages.

He stared at me for a second.

The whole room was dead quiet.

And he started back slurping his soup with his spoon nice and slow.

And everyone came up to me after and said, nobody talks to Ron Paul that way, Craig.

Who are you?

And so I'm going to say, Joel, no, no, this is a big.

No, the larger forces are at play here than any of this anti-war, been too long, Bush's war.

None of that is true.

It was Obama's war.

The way Democrats do things and negotiate is not what Trump is doing here.

Big nothing burger.

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All right, that's the all in a take I was looking for.

Now I'm torn.

I'm like Kirk with Spock and McCoy arguing.

I don't know which way to end up here.

Curtis Bauer, I'm going to go to you next because you served over the Middle East boots on the ground.

You were shot at, concussed.

You were in the heart of darkness over there.

Thank you for your service.

You bring a vantage point to the table here.

What say

you?

Well, I'd like to start off by saying in a court of law, an MOU is not enforceable.

So let's start there.

Then let's go to the next step.

The next step is this isn't about a war with Iran.

It's about stopping China, period.

There's no other way to put it.

And China is our largest adversary.

And by 2050, those guys will have only 600 million for a population, which means they will be

decimated and they cannot maintain.

All we have to do is outlast them.

And there's evidence to suggest that their population that's reported is actually false.

So here, let's talk about the huge balloon that is economic that they've created by printing money, printing money, printing money.

And it's just a huge, huge Ponzi scheme.

So let's not kid ourselves.

It is about stopping China and getting

it ahead.

And is it a big dog and pony show for the midterm elections?

Not really, because guess what?

If China would stop, they won't meddle in our election.

So there it is.

You know, Curtis, I love that take.

And Eddie, before I give you the last word on this, I want to say that I've consistently maintained that Trump has been ingenious

in understanding that the Chinese will control the Pacific Rim, that Europe is lost and is beyond salvaging.

Ergo, we need a Monroe Doctrine 2.0 or a Don Rowe Doctrine 1.0, meaning Western Hemispheric Hegemon, Pax Americana, and what Trump has done in Venezuela

and in Cuba, and in the Panama Canal region, and even in the Arctic Circle, have all been efforts to assert this brilliant, Western, hemispheric hegemon.

Such that, dare I say, the Elon Musk-Doge effort under Trump that ruptured the USAID money in nine subsequent South American elections, the left wing party has lost nine for nine.

I think it might be working.

The brilliant chess game for the Western Hemisphere.

Eddie Andrews, I give you the last word on this topic.

Oh my goodness, between those last three comments, yours, Curtis's and Craig's, I hate to throw just a slight difference in there.

But do it anyway.

But do it anyway.

You know, that's why they pay me or not pay me the big bucks, right?

So here's the thing.

We're talking about midterms that are coming up.

I don't know how long this 5D chess is going to take to really come to fruition.

And what people see, we hope it's 5D chess.

We hope it's 4D chess.

We hope it's all those things that you talked about.

But here's the immediate issue.

We did not go in there and do a Venezuela.

We did not go in there and do a Cuba.

We went in there and...

We were expecting either all in or all out.

I think Donald Trump, certainly a lot of people on his side, are fundamentally, I won't say pacifist, but anti-war.

And when I think part of the negotiation, at least the appearance is that they wanted and made it and gave their hand that they really wanted a deal.

Instead of people traditionally being scared stiff of Donald Trump that oh my goodness if we don't do this He's gonna obliterate us.

They it's like they knew like he really doesn't want to obliterate us right and so from the outside a lot of people look at that as We're starting.

Oh, we're gonna stop.

We're starting.

We're gonna stop.

We're gonna as a matter of fact I heard today that we're starting again, and I think people

Don't necessarily see that large vision.

I hope Curtis and Craig and John are correct, but I'm not, I'm not 100% convinced.

Eddie Andrews, and now in our final three and a half minutes before we wind things up, issue seven.

Short answers guys, 45 seconds each, but Ronald Reagan described the Soviet Union as the evil empire.

George W. Bush talked about the axis of evil.

My question to you, how evil is the WNBA and what they've done to Caitlin Clark?

I say plenty evil.

What say you, Craig Bergman?

Well, I can do it in less than 45 seconds, including the monologue leading to it.

I'm an abolitionist against all things evil.

and they are evil as evil gets low IQ, thug, basketball, street ball, five fans watching it.

Caitlin Clark gave them a chance and they blew it and killed their golden goose.

I don't know how it can be said better than that, but we're going to give everybody a try.

Courageous bow to your necks.

I have to say that the forgetting paid what was it, $78,000 a year, and she has to put up with that garbage.

That's trash.

The WNBA just needs to burn to the ground because guess what?

The NBA is actually subsidizing them so they can exist on this backwoods thought process that the feminist movement has come up with that.

Oh, wait, we need equal pay.

Well, no, you just need to show up and do your part.

Another great take.

Wow, everybody's on a roll.

Joel Kirtnitus.

Everything that is subsidized, quality goes down, cost goes up.

The WNBA is no different.

Perfectly, perfectly put in an economic paradigm there.

Eddie Andrews, you have the final word here, my friend.

Well, when Caitlyn Clark entered in, they were making in the $70,000 range.

Because of Caitlyn Clark, they stopped riding coach.

They actually now have private planes.

They went from 78K to six figures in a few cases, and in a few cases, seven figures.

This is all 100% due to Caitlyn Kark.

And I hate to say what Craig said, because he took my analogy.

I was going to say, I used to think that Aesop's fable about the golden goose was a fable, but we're looking right at it.

They are trying to kill the golden goose.

And if they don't stop, it's going to take down the entire WNBA.

Well, guys, what a fabulous show this has been today.

Craig Bergman, Curtis Bauer, Joel Curtinitis, the great guest Eddie Andrews.

I'm John Jacobson here with my magnificent engineer, Sean Torres.

Want to thank our sponsors.

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You guys tell your friends about the show, you can catch it on podcast, kxl.com slash podcasts, and we will reassemble this award-winning team again on multiple occasions as we trek toward midterms and the Iowa elections.

Until we meet again, be safe, be smart, be good, be strong.

Love Jesus Christ.

And God bless us, everyone.

God bless America on our semi-quincentennial, America, the last best hope of man on earth in the secular arena.

The country that saved the world from darkness twice in the 20th century, our own Herbert Hoover prevented famine worldwide twice.

We love our Iowans here and we love the United States of America.

May God bless us, everyone.

Well, welcome on this beautiful Saturday in Eastern Iowa, John Jacobson here on the original United States and North American blowtorch KXEL, a century at 50,000 watts of clear channel, the first in the Western Hemisphere, 1540, 100.5 FM.

And you can always listen live and cast the podcast folks on KXEL.

Sean Torres and Blake Griffin are engineers.

We welcome back the great Clint Alderman, the next generation of leadership at Hames Homes.

Clint, welcome back.

Great to have you back in rotation with us today.

Great to be back.

Thanks for having me.

And when I say third generation,

I want to take you back to when I was a little boy about the age of Barbara Hames Bryant growing up in that Marion Cedar Rapids area when we were just about 10 years old, going back to 1970 and this great blast from the past.

Listen.

and affordable.

An attractive home that you can own with pride.

This is the one.

You've come to the right place.

Curt and Norma Hames can show you just the home you're looking for.

Help with financing too.

Hames Mobile Homes.

Marion, Iowatha and Iowa City.

The Homes People.

With Neil Diamond music in the background just like we replicate for this

time period here.

Clint the Great, Kurt and Norma back then when KGAN was WMT television there at Broadcast Park right across from Collins where it still is today.

Those were awesome commercials.

They blank out of the airwaves and you know what the tradition continues.

It sure does and I still like going back and watching those old commercials.

It's cool to see what the homes look like and it's always fun to see the salesmanship of Kurt and Norma.

They were absolutely one of a kind, true national trailblazers and great American patriots.

So you guys have these beautiful communities.

Tell us about Summit View and Grand View, Clinton, the location and what kind of beautiful, affordable, safe manufactured homes you guys showcased there with great landscaping and street light infrastructure and amenities.

Man, there's a lot of time packed there.

We have between the two communities, we have about 400 home sites.

We've got a range of homes, 14 by 70, so about a 900 square foot home all the way up to 1800 square foot homes here in our Grand View location.

So there's a little bit of everything.

We've got walking trails, parks.

Um, got a food pantry in our summit view location, 24 hour on call service.

We get background checks and all adults that live here.

Um, homes with garages, homes without carports, decks, covered decks.

I mean, there's about anything that you can think of.

We've got it.

Clint Alderman from Hames Homes.

Clint, I'll finalize my remarks with this.

You know, we've talked about the fixer upper and for goodness sake, it's so vastly superior.

to get into a Haymes Homes versus apartment living every single time.

Think about it, guys.

There's no shared walls like you'd have with an apartment.

You've got more privacy with these manufactured homes that they're summit and grand communities.

You've got your own driveway every single day, no community parking, your own driveway.

You've got one floor living, which equals comfort and convenience.

No stairs, no long hallways, no hauling groceries or kids, up multiple flights.

got laundry day without the workout because you've got laundry there at washer and dryer at the same level as your living space you're not trekking up and down floors like an apartment and you might want to just zero in on this as we conclude here Clint but a locally owned community that cares.

Yeah, you're absolutely right.

I mean, we've trained Barbara in here with us every day.

Cynthia's here helping us out with the titling.

We've got office managers at both locations.

We have outside managers, and we're here.

We're hands-on.

Curtis and I are here to help with sales.

We're here to help with service.

We're just, you know, we're very active in what we do here, and we want to help the people who live in our community.

Yeah, let's ask for Clint Alderman or any of the great people from Hames,

homes, this great third generation family.

And of course, the best thing to do is to drive it and see it with your own eyes.

These are beautiful homes, beautifully landscaped on just pristine streets, nice paved streets, excellent lighting.

It's just, it's a wonderful aesthetic, beautiful pastoral landscape on the rural edge of town and yet five minutes from

from almost any great retail and 10 minutes to the airport and the hospitals.

It's really an outstanding venue.

How do they reach you?

Remind us one more time.

Well, I think the list is shorter of ways you can't reach

us.

You can get us by phone at 319-377-463.

Our website is hamshomes.com and you can come visit us here at either some of you or Curtis and I and most of us are here in our Grand View location, which is

on the corner of West Post Road and Wilson Avenue.

This is great.

Clint, always great to have you in the rotation here.

We may hear from you next week or maybe Barbara Curtis.

It's always, I call it an embarrassment of riches.

You have a great weekend as we arc toward America's 250th coming up on July 4.

Yes, I can't wait.

Clint Alderman from Hames Homes, The Homes People.

Go to HamesHomes.com.

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