Via John Deeth’s blog, I see Jake Wagman has a scoop in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
“Tell Christie I think it’s a great idea,” [Senator Claire] McCaskill said to [U.S. Secretary of Agriculture] Tom Vilsack after a press conference at the ADM grain elevator in St. Louis. “Tell her I’ll come up and knock on some doors!”
McCaskill’s endorsement is not without some complications, and not just because Iowa’s caucus status make its state politics of national import.
Census results will force Iowa, like Missouri, to shed one of its congressional districts in 2012. That means if Vilsack, who recently left her day job, runs, she’ll have to challenge an incumbent — most likely U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, an eight-term Democrat and Missouri native who represents the Des Moines area.
McCaskill knows a thing or two about primaries; she successfully challenged Missouri’s incumbent Democratic governor in 2004. I doubt the backing of a neighboring state’s senator would count for much if Christie Vilsack ends up running against Boswell in the redrawn third Congressional district, but it would be an ironic shift in alliances. In early 2008, McCaskill endorsed Barack Obama for president, just when Hillary Clinton’s campaign was riding the momentum from winning the New Hampshire primary. Both Tom and Christie Vilsack had campaigned their hearts out for Clinton before the Iowa caucuses. Boswell had also endorsed Clinton for president and pledged his support to her as a superdelegate. He continued to back Clinton in the spring of 2008, even though he was under pressure to switch after Obama carried IA-03 in the Iowa caucuses.
Because she is from Mount Pleasant, Vilsack could decide to challenge Representative Dave Loebsack in the 2012 Democratic primary to represent the second Congressional district. However, my hunch is she won’t run for Congress at all if she doesn’t like the look of the new IA-03.
Share any thoughts about Iowa’s 2012 Congressional races in this thread. Can’t wait to see that map on Thursday morning.
MARCH 31 UPDATE: I stand corrected. The proposed IA-02 map is a dream come true for Christie Vilsack. It’s an empty, Democratic-leaning district containing Mount Pleasant. IA-03 is much less appealing, heading south and west from Polk County without any of the Democratic-leaning neighbors (Story, Jasper, Marshall).
4 Comments
If she runs against Loebsack
I’ll be contributing. To Loebsack. He’s doing a good job. I would like to hear whether we would be trading one corporate-loving Blue Dog for a younger model if she replaced Boswell. I don’t know much about her politics, but her husband seems quite Monsanto-friendly. Not that we should hold that against her if she is more people-oriented.
2laneia Tue 29 Mar 7:09 PM
I like Claire
I have a lot of respect for Claire and I know she takes a lot of heat from liberals for her budget proposals, but I think her heart is always in the right place.
I want Leonard to run again and win if that is what he wants, but I’ve been surprised that all this talk hasn’t forced him into retirement.
Vilsack won’t run against Loebsack despite my own wishes that she would. I’m sure Dave can still get elected to Congress only winning three or four counties again and again.
Monsanto, I’m not sure what an individual member of Congress is going to do to bring them down. I think a class action lawsuit against Monsanto by private citizens would be more effective. Leonard may cater to them too much, but unless someone can change the entire system (specifics) what’s the point in going after Leonard?
Fallon acts like if we would have elected him Governor or to Congress he would have been able to maintain the number of family farms or grow them, I doubt that.
moderateiadem Tue 29 Mar 9:10 PM
Claire lost me
when she got out the pompoms for the Cat Food Commission. Yes you have to be conservative to win statewide in MO, but you don’t need to cheerlead Social Security cuts, which Dave Loebsack told me personally he will not do under any circumstances. I really don’t care how he gets reelected.
Monsanto is a shorthand for the penchant of the corporate wing of the Democratic Party to do what Wall Street wants. We will get more and more of that if the Son of Citizens United decision that was argued today gets decided 5-4 in favor of oligarchy.
Fallon–meh.
2laneia Tue 29 Mar 10:52 PM
Reasonable points
I assume you mean Bowles-Simpson which I personally viewed as a serious proposal that was only derailed by ideologues.
This is just headed down the same road.
Liberal: Cut the defense budget! Oil companies should be taxed more. (they surely won’t pass that on to the consumer.) If they pass the tax onto consumers then nationalize energy companies, yippie!
Neo-Conservative: Cut Social Security/safety nets! Leave defense alone!
Paleo-Conservative: Screw you both!
It’s the same debate we have been having for decades and I’m tired of hearing the same thing from both sides.
If someone honestly makes up their mind based on campaign mailers or advertisements that were caused by the unlimited money out there then they are a dumb person and they deserve the democracy that they get.
I was upset back in 2006 that we never got a primary so I could pick a more moderate to conservative option in comparison to Loebsack who I know can be viewed by some as a moderate. I’m just bitter and should just shut up about Loebsack I suppose.
moderateiadem Wed 30 Mar 3:22 AM