Patty and ChuckyThe DSCC deemed Iowa a lost cause this cycle, despite the fact that Obama won the state in 2008 (54-44%) and 2012 (52-46%). So they didn't both recruiting a candidate and just shrugged their shoulders and ignored the 3 progressives who jumped in, legislators Tom Fiegen, Rob Hogg and Bob Krause. But when the incumbent, 82-year old Republican Chuck Grassley chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, threw a tantrum and said he will refuse to hold hearings on any nominee who President Obama nominates, regardless of their qualifications, public opinion in Iowa started turning against him enough for the DC Dems to notice. Grassley has been in elected office since 1959 and in DC since 1975 but Chuck Schumer decided he was invincible... until the GOP contretemps over Scalia's death.Instead of embracing one of the local candidates, Schumer big-footed in with a corporate shill more to his liking, a much-disliked former Lt. Governor, Patty Judge. Most Democratic activists consider her a DINO or a Republican with a "D" next to her name. One told me she's "pro-industrial agriculture and pro-GMO, as anti-labor as a Republican and in favor of the corporate trade agenda [like NAFTA and the TPP that Iowa Democrats hate]. She's not a climate change believer/advocate, except to promote corn ethanol and sees widely viewed by Iowans as having a very abrasive personality. As Lt. Governor, she ran the executive branch but when she ran for governor in the Democratic primary she got zero traction. Culver picked her as his running mate and she gladly took the lifeline. They spent the entire 2010 election apologizing for their arrogant (and wrong) decisions. The television commercials were all apologies. They started the race over 20 points behind and lost by a little over 10 points. Even though Terry Branstad has been a disaster, there's no love for Culvern or Judge except in the industrial ag sector. If she manages to get the signatures she'll have lots of Monsanto money and big ag money."Clearly, Schumer and his pathetic DSCC puppet Tester are hedging their bets or think they can scare Grassley, who's probably laughing at their efforts. The effort kind of reminded me of Romney barking at Herr Trumpf yesterday, the establishment's last stand. Democrats promoting her think she can appeal to the center/right, but that's now the Republican Party in Iowa and pretty much devoted to Grassley.One immediate challenge for her-- to qualify for the ballot Judge needs to gather more than 2,000 signatures, and get them from at least 10 different counties-- and she has two weeks to do it; deadline is March 18. Wednesday Fiegen turned in almost 10,000 signatures from every corner of the state. He's a supporter of Bernie's and endorses the economic reforms Bernie has been calling for, including campaign finance reform, breaking up the big banks, raising the minimum wage, student loan reform and Medicare for all. "I am a candidate with no super-PAC. I don't want their money. That's because I don't represent billionaire interests. I represent working Iowans. Our system has fallen far out of balance and it's time to fix it."Fiegen is counting on support from grassroots Democrats while Judge and Hogg will be in a battle as proxies for, respectively, the DC and Des Moines establishments. She's got Schumer and Tester and whoever Schumer can round up to endorse her, while local grandees like Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronsta and Iowa Senate President Pam Jochum say their support for Hogg is solid and something to the effect of 'Schumer should go tend to the folks in New York's Southern Tier who would probably skin him alive if they ever got their hands on him,' only more colorful.
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