I went to the 50th wedding anniversary of some old friends in Des Moines over the weekend, and the Fallon/Boswell race had everybody talking. The crowd there- mostly older labor union people- was split down the middle in terms of who was supporting who, but the interesting thing was that the Boswell campaign has gone over the top with nasty mailings about Ed that it is causing a serious backlash. With his money and huge name ID edge, and the fact that Boswell has kept in good touch with the district and is well-liked personally, he should have won this race without breaking a sweat. I'll be surprised if Ed can win with all of Boswell's advantages.
But Boswell's over-the-top negative campaign against Ed has caused a serious negative reaction, and has got everyone talking. I talked to at least half a dozen people who said they were planning to vote for Leonard, but have switched to Ed because of the mailings, and even Boswell's supporters have been made nervous and set on edge by the mailings.
I think Ed will fall a little short tonight, but if he wins, give at least some of the credit to Boswell's mistakes.
In just a few minutes, Iowa state legislator and candidate for Congress Ed Fallon will be joining us for a live blog at 1pm et over at the EENR Blog. Get your questions ready and let's get the conversation going!
One of the first candidates the bloggers of EENR decided to endorse was state legislator Ed Fallon running for Congress in Iowa's 3rd c.d. It wasn't a difficult choice. Ed Fallon is a progressive's progressive. In his 14 years as a legislator in Iowa's House, he never accepted PAC/lobbyist money. Fallon had his values in place long before it was the progressive thing to do to refuse lobbyist/PAC money. Here's a statement from Fallon about why he's running for Congress:
Our country needs and wants change. I'm ready to take on the corporate interests who have corrupted our federal government. I'm ready to give working families and the poor a voice in national politics. I'm ready to do what I can to see that environmental issues are taken seriously inside the beltway. I'm ready to apply what I've learned during 23 years of public service in Iowa and be a part of the solution in Washington.
Leonard Boswell has represented Iowa in the House since the 1996 election. During this time frame, he managed to win over 57% of the vote just once (63% in 2000). Boswell's 51.8% vote total was his closest call since winning the formerly Republican held open seat in 1996. A good part of this was due to Boswell's age (he's 73) and poor health (he missed a lot of House votes due to the removal of a non-cancerous tumor in 2005).
Districts in Iowa are meant to be competitive. They are drawn by a non-partisan commission. In 2006, two of the state's five House seats swung from Republican to Democratic, and Chet Culver won the Governor's race by 100,000 votes state wide. Boswell's district was barely carried by George Bush in 2004 (49.69% to 49.60%). It has a slight Democratic lean that is growing. As of April, Iowa state statistics show Democrats with a 20,000 voter edge in registration in this district (140,766 to 120,755). Culver ran well ahead of Boswell in Polk County (Des Moines) last year.
Boswell has had a terrible voting record on important legislation. He was among the minority of House Democrats to authorize the use of military force in Iraq (AUMF). Boswell also voted for the PATRIOT Act, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, a draconian immigration bill that never made it through the Senate, and No Child Left Behind.
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