From the first day the author met Roxanne Conlin, in November 2009, her message about her opponent has been clear and consistent: Senator Chuck Grassley needs to retire after a long career in politics because Iowans deserve representation more closely aligned with our values.

During a constant stream of appearances, fundraisers and speeches in all 99 Iowa counties, Conlin demonstrated a consistency of approach both during the contested primary and in the general election campaign. In doing so, she provided evidence that what you see is what you would get with Roxanne Conlin as our United States Senator: someone who will fight for Iowans in a bitterly partisan Senate.

Conlin asked us to reach out to our social circles and talk to friends and neighbors about her campaign. While doing that, and contrary to what we hear in the news media, it was difficult to find voters who would not support Conlin. What made people change their mind about the incumbent is the way he has changed with the increased partisanship in the Senate. His “pull the plug on grandma” comment at a 2009 town hall meeting in Winterset was a familiar and repeated indicator that it was time to change. Conlin pointed to Grassley's statement as a key motivator for her getting into the race. During the campaign she pointed out other areas where the incumbent put powerful interests in front of the interests of Iowans. Conlin has been a diligent and thoughtful campaigner and one would expect the same from her as our United States Senator.

What has made the Republican obstruction effective in the Senate is their ability to close ranks and vote as a block. In particular, the use of the filibuster has stopped discussion of important legislation dead in its track. In many cases, consideration of legislation seems to have been reduced to a discussion between a few Senators, notably, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Harry Reid (D-NV), with Reid asking McConnell if Republicans will allow discussion. Something is wrong with that.

Wrangling the Democratic majority to break a filibuster and enable discussion in the Senate has been accomplished only on a subset of important issues. If partisanship will continue in the Senate, and there is no reason to expect otherwise, Iowa should speak with one voice and Roxanne Conlin should join the Iowa caucus in Washington. We are plain tired of Harkin voting one way and Grassley the other on legislation important to Iowans.

During the final days of the 2010 campaign, much of the groundwork is already laid. A substantial number of people have early voted and Democrats hold the advantage here. The Democratic registration advantage and a strong desire to change run in our favor. The rest is up to us and making sure our friends and relatives get out to vote for Roxanne and the Democratic slate. Making Roxanne Conlin part of what we talk about before the election can be easy. What will be hard will be living through another two years of gridlock in Washington. A vote for Roxanne Conlin would be a step towards breaking Washington's gridlock. It's not too late to click here to join the Roxanne for Iowa campaign.