No Labels takes aim at the White House, inviting candidates from both parties to campaign event

DES MOINES - Not many people think Congress is doing its job these days: Roughly 10 percent to 15 percent of people, in fact, according to recent polls.

One national group thinks the biggest problem is too few federal lawmakers willing to work across the political aisle, creating a dysfunctional, gridlocked federal government.

Since its inception in 2010, No Labels has been trying to improve the cooperative spirit in the nation's capital.

And now the group is taking its work to the White House by getting involved in the 2016 presidential campaign, including in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa.

Next week in New Hampshire - the first primary voting state - No Labels will host a forum with multiple presidential candidates from both political parties. The five Republican and three Democratic candidates will not share the stage simultaneously, but they will appear in turn in front of the same crowd.

It's a key effort in No Labels' attempt to restore bipartisan collaboration in Washington, D.C.

'We think it really speaks to the voters' desire for something different from the candidates,” said Ryan Clancy, a spokesman for No Labels. 'The signature focus of No Labels as an organization is problem solving and the desire for our leaders from both parties to come together and solve big problems.”

Iowans know well that multiple-candidate events are common. But those events, while plentiful, have featured candidates from one party or the other.

Next weekend's No Labels event is rare in featuring candidates from both parties.

'There has never been an event like this before,” former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a co-founder of No Labels, said in a statement. 'To have so many presidential candidates and leaders from both parties gathered at the same event speaks to the growing influence of the No Labels movement and the growing desire for a new politics of problem solving in America.”

That's what attracted No Labels' Iowa co-chairs: Jeff Danielson, a Democratic state senator from Waterloo, and Maggie Tinsman, a former Republican state senator from Bettendorf.

'There are those of us who are students of policy, who understand politics because we have to, but are more interested in what works and what works well,” Danielson said. 'We have to govern as well as campaign.”

Danielson and Tinsman have focused their efforts on the state level, hoping to ensure the partisan-fueled gridlock that in many ways has paralyzed the nation's capital does not seep into the Iowa Capitol.

But with Iowa's prominent role in the nation's presidential selection process, Danielson and Tinsman have joined No Labels' effort to educate voters and take its cause to the field of candidates vying to be the nation's next chief executive.

Danielson is hopeful No Labels' message can influence the presidential candidates after what he said have been two of the most politically polarizing presidents in the country's history.

Danielson said George W. Bush campaigned on being a uniter, not a divider, and Barack Obama called for one America, not a red or blue America. Neither of those campaign themes came to pass, in Danielson's view.

'So we've had two presidents that have campaigned on unifying messages, and yet today, there's good evidence to say they were the two most polarizing presidents in history,” Danielson said.

No Labels has been working on Congress for five years, developing a coalition of senators and representatives who have pledged to do what it takes to craft and pass meaningful legislation. The hope, Clancy said, is that No Labels can help voters choose a president who will move into the White House in 2017 and work with those members of Congress.

No Labels' blueprint is its National Strategic Agenda, four pieces of policy that the group thinks a majority of Americans will support and upon which well-intentioned lawmakers can agree.

The goals, which were developed after extensive polling by No Labels:

' Balance the federal budget by 2030.

' Make America energy secure by 2024.

' Secure Social Security and Medicare for another 75 years.

' Create 25 million new jobs over the next 10 years.

'Something we believe that has eluded the president, in particular in recent years, is an ability to unify the country around a set of ideas that most voters, in spite of party, want action on,” Danielson said. 'That's where the National Strategic Agenda came from.”

The presidential hopefuls who will appear on the stage next weekend in New Hampshire surely will be asked about those four issues and their potential solutions.

But Danielson and Tinsman said they hope Iowans also ask candidates for their ideas during their visits to the state.

'People who are going to go to the caucus, particularly here in Iowa, can ask those candidates about that, about how (they) would do things differently than they are being done in Washington today, and see what they say,” Tinsman said.

No Labels has its work cut out in Washington, and tangible results have come slowly.

But Danielson still believes in the cause and thinks No Labels can have a positive effect on what remains a wildly unpopular federal government.

'We're actually living in historically bad times. I often tell people, the silver lining is it can't get any worse,” Danielson said. 'No Labels is the only game in town that's saying no matter who wins the campaign … somebody's going to win, somebody's going to show up, and we believe that's going to be a mixed bunch for as far as the eye can see.

'Therefore, we have to focus on the work and the institution, and we're trying to reform that part of it.”

To Watch

What:

No Labels Problem Solver Convention

When:

8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 12

Where:

Manchester, N.H.

Webcast: NoLabels.org

Who:

Featuring presidential candidates Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich, Martin O'Malley, George Pataki, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Jim Webb