Banned from the ballot? It’s happened in Iowa before

Someone asked me a few weeks ago who was the most interesting politician I had ever covered. After thinking a few moments, I said one of the most interesting was a guy I hardly had the chance to cover because he was banned from the Iowa ballot.

Much like the Colorado Supreme Court has banned Donald Trump from the ballot, a former chief executive of Iowa was banned from returning to the governor’s office because of a conflict with the constitution.

I moved to Iowa in 1976 and while covering the Statehouse, always heard a lot about our former governor, Harold Hughes. A Democrat, Hughes had been a truck driver with an alcohol addiction who somehow overcame it to capture the hearts and minds of Iowans, who elected him governor in 1962. He served until 1968 and then won a narrow election to the U.S. Senate. He served only one term, opting not to run for reelection. After walking away from the Senate, Hughes devoted himself to religious work with…