With hyper-partisan Republican obstructionism kicked up into full gear, several Senate incumbents who looked relatively safe, no longer are. Most Americans want the Republicans to go through the process of giving the president their advice and consent on his Supreme Court nomination rather than just declaring that they will not-- under any circumstances-- even consider anyone he nominates. And no incumbent previously deemed "safe" by the insiders is more likely to feel the sting of public anger on that than 82-year old Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa.New polling from PPP shows that 56% of Iowans want to see the Dcalia seat filled this year and that 66% feel the Senate should see who the president nominates before making a decision on confirming or not. 45% of voters (and 48% of independent voters) say if Grassley refuses confirmation hears it will make them less likely to vote for him, while 31% approve of that behavior and 24% say it won't effect their decision whether or not to vote for Grassley. 54% of Iowans blame Grassley and Mitch McConnell for the gridlock.As we saw on Friday, once Schumer got wind that there might be a real race, he immediately steamrolled over the three grassroots progressive candidates, Tom Fiegen, Rob Hogg and Bob Krause and rolled out his Beltway-centric vision of what a good candidate for Iowa would be: disliked Big Ag relic, Patty Judge. Ed Fallon, a radio host who's show airs in Des Moines and Ames, remarked, sarcastically, "What a relief! Wall Street now has an Iowa Democrat it can get behind for U.S. Senate." He seemed as pissed off as every other Iowan I've spoken to this week.
Patty Judge's entry into the race last week was greeted with extensive coverage by Corporate Media, who largely have blown-off the other three Democrats in the race. The Des Moines Register's headline, "Patty Judge challenges Chuck Grassley," says it all, ignoring the reality that Judge is running not against Grassley but against Rob Hogg, Bob Krause and Tom Fiegen in the Democratic Primary. The winner of that race gets to face Grassley in the general election this fall.And it shouldn't be Judge.Her long history of support for Corporate Ag's agenda has hurt and continues to hurt Iowa farmers, our environment, our rural communities. I served with Judge at the Statehouse. I fought her anti family farm agenda when she was Secretary of Agriculture. I ran against her in what was then a five-person primary for Governor in 2006. Patty Judge and I go way back. Her allegiance lies with Big Money, and that reality will become clear as this race heats up.For now, don't let Corporate Media fool you into believing Judge is the de-facto nominee, the only one who can beat Grassley. It is, alas, easy to be fooled, as I discovered running into a friend of mine yesterday. He's bright, progressive, very active in Democratic politics. Yet he told me he was supporting Judge. When I pointed out that Judge was horrible on issues he and I cared about, he agreed, but said he would vote for her because she was the most "electable."How many more times will we fooled on the question of "electability?" Barack Hussein Obama-- by virtue of his name and skin color-- was initially deemed to be thoroughly unelectable. A few shoe-in, absolutely-the-most-electable candidates in recent Iowa history? Jim Ross-Lightfoot, Governor. Jim Nussle, Governor. Bruce Braley, U.S. Senate. Staci Appel, U.S. Congress. Yup. All were presented by Corporate Media and their Party Establishment as so "electable" they didn't even get primary opponents. All got their clocks cleaned in the general election.What voters want is someone with a solid track record to assure us they will challenge the status quo and stand with people against special interests. Among the four Democrats running for the U.S. Senate nomination, there's no-one more tightly bound to the status quo than Patty Judge.
If you'd like to help Bernie supporter Tom Fiegen replace Grassley, you can contribute to his campaign here, an ActBlue page dedicated to progressive congressional candidates running on Bernie's issues.
