Iowa's Primaries Defined the Field

“We have worked too hard to get
where we are to go back.”

While party officials and delegates attend the Democratic convention in Des Moines today, the 2010 midterm election is shaping up to be good for Democrats and progressives. For readers who may not have been following the primary action across the state, here is an update on some competitive primary races.

The big news is that while no Democratic candidate filed nominating papers to compete for State auditor in the primary, on Thursday, Jon Murphy announced that he will seek nomination for the position at the state convention. On his campaign website, http://www.murphyforiowa.com/ Murphy says, “I am running because I want to protect your money by bringing greater transparency to government spending. The Office of State Auditor is known as the ‘taxpayer's watchdog’ but I believe it should also be known as the State's ‘Chief Transparency Officer’. Bringing more transparency to government spending will be my top priority as State Auditor.” At a time when the Republican incumbent is becoming increasingly partisan Murphy appears to be a candidate who will put people ahead of partisanship in his role as state auditor.

In the 5th Congressional District, tax attorney and Manning, Iowa native Matt Campbell won the Democratic primary with 76% of the vote. Campbell campaigned in all of the counties in the district and this type of extensive person-to-person campaign will benefit him in his challenge to incumbent Steve King. While the pundits say the 5th District is a “safe” seat for Republicans, Campbell demonstrated during the primary that he can activate voters, and that he is willing to do the work needed to overcome King’s voter registration advantage. It will be an uphill fight for Campbell and he will need our help. Get involved at his web site.

The expectation of pollsters at 538.com was that Roxanne Conlin would win 70% of the primary vote and she bested that, garnering 77%. Her compelling personal story, a 99 county campaign and a substantial investment in advertising are evidence that she took her primary challengers seriously and was able to get her message out and convince primary voters she was the best candidate to face the five term incumbent.  Now the real work begins as the incumbent’s seat is also listed “safe” for Republicans by the pundits. What they don’t know is that Roxanne has solid backing among Democratic activists who are willing to do the work to secure the second Iowa senate seat for Democrats. What is different from 2004, the last campaign for this senate seat, is that Democrats have a 100,000 registration advantage, we have a candidate who can compete in fund raising without calling upon professional lobbyists and political action committees, and an incumbent who is out of touch with every day Iowans. The prospects are good for a Democratic victory in the US Senate race.

Finally, there is Governor Chet Culver. Over beverages last week, some party activists were discussing Culver’s prospects now that Terry Branstad as the Republican gubernatorial candidate. All campaigns present challenges, but in this race the distinctions between the candidates are stark and encouraging for Democrats. According to Culver, “I have said it before and now it is more clear than ever: Iowans have a clear choice.  Do we continue to build a brighter future or reach back to the failed right-wing policies of the 1980s?”  Despite the challenges, with hard work and a statewide effort, Culver’s message is right for Iowa and Democrats can be expected to prevail over a chance to return to the failed policies of the past. We have worked too hard to get where we are to go back.

~Paul
Deaton is a native Iowan living in rural Johnson County and weekend
editor of Blog for Iowa. E-mail Paul
Deaton