Ed Fallon to Challenge Bush Dog Boswell in Primary

[pstans]

So it is official that former State Rep. Ed Fallon of Des Moines will be challenging Rep. Leonard Boswell in Iowa's 3rd district. Boswell has been named a Bush Dog Democrat by Open Left, as one of the Democratic Rep's that supports Bush the most. Fallon won a surprising 3rd place finish in the 2006 Democratic primary for Governor by gaining 26% when he was expected to get less than 5%.

Here's some more background...
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000002653032

The caucuses showed there is a populism wave riding across Iowa and Fallon could ride that to Congress. Fallon is socially liberal and fiscally conservative. He has pushed public financing of elections, universal health care, ending corporate tax give aways, and has never taken money from lobbyists and PAC's.

So what are your thoughts?

[Hardrada]

1. Toss that old fraud Boswell into the garbage heap of history!

He has been betraying us too long.

[rurallib]

2. Not sure what to think

Don't like Boswell, but what a longshot.

[pstans]

3. He is behind in money

but Ed showed in 2006 that he can do well without a lot of money. The primary won't be a high turnout election.

[Rambis]

14. I will be there for Ed

he sang puff the magic dragon to my kids at the round barn in Downey. I said who was that? Somebody said that is Ed Fallon he is running for governor.

[Counciltucky]

17. Agreed.

How do y'all think Fallon would fare in the general election?

[9119495]

4. Is there an announced republican yet? n/t

[DU9598]

5. None have announced or put out trial balloons

The republicans have - in the past - put up some credible candidates in this district. Jeff Lamberti announced he would sit out this cycle against Boswell a few months ago. Not sure how a primary against Boswell would affect Lamberti's thinking. I have two thoughts:

1- Lamberti will jump in because Boswell is going to be weakened if he survives the primary, having used up a lot of his money in the bank ... or Lamberti will jump in because this is an open seat if Fallon can knock off Boswell which I actually believe is likely.

2- Lamberti is smart and realizes that this is not a good time to be a republic-- candidate for anything, especially in Iowa in a year in which the democratic party nominee has a good chance of winning the statewide election by 8-10 points.

Other than Lamberti, I am not sure who would jump in. Perhaps Mike Mahaffey who Boswell beat out in 1996 by less than a point in his first congressional victory.

[Debi]

7. Ted Sporer for Congress? n/t

[DU9598]

8. We couldn't get so lucky

That guy is a strange, icky bigot. Literally creepy.

[Debi]

9. And those are his good points! n/t

[Debi]

6. This is gonna be messy.

I have good/bad feelings about both of them so don't know where I would lean if I lived in the district.

Who here lives in the 3rd?

[IA_Seth]

10. I don't necessarily like it...

While I certainly understand the frustration with Boswell, I think it is foolish as a party to have two of the most respected Dems in the district go head-to-head when we hold the seat. It would be different if it were open, or if Boswell had a lot of longetivity left in him. As it is now Boswell would probably be around for one or perhaps two more elections (probably just one). By running against each other we'll drain our fundraising abilities for the general, and weaken the candidates in voter's minds.

I just don't like it.

[DU9598]

11. The Fear

I think the fear is that Boswell will not know when it is time to just go away ... and perhaps that time was 2006. He is not particularly effective for the district - and certainly not for progressive causes. Do we wait until he losses the seat in 2010, just like we did with Neal Smith's seat back in 1994?

I would hope that the idea of a primary fight and the resulting likelihood of a tougher general election fight would make him step aside for Fallon to have a clearer path. Fallon would be an amazing teammate in DC for Loebsack, in particular.

[Debi]

12. Redistricting in 2010

We all need to brace ourselves for the fact that the 2012 elections will see us losing a Congressional representative. We need to have in office those who will be able to represent the new constituency they'll be handed (and those who can take on whoever they have to run against).

Do you thing the IRP is just waiting on this seat? Will we see a nominating convention after the dust settles?

[9119495]

20. I'm somewhat eagerly waiting for us to lose the

seat. Because it will be Steve King's seat that goes. Under any four representative map, there will be no freak-western Iowa region to elect such a nutcase. It will have to include either portions of Des Moines, or perhaps the whole northern tier of the state including Waterloo, Mason City, etc. I don't think Steve King can win any district of which either Des Moines or Waterloo is a part. Loebsack and Braley will still be separated and Desmoines will likely be an island or include the south west or northwest.

I figured King would see this and challenge Harkin even though he knows he'd loose.

[Debi]

21. Stop that silly talk!

I don't want Black Hawk County to be mixed in with all of Western Iowa x(

[Debi]

13. DMR article

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880109019

[HuskiesHowls]

15. Gee, Can I move to Des Moines for the primary,

and then move back home for the general??

That way I could vote for Ed Fallon in the primary, and Selden Spencer in the general election!!!

(The best of both worlds!!)

[rurallib]

16. I thought Spencer dropped out?

Hope I am wrong. He is good.

[pstans]

18. Spencer's not running

It is wide open on the Democratic side in the 4th. There is one candidate named William Myers, but he is hardly anyone knows him.

http://www.meyersforhouse.com/

[HuskiesHowls]

19. I was not aware he had dropped out

I've been on his mailing list, but didn't get that letter. Well, I can still vote for whoever the democratic candidate is!!