2024 Watch: Tom Cotton is in Iowa, Democrats consider calendar

Good morning, and welcome to another week of Iowa politics!

In what is becoming more and more common, we had an interesting Iowa caucus split screen this past week.

On the Republican side, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton was in town, campaigning on behalf of local candidates like State Sen. Zach Nunn, who's running in Iowa's 3rd District, a trio of Ankeny-area legislative candidates and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley.

He took some time at an event in Cambridge, Iowa to answer questions from reporters. We asked about a recent Politico article, which said his team has outlined to potential donors the contours of a 2024 presidential run.

Cotton didn't deny or downplay that report, but he did pivot away to talk more about 2022. (Which is *obviously* why he's in Iowa...)

He did tell us that Iowa and New Hampshire are key to any campaign for president.

“I think, obviously, Iowa and New Hampshire as the first in the nation caucus and first in the nation primary play a huge role for any person running for president,” he said. “Maybe one day there will be a Republican nominee who doesn't win in Iowa or win in New Hampshire, but I wouldn't want to be the person that stakes a campaign on that.”

But for the Democrats, that might not be exactly true going forward. Members of the Democratic National Committee met Friday night in Washington, D.C. to discuss how they might reshuffle their calendar.

It was their first public conversation since Iowa and 16 other states and territories made in-person appeals to hold early nominating contests, and they offered some assessments of those states and how they may move forward.

It still doesn't look promising for Iowa Democrats who want to hold onto the caucuses. Mo Elleithee, an influential committee member, implored his colleagues to be "creative" and to avoid being "held hostage by tradition."

You can read more about Cotton's visit in my story here, and catch up on the latest with the Democrats' calendar fight here.

This has been Chief Politics Reporter Brianne Pfannenstiel, eager to follow all the action on both sides of the aisle. Have a question? You can always reach me at bpfann@dmreg.com.

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This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 2024 Watch: Tom Cotton is in Iowa, Democrats consider calendar