AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
- As the 2024 presidential election approaches, Iowa Democrats find themselves at a crossroads.
- Iowa Democrats have watched Republicans dominate in a slate of competitive contests in recent years.
- Local Democrats were further dismayed by the shift in the party's presidential nominating calendar.
When Barack Obama first ran for president in 2008, Democrats lavished attention on Iowa, the Midwestern battleground that for years had swung back and forth between the parties on the presidential level.
It certainly helped that Obama at the time represented neighboring Illinois in the Senate, giving him the sort of regional inroads that previous Democratic presidential candidates weren't able to use to their advantage.