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NRCC not targeting any U.S. House seats in Iowa

by: desmoinesdem

Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 10:14:04 AM CST

MyDD user lipris linked to this post from the Albany Project blog, which includes a list of the 24 Democratic-held U.S. House seats being targeted this year by the NRCC.

None of the three House seats held by Iowa Democrats are on the list. Neither Bruce Braley (IA-01) nor Leonard Boswell (IA-03) has a Republican challenger yet. Braley is officially launching his re-election campaign today. Boswell is facing a primary challenge from Ed Fallon.

I think that Dave Loebsack (IA-02) has a Republican challenger, but I can't find the link to an article about that. I would be shocked if he has any trouble holding his seat. He will have the army of Obama volunteers helping him if the challenge turns out to be serious.

It looks like a very good year for Iowa Democrats. The caucuses in January prompted nearly 60,000 people to register as Democrats, while only about 7,600 Iowans became Republicans to participate in the GOP caucuses. According to Secretary of State Mike Mauro,

as of March 1, there were 701,285 registered Democrats in Iowa. There were 615,576 Iowans registered as Republicans and 761,201 not affiliated with a party.

Meanwhile, at MyDD Jonathan Singer discusses the GOP's voter registration problem on the national level.

desmoinesdem :: NRCC not targeting any U.S. House seats in Iowa

Tags: 2008 Elections, Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, IA-01, IA-02, IA-03, Leonard Boswell, Bruce Braley, Dave Loebsack, (All Tags)

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NRCC not targeting any U.S. House seats in Iowa | 4 comments

Unfortunatly the Iowa 4th doesn't have a real dem challenger. (0.00 / 0)

Since Spencer dropped that is.

by: iowa dem @ Sat Mar 08, 2008 at 11:24:46 AM CST

by: you @ soon

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well, there is a Democratic primary (0.00 / 0)

for that race.

I agree that IA-04 is a longshot, but I am glad that several Democrats are stepping up to the plate. No one should get a free pass, including Latham.

Invite other Iowa political junkies to join us at Bleeding Heartland.

by: desmoinesdem @ Sat Mar 08, 2008 at 11:26:06 AM CST

[ Parent ]

democratic strength (0.00 / 0)

I think the RNCCs decision not to go after democrats in iowa is a good showing of iowa becoming a solid blue state and not a swing state. I think it is also good sign for the presidential general election. I would also like to note that they are not targeting the iowa 3rd boswell's district because he has beaten every strong republican candidate they could throw at him, but if Fallon does beat boswell in the the primary you can count on the RNCC putting a lot of time and resources into winning the iowa 3rd

by: jhern118 @ Sat Mar 08, 2008 at 14:18:26 PM CST

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they won't have a lot of resources to spare (0.00 / 0)

They just spent a third of their cash on hand to protect the seat Hastert is vacating (IL-14), which is having a special election today.

We are targeting dozens of their seats, and they have more than two dozen retirements. They won't have a lot of money to put into IA-03, even if Fallon wins.

Also, their candidate will be scrambling to put together a campaign organization after Fallon has been working the district hard for six months.

Not enough of a risk to make me give up the chance of being represented by someone who shares more of my views.

Invite other Iowa political junkies to join us at Bleeding Heartland.

by: desmoinesdem @ Sat Mar 08, 2008 at 14:56:41 PM CST

[ Parent ]