Iowa Senate race could determine control: Brown

CEDAR RAPIDS - It's easy for people to mix up Iowa and Ohio, but Buckeye State Sen. Sherrod Brown knows the difference.

Brown, who represents a state with 18 Electoral College votes, conceded that Iowa is more important in the nominating process, but joked to a crowd of about 60 at the Democratic campaigns headquarters Monday in Cedar Rapids that 'you really don't matter that much in the general election.”

This election, however, Iowa matters.

That's because Iowa 'is the most important Senate race in the country,” according to Brown, who was campaigning for Democratic U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley.

The winner of the race between Braley and GOP state Sen. Joni Ernst 'could very well” determine which party controls the Senate, Brown said.

'There is no single race in the country where the two candidates are so different” regardless of the issue, he said. 'Joni Ernst wants to take the country back the way the far right has moved. Bruce Braley, we know, stands for everything we care about.”

He was optimistic that Democrats' grass-roots efforts will more than offset the money outside groups aligned with Ernst are spending. According to OpenSecrets.org, outside groups, which have spent $28.8 million in the Iowa Senate race, have spent 80 percent more against Ernst than against Braley.

Brown, who said the last time he was in Iowa was 1988 on the campaign for presidential hopeful Bruce Babbitt, hopes for better results this time.

However, he said later he has no intention of following Babbitt's lead. Although his name has been mentioned as a potential 2016 presidential candidate, Brown insisted he has no interest. Likewise, Brown added, he has no interest in the vice presidency.

Before rallying campaign volunteers, Brown, chairman of the subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions and Family Policy, held a roundtable discussion of those issues with area residents.

He also campaigned for Braley in the Quad Cities. He will continue to make appearances for Braley on Tuesday in Des Moines.