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Even Sen. Harkin Looks Safe as Usually Competitive Iowa Cools Off
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| Contributor | COSDem |
| Last Edited | COSDem Mar 16, 2008 02:04pm |
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| Category | Analysis |
| News Date | Friday, March 14, 2008 08:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | After a series of election cycles in which the swing state of Iowa produced some of the nation’s hottest races for seats in Congress, it appears that partisan competition is going to be a bit sparse this year by comparison. This was underscored when the candidate filing deadline that passed Friday afternoon produced modest Republican opposition to veteran Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin — who had faced fierce general election battles in each of his previous four Senate elections.
This has prompted CQ Politics to change its rating on Harkin’s race to Safe Democratic, the category for contests in which victory appears certain for the favored candidate. The rating had been Democrat Favored, a category that suggests at least a glimmer of a chance of an upset.
Harkin — who was boosted to the chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee, an important post for heavily rural Iowa, by the Democrats’ Senate takeover in the 2006 elections — will face the winner of a Republican primary on June 3 that includes three candidates who are not well-known to state voters: George Eichhorn, a lawyer and former state representative; Steve Rathje, a businessman; and Christopher Reed, a businessman and Navy veteran.
By contrast, Harkin first won the seat in 1984 by unseating Republican incumbent Roger Jepsen, then was held to 54 percent or less in three re-election contests against GOP House incumbents (Tom Tauke in 1990, Jim Ross Lightfoot in 1996 and Greg Ganske in 2002). |
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