In Iowa’s First District, Republicans have nominated State Senator David Hartsuch to run against Bruce Braley. Although Hartsuch is an right wing extremist, he is relatively young and waged an energetic campaign to oust incumbent Republican State Senator Maggie Tinsman in 2006. This might initially lead one to think that Hartsuch is trying to wage a competitive campaign in a district that was represented by Republican Jim Nussle until 2006. However, based on the Hartsuch’s anemic fundraising, he isn’t even trying. According to Hartsuch’s FEC report, he has raised a whopping $5,000. However, Hartsuch’s campaign has been very frugal (as opposed to other long shot campaigns like that of Ed Fallon) and still has over $4000 on hand. With this type of fundraising, it’s clear Hartsuch is a sacrificial lamb and that Braley can breath easy this November. After all, incumbent congressmen have a very good track record against opponents who can’t raise enough money to pay for yard signs.
The Drum Major Institute, a progressive think tank that promotes pro-middle class policies, released its congressional scorecard today. All of Iowa’s Democratic incumbents in both the House and Senate got perfect scores from the group. However, the record among Iowa Republicans on Capitol Hill was much poorer. Chuck Grassley voted with middle class families only 67% of time, Tom Latham only 60% of the time and Steve King received a score of only 20%.
While it’s not newsworthy that Dave Loebsack is progressive or that Steve King is far-right wing, it is significant that Boswell is receiving such a high mark from a progressive think tank that boasts such liberal luminaries as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Randi Weingarten, head of the New York City Teachers’ Union, on its board. Although the Fallon campaign has been arguing that Boswell is a “Bush Democrat”, this grade serves to shore up the argument of those who perceive Boswell as a strong progressive for the Third District and undermines the central premise of Fallon’s campaign. If all Fallon can campaign on is that Boswell was pro-war in 2002 and that he raises a lot of money, Fallon won’t have much luck in June.
