Must-win contest for both parties

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By Ed Tibbetts | Sunday, October 15, 2006 12:52 AM CDT | () comments

Thirty years ago, Jim Leach, an ex-foreign service officer from Davenport, wrested Iowa’s 1st District congressional seat out of Democratic hands.

Ever since, it’s been reliably Republican.

In fact, only three times in the past 14 elections have Democrats even come within single digits, in percentage terms, of Leach and, later, U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa.

But this year is different. This year, Democrats see a great chance to win the seat back.

Nussle is leaving office to run for governor. The party holds a registration edge of 20,000 voters, and nonpartisan analysts are pointing to a Democratic surge this year.

“We’re very optimistic,” says Jean Pardee of Clinton, the 1st District representative on the state party’s central committee.

Don’t tell that to area Republicans. The GOP is scrapping for the seat, too, with its political arm in Congress outspending Democrats (so far). In addition, the Republican National Committee has devoted a lot more money to getting out the vote than Democrats in key districts like the 1st.

“Overall, I think we’re doing real well,” said John Ortega of Bettendorf, the 1st District representative on the Iowa GOP.

With a little more than three weeks to go before Election Day, Republican Mike Whalen, a Bettendorf businessman, and Democrat Bruce Braley, a Waterloo lawyer, already have spent more than a year on the campaign trail.

They each won a hard-fought primary. They’ve spent $1.4 million along the way (and that doesn’t include the past three months) and they’ve debated twice.

Their parties, early on picking the race as one of the most important in the country, have injected $1.7 million into the race — all of it since late August.

The choice is a stark one, too.

Braley opposes extending President Bush’s tax cuts. Whalen supports it.

Whalen supports private Social Security accounts. Braley is against them.

Braley wants a swift withdrawal from Iraq. Whalen says U.S. troops must stay “as long as it takes” to ge the job done.

Whalen backs “consumer-driven health care” that puts more of the responsibility on individuals, while Braley believes the country needs to move toward national health care.

Braley faults Republicans for record budget deficits but when asked about spending cuts he largely emphasizes spending less on the country’s nuclear arsenal.

Whalen, too, complains about the deficit. And while he’s proposed a plan to limit spending increases to little more than inflation, he shies away from identifying specific areas for cuts.

Whalen would outlaw abortions except when the mother’s life is in danger. Braley supports a woman’s right to have an abortion.

What they seem to agree on is their push to make renewable fuel a larger part of the country’s energy stream.

That, and the fact their wives are both from Dubuque (and they say they admire each other’s decision to enter the political arena) is about all that unites them.

“I think if Mike Whalen spent more time talking to the people I listened to today, he’d see how people aren’t benefiting from the Bush tax cuts,” Braley said after a recent forum in Davenport in which people talked about their worries about having a secure retirement.

“I see him as somebody who thinks the current lawsuit lottery is a good thing,” says Whalen, who has advocated limits on lawsuit awards, which he says are an impediment to job growth in eastern Iowa.

In many ways, the 1st District race is a contest between a classic conservative and a progressive.

Whalen regularly pays homage to Ronald Reagan — and sees a dose of his policies as a tonic for eastern Iowa’s economic challenges.

Braley regularly talks of a working class upbringing and sees his campaign as a way to provide a “lift for people whose voices aren’t heard.”

Along the way, they and their allies’ plentiful television ads have sought to define each another — Braley as a greedy trial lawyer, Whalen as a heartless millionaire.

Both reject the labels.

If Democrats are to win the House of Representatives, analysts say, the 1st District seat is a must win.

If Republicans can hold on, it will go a long way toward resisting what nonpartisan analysts say will be a challenging year for the GOP.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.