Iowa Rep. Braley sees need for early start to his U.S. Senate campaign

TIPTON -- First District Rep. Bruce Braley doesn't face a primary opponent in his race for the U.S. Senate, but the northeast Iowa Democrat says it's not too early to get the campaign underway.

“We don't have the luxury of waiting until next Labor Day” – the traditional starting date for campaigns – “and saying ‘It's time to get to work,'” Braley told about 15 people at a Tipton art gallery Wednesday afternoon.

That's because he's already being targeted by groups opposing his election, Braley said. He was referring to Americans for Prosperity, which had town hall meetings in Cedar Rapids and Dubuque earlier in the day as part of its 99-county Big Government Braley Tour. The group gets financial backing from conservative political activists Bill and Charles Koch, sometimes referred to as the George Soroses of the right.

“Why? That's the way they control elections,” said Braley, a trial attorney who is serving his fourth term.

In Cedar Rapids, Americans for Prosperity encouraged a dozen or so voters to take control of the election and warned of the danger of elected a “big-spending liberal” to succeed Sen. Tom Harkin, who is retiring.

“A lot of people don't know how liberal he is,” Mark Lucas of AFP said. Braley, he warned, is more liberal than Harkin and even more liberal than Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

He called Braley “out of step with Iowa economic values.”

In Tipton, Braley said he knows he can't fill Harkin's shoes, but promised to “work tirelessly so when Tom Harkin walks out of Senate for the last time, a Democrat will be walking in to take his place.”

“I can be a strong advocate for the people of Iowa,” he said.

Iowans would be better off electing someone who will help Republicans retake control of the Senate, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said in Cedar Rapids. It will be hard to halt what he called the ever-increasing spending by an ever-growing federal government without a Republican majority. With an open-seat race, Iowa is one of the places where the GOP could make gains.

“With Sen. Harkin retiring, this could be the deciding vote” on several issues facing the Senate, Johnson said.

“There's a real opportunity” in Iowa, Johnson said about the Senate race. He predicted the 2014 election could be a wave election similar to the 2010 mid-term when he defeated an incumbent Democrat.

Also Wednesday, a new group, Priorities for Iowa, launched a campaign to “engage in vigorous debate over national and state public policy.”

Its first effort was to release a video, “Braley – ObamaCare Champion,” highlighting Iowans of Braley's support for the Affordable Care Act.

Iowans, according to David Kochel, one of the group's founders, “want more domestic energy production, they want to get rid of ObamaCare, or at least give individuals the same break President Obama just gave businesses.”

“Unfortunately, Congressman Bruce Braley went against Iowans when he voted to delay the ObamaCare mandate for corporations but didn't extend the same rights to individuals,” Kochel said.

Facing that opposition even before Republicans choose a nominee, Braley told his Cedar County audience Democrats “need to make sure we are working together to get the message out why Democrats have the right plan for America.”

“The only way I am going to win this race, is if we turn out great support for candidates at the local level, for the state Legislature and the governor's race,” he said. “Then I'll have the best opportunity to win this Senate race.”