Democrats got their woman in Iowa, expanding the Senate playing field a bit:
Des Moines lawyer Roxanne Conlin plans to file paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission next week to run for U.S. Senate next year, adviser Mark Daley said today.
Conlin, a Democrat, has said last month she is more likely than not to seek the seat held by five-term Republican Chuck Grassley, but had to work out how she was going to handle her law practice and staff a campaign first.
Conlin is best known for running for Governor in 1982 (ironically against Terry Branstad, who’s back for another gubernatorial run). She was only 38 then, meaning she’s a spry 65 now. While she might not have that much residual name rec leftover from 27 years ago, her main asset is money. She’s gotten wealthy from her involvement in some class action suits, and she plans to spend up to $10 million on her bid.
She’ll be helped along by the precipitous decline in Grassley‘s approval numbers, which just happen to coincide with his transparently bad-faith negotiating on health care reform. The one poll of this matchup, an R2K poll from last month, shows Grassley leading Conlin 51-39.
RaceTracker Wiki: IA-Sen
The wife said no, the husband has been rumored.
Grassley is safe no matter who he runs against.
I wonder if Grassley’s approvals will keep going down due to health care once health care reform is passed and people notice that it passing didn’t result in Armageddon.
I also wonder if Conlin really does plan to spend 10 million of her own money, isn’t 10 million about the same amount most challengers raise total?
If Conlin ran the best campaign she could, and if Grassley has the same favorables come this time next year, what are the odds Conlin could win?
And is this who the Iowa Democratic party chair meant when he said he’d give grassley the race of his life?
All incumbents are less popular now than perhaps anytime since Korea.
All polls show Grassley as vulnerable. Vilsack was five points behind him before Grassley’s approvals tanked; Vilsack would likely be ahead now, but he doesn’t want the job.
Conlin is an underdog, but except for being a little older, she is the type of candidate that should give an incumbent fits this cycle… non-politician who can take shots at everything screwed up and blame them on Grassley/Bush.
Even if she loses, she’ll make him run hard, maybe move him to the left a bit, and help improve the chances of Culver.
This could be the marquee health care race in the country.
he will be forced to defend his record and spend the money in his bank.
Best case we kick him out of Congress.
Very glad we’ve got a serious candidate.
I always thought Slattery’s background made him a rather lackluster candidate, but I didn’t think so about Rice, and they both got clobbered. Granted, Inhofe is an asshole.
Also, granted, the polling here is more hopeful.