CQPolitics.com - As Election Day nears, CQPolitics.com will periodically provide roundups of the key House races in individual states, highlighting major developments in the contests. The following is an update of general election contests in Iowa.
As Election Day nears, CQPolitics.com will periodically provide roundups of the key House races in individual states, highlighting major developments in the contests. The following is an update of general election contests in Iowa.
• 1st District. From the moment Republican Rep. Jim Nussle (news, bio, voting record) announced that he would pursue a long-anticipated run this year for governor, CQPolitics.com has rated the race in his eastern Iowa district — one of the nation’s longest-standing political battlegrounds — in the highly competitive category of No Clear Favorite.
Regardless of which major party candidate pulls ahead at the end, the winner will be a fresh face in Iowa politics: neither Democratic lawyer Bruce Braley nor Republican businessman Mike Whalen has before sought political office. Both defeated more politically experienced opponents in their respective June primary elections.
The 1st, which takes in the cities of Davenport, Dubuque and Waterloo, does have a generic Democratic lean in political performance and registration that works to Braley’s favor.
But Russ Perisho, Whalen’s campaign manager, told CQPolitics.com that his boss was well-positioned to pick up culturally conservative Democratic voters in Dubuque. That Mississippi River city is the home base of Democratic moderate Rick Dickinson, who narrowly lost to Braley in the primary.
Perisho also said Whalen is well-known and well-liked in his home base of Scott County, which includes Davenport and is the most populous jurisdiction in the district. He touted Whalen’s economic development plan — dubbed a “Contract for America’s Jobs” — and also said Whalen’s background in business provided a favorable contrast to what he described as Braley’s background as a “liberal trial lawyer.”
Braley campaign spokesman Jeff Giertz, citing what he views as his candidate’s advantages, said the Democrat’s campaign is focusing heavily on economic issues, including raising the minimum wage and protecting Social Security benefits.
Braley began airing a television ad this week in which the candidate promises not to accept a pay raise in Congress until the minimum wage is raised to $7.25 per hour from its current level of $5.15 per hour.
“Bruce is going to be a candidate of change. Mike Whalen is going to be a candidate of more of the same and a candidate of George W. Bush,” Giertz said.
Befitting its reputation as a battleground district, the 1st has seen activity by both parties’ House campaign units — the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
The NRCC recently aired a television ad linking Braley to the Communist Party because its Web site has identified Braley as a “peace candidate.” Giertz described the ad as “over the top” and “laughable.”
Braley benefited from a recent visit from Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, a popular draw on the Democratic campaign circuit who also happens to represent next-door Illinois.
Braley and Whalen held a debate Tuesday in Davenport and will debate again Monday in Dubuque.
• 3rd District. Democratic Rep. Leonard L. Boswell (news, bio, voting record) and his Republican challenger, state Sen. Jeff Lamberti, also met Tuesday in a debate — one that was broadcast on KCCI, the CBS affiliate in Des Moines, and also re-aired on C-SPAN.
Lamberti emphasized cutting taxes and wasteful federal spending and curbing illegal immigration — and criticized Boswell ‘s record on those policy issues.
“I am the candidate for change. I want to fix things in Washington. ... I have a record of accomplishment. I have a record of getting things done,” Lamberti said in the debate.
Boswell claimed differences with Lamberti on increasing the minimum wage and overriding President Bush’s veto of legislation to relax federal limits on embryonic stem-cell research. Boswell, a military veteran who claims credentials in the key area of national security, noted that he serves on the Intelligence Committee.
“Experience counts,” said Boswell.
The candidates also aired differences over a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage (Lamberti supports and Boswell opposes the amendment) and on abortion rights (Lamberti opposes and Boswell supports them).
CQPolitics.com rates the race as Leans Democratic.
• Other races. The only other Iowa race that CQ currently rates as even somewhat competitive is in the 2nd District, where the contest is rated Republican Favored. Veteran Rep. Jim Leach (news, bio, voting record) is a long-popular GOP moderate who has prevailed in some past difficult election years for his party. But he is seeking re-election in a district that had a pronounced Democratic lean even before the national political environment turned sharply against the GOP.
This probably guarantees Democratic college professor David Loebsack, who is running a vigorous but underfunded campaign, at least 40 percent of the vote. CQPolitics.com still gives Leach a decisive edge, though, because he is a well-respected congressional veteran whose contrarianism within Republican ranks includes his early opposition to authorizing war in Iraq.
In the 4th District, Republican Rep. Tom Latham (news, bio, voting record) is up against Selden Spencer, a medical doctor, in a race that is rated Safe Republican.
CQPolitics.com did notice, though, that Latham’s campaign this week felt compelled to issue a press release attacking Spencer for saying in a candidate questionnaire that he supports slightly increasing gasoline taxes.
There is a decent Democratic base in Iowa’s 4th, which takes in most of the state’s northern border and also envelops Ames, home of Iowa State University. Bush prevailed among 4th voters by just 3 percentage points in 2004, though Latham won re-election that year with 61 percent.
In the 5th District, the state’s most heavily Republican-leaning region, Republican Rep. Steve King (news, bio, voting record) is heavily favored in a rematch against Democrat E. Joyce Schulte, who took 37 percent against King in 2004.
10-06-2006, 09:12 PM
