The Stretch Run

State House: Rants v. McCarthy on Iowa Press

Wow, these two guys don’t like each other. Rants did a good job, as a veteran who has doing Iowa Press countless times his experience really shows. McCarthy on the other hand talked extremely fast, and when Rants would point out the short coming of the House Democrats he McCarthy got pissed.

McCarty said Democrats are working to gain seats but wouldn’t give a goal. Rants said his goal was 51 seats. Before the election I’ll give you my picks on every house seat. Until then, I do think House Republicans are facing a strong head wind.

Iowa US House Races

Latham and King are safe, as are Boswell and Braley. The only game in town is the 2nd District race between Dr. Miller-Meeks and Dave Loebsack. Loebsack has a new TV ad talking about gas prices while Miller-Meeks continues to pound Loebsack on wanting to move to government run health care, his support of the Wall Street Bailout and the Death Tax. Miller-Meeks has been an aggressive candidate and a relentless campaigner.

Presidential Race

I was watching Meet the Press yesterday and something struck me as odd. So we all like the electoral map, but NBC Political Director, chuck Todd said that they color the map based on polling in that state, and the amount of money being spent on ads. I understand the line of thinking, but if you would have used a similar model in predicting previous Iowa elections we would have Senator Ganske, Governor Lightfoot, and Governor Nussle. Money is important in politics, but these are not normal times we are in, so I don’t think is wise to trust every projection you see out there.

I do think Iowa is closer than the polls indicate, the real question is how off are they. I guess if I knew the answer I’d be busy getting paid than writing a blog for free.

More later.