Braley vs. Grassley?

Monday, August 17, 2009, 7:23
National, News Center
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6 comments

brucebraley The Politico is speculating that U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley is about to get a serious Democratic challenger. The name they mention in their article is Congressman Bruce Braley.

I understand why the folks at the Politico would think that Braley would be the strongest candidate against Grassley. Braley has proven himself to be a strong fundraiser, intelligent, and well spoken. However, does he want to put his political career on the line by running against Grassley?

While a seat in the U.S. Senate is always enticing, I don’t know if someone with his congressional record be the strongest challenger to Grassley. Braley is an outspoken advocate for government run health care, authored the Cash for Clunkers legislation, supports cap and trade, and has never met a bailout he didn’t like. If you attended a town hall meeting in Iowa recently you might have noticed that a majority of people are upset over all of those issues.

I think Grassley could handle a candidate like Braley with ease. Democrats would be smart to challenge Grassley with a well known candidate who is not currently in office or someone without a record. The name that would concern me is Mike Blouin. Blouin, a former Congressman, lost in the 2006 Democratic gubernatorial primary to Chet Culver.

You can read the article in the Politico by clicking here.

Tags: Braley, Grassley, US Senate Race

About the Author

Craig Robinson has written 700 stories on this site.

Craig Robinson serves as the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheIowaRepublican.com. Prior to founding Iowa's largest conservative news site, Robinson served as the Political Director of the Republican Party of Iowa during the 2008 Iowa Caucuses. In that capacity, Robinson planned and organized the largest political event in 2007, the Iowa Straw Poll, in Ames, Iowa. Robinson also organized the 2008 Republican caucuses in Iowa, and was later dispatched to Nevada to help with the caucuses there. Robinson cut his teeth in Iowa politics during the 2000 caucus campaign of businessman Steve Forbes and has been involved with most major campaigns in the state since then. His extensive political background and rolodex give him a unique perspective from which to monitor the political pulse of Iowa.

6 Comments on “Braley vs. Grassley?”

Esther wrote on 17 August, 2009, 8:32
I think it’s a good idea for Braley to take on Grassley. Tee hee. heh heh heh. Do we have Braley’s replacement teed up? I think Braley is in far more with the publicn than Grassley. Cash for Clunkers is all his. He has to defend it. In hindsight, it wasn’t that great of an idea.

In my mind, it has come to represent in bold colors what is wrong with Braley being a congressman, specifically and what is wrong with the democrats being in charge of us generally.
Esther wrote on 17 August, 2009, 8:34
Bruce Braley – Your Clunker in Congress! lol
HawkCR1 wrote on 17 August, 2009, 9:38
Sounds like a big trial balloon here….

However, I don’t think the DCCC really wants to put resources into having to defend an open seat this late in the game. As of right now, the Democrats have candidates in only 313 congressional districts….compare that to 2006 when they had 425 candidates when they took back the House.

If Braley is going to challenge Grassley..he’s going to have to make a decision soon..probably no later than Oct 1st at the latest…
SharpHawkeye wrote on 18 August, 2009, 13:49
Do we have Grassley’s replacement teed up? He’s not going to be around forever, folks.
HawkCR1 wrote on 18 August, 2009, 14:06
Are you suggesting he get primaried? Yeah, that would do wonders for party unity….

Grassley knows that this election is likely his last go round….and its no big secret that he’d like to see his grandson, Pat Grassley, run for that seat someday. Pat Grassley is following the same route that Chuck did in winning election to the US Senate…and lets be honest here..with the name Grassley in this state..should have little to no problem raising funds to run a campaign.
SharpHawkeye wrote on 18 August, 2009, 15:52
Not at all. I’m just saying that we had better be working on our bench.

I’m no fan of nepotism, and I think we had better come up with some option other than Pat “Lil’ Chuck” Grassley.