Republican candidate Joni Ernst has a two-point lead over Democrat Bruce Braley. She has 46.2 percent, and he has 44.2 percent. Ernst instantly made a national name for herself in the primaries with, arguably, one of the most memorable political TV ads of all time when she declared, “I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm, so when I get to Washington, I’ll know how to cut pork.” That line was immediately followed by a shot of a pig squealing. Joni Ernst GOP Senate candidate Joni Ernst Her opponent is having more difficulties with name recognition, as both Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton could not remember Braley’s name on the campaign trail. They both called the Democratic congressman “Bruce Bailey.” While attempting to appear moderate, Braley has still courted the party’s left-wing, as he is scheduled to appear with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., while Ernst has moved noticeably to the center, distancing herself from previous calls for Obama’s impeachment and appearing with Mitt Romney. Braley has not helped himself in the farm state with such gaffes as calling Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, just “a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school.” He also feuded with a neighbor who let her chickens into his yard, which prompted Ernst to ask, “How [can we] believe that you will work across the aisle when you can’t walk across your yard?” Independent voters in Iowa outnumber both registered Republicans and Democrats, so both candidates are courting the middle by painting each other as extremists. Braley accused Ernst of being a stooge for the Koch brothers, the conservative bankrollers, while she calls him a beltway elitist who subscribes to “Nancy Pelosi’s and Barack Obama’s liberal agenda.” Independents in Iowa are a tough sell according to David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, who said, “These are people who pretty much hate everybody.” So far, Ernst is winning that battle, with a lead of 48 percent to 32 percent among independents. Ernst’s bio boasts of her identity as both a mother and a soldier, saying she teaches Sunday school in same church where she was married and baptized. It also says she maintains a strong commitment to national defense as a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard, having served “as a company commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom where my unit was tasked with running convoys through Kuwait and into southern Iraq.” Braley touts his experience as an attorney for 23 years, “holding corporations accountable to their employees and consumers.” The Iowa race was thrown for a loop with the death in a plane crash last week of Libertarian candidate Doug Butzier, who will remain on the ballot. Read more at wnd/2014/10/does-gop-really-have-96-chance-of-taking-senate/#qKvIf5Z6exVT4up3.99
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 02:51:20 +0000
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