As expected, Iowa’s third Congressional district campaign between former State Senator Staci Appel and Senator Chuck Grassley’s former chief of staff David Young is shaping up to be the most competitive and most expensive of Iowa’s four U.S. House races. Within days of Young’s surprise victory at a GOP special nominating convention, the Appel campaign released its first paid advertisement highlighting Young’s long career as a Congressional staffer and support for cutting Social Security and Medicare. Meanwhile, the National Republican Congressional Committee added Young to its list of “contenders” and is now paying for robocalls attacking Appel.
Follow me after the jump for details on the latest IA-03 campaign developments.
First, a quick look at the latest voter registration numbers across the 16 counties in IA-03. As of July 1, the district contained 153,104 active registered Democrats, 164,191 Republicans, and 155,794 no-party voters. With no incumbent, Iowa’s most balanced Congressional district is anyone’s game.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee signaled months ago that it was ready to invest in taking back this district, where retiring Representative Tom Latham beat Democratic incumbent Leonard Boswell in 2012. The DCCC has already reserved $1.3 million on Des Moines broadcast television from September 5 to October 20. Typically, the DCCC pays for commercials attacking Republican candidates.
The National Republican Congressional Committee hasn’t yet reserved ad time in IA-03, presumably because they were waiting for the outcome of the GOP nominating convention. I doubt they would have wasted money on Brad Zaun, whose fundraising this year was lamentable.
In contrast, Young raised and spent well over a half-million dollars on his Congressional campaign, including $250,000 in personal loans drawn mostly from a home equity line of credit. He benefited from some of the best Republican ad-makers, and his connections to Senator Grassley’s network should help him raise plenty of money for the general election campaign.
Late last week, the NRCC put Young on the second tier of its “Young Guns” program. While Rod Blum in IA-01 and Mariannette Miller-Meeks in IA-02 are also on the group’s “contenders” list, Young is by far the most likely to be bumped up to the top level (“Young Guns”) and the most likely to receive significant financial help from the NRCC. It would be a very different story if Republican delegates had chosen Zaun to run against Appel.
Last week, Appel’s campaign took its first stab at defining Young, who is little-known outside political circles. This 60-second web ad, called “Back Room,” started running on June 24. Central Iowans will probably see 30-second versions of this case on television this fall.
The Appel campaign provided this transcript, with supporting references.
Young’s campaign responded last week with a written statement to the Des Moines Register:
“As Senator Grassley’s former Chief of Staff, I am proud of the work we did to preserve and protect Medicare for future generations. I will continue to propose ways to reduce Medicare fraud and strengthen the program, so we can keep our promise to Iowa’s seniors.”
Young is clearly on record supporting cuts to entitlement programs. My only quibble with the ad is that Young didn’t “win the room by standing up for cutting Social Security.” All of the GOP candidates in IA-03 had similar views about federal budget issues. Young won the nominating convention because he was the second choice of several different candidates’ supporters, he had shown the ability to raise money for a serious campaign, and he didn’t have Brad Zaun’s personal baggage. Also, he was neither attacked nor an attacker during the in-fighting that preceded the convention.
In any event, I expect to hear a lot from Appel and her supporters along the lines of this comment from her campaign manager Ben Miller, in a press release accompanying the web ad: “When running first for the U.S. Senate and now for Congress, Washington insider David Young has made it clear he would side with those who would cut Medicare in order to give tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy.” The Paul Ryan budget always has been and remains skewed toward tax cuts for the wealthiest people and radical changes to Medicare, along with cuts to many social safety net programs.
The National Republican Congressional Committee announced today that it is paying for phone calls against ten Democratic candidates, including Appel. Here’s the NRCC’s press release:
NRCC Launches Robo Calls Highlighting Staci Appel’s Washington Democrat Talking Points
July 1st, 2014
Appel Is a Copy and Paste Candidate for Steve Israel and the DCCC
WASHINGTON – Today, the National Republican Congressional Committee is launching automated calls to residents in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District highlighting Staci Appel’s refusal to deviate from generic talking points when speaking with the media.
Since beginning her run for Congress, Appel has repeatedly avoided giving substantive answers to media questions,choosing instead to simply repeat the same worn-out and unfulfilling Washington Democrat talking points that Nancy Pelosi’s campaign team emails her in the mornings. Unfortunately for Iowa families this is more evidence that if Staci Appel is elected to Congress she will be another rubber stamp for Pelosi’s toxic, liberal agenda.
“Instead of communicating her own opinions about key issues to taxpayers in Iowa, Staci Appel regurgitates the DCCC’s liberal and tired rhetoric that is sent to her every morning by Nancy Pelosi’s campaign organization,” said NRCC Communications Director Andrea Bozek. “Appel owes it to voters to stop relying on cookie-cutter talking points and start substantively explaining her support for Pelosi’s liberal agenda.”
FYI, a similar version of this release below went out to the following districts: Amanda Renteria (CA-21 LIVE CALLS), Ann Callis (IL-13), John Lewis (MT-AL, LIVE CALLS), Aimee Belgard (NJ-03 LIVE CALLS), Sean Eldridge (NY-19) Aaron Woolf (NY-21), Kevin Strouse (PA-08) John Foust (VA-10) and Nick Casey (WV-02).
Listen to the call HERE
Script as follow:
“I’m calling from the National Republican Congressional Committee with an urgent message about Democrat Staci Appel. Appel wants to be elected to Congress, but when reporters ask her about where she stands on the issues she just repeats generic talking points from Nancy Pelosi and her campaign team. Voters deserve to know why Appel supports ObamaCare and what fixes, if any, she would offer if elected. And will Appel call for an independent special prosecutor to investigate the abuses and cover ups at the IRS? Call Staci Appel today at 515-421-2542 and tell her to start answering reporters’ questions. This call was paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee and was not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. 202-479-7000.”
Every time I read about DCCC and NRCC robocalls, I always wonder who listens to these things. I’m a political junkie, but don’t most people hang up as soon as they hear an automated voice on the other end of the line? Anyway, candidates from both parties tend to lean on talking points. I didn’t see anything profound or unique in Young’s comment on the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling yesterday.
Any comments about the IA-03 campaign are welcome in this thread.
UPDATE: Speaking of “copy and paste,”
In at least three emails to supporters in the last week, the National Republican Senatorial Committee closely mirrored the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, borrowing phrases, framing, and even the font color on key words.