As Democrats grow confident, Republicans come to Grassley’s defense

DES MOINES - Emboldened by polls, critical media coverage and persistent advocacy, Democrats are growing ever more confident that Chuck Grassley, Iowa's popular and longtime Republican U.S. Senator, is vulnerable in this fall's election.

Republicans, meantime, are rallying to defend Grassley, setting the stage for the campaign.

A memo distributed Wednesday by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the national party organization that works to elect Democrats to the U.S. Senate, claims Grassley is 'increasingly vulnerable” because of his stand against holding hearings for the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy and the potential negative impact of Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president.

'Senator Chuck Grassley likely thought he would coast to re-election this November. How far away those days must seem now,” the DSCC memo reads.

Grassley said he will not, in the Judiciary Committee that he chairs, hold hearings on any nominees to the Supreme Court made by President Barack Obama during this, Obama's final year in office. Grassley and other Republican Senate leaders say the vacancy should be filled by the next president, after this fall's election.

Grassley has been criticized for the stance. Liberal and judicial advocacy groups have conducted advocacy campaigns, holding media events and showing up at Grassley's public events to demand he hold a hearing on Merrick Garland, Obama's Supreme Court nominee.

This week, Iowans who said they have voted for Grassley in the past but oppose his position on the Supreme Court vacancy traveled to Washington, D.C., on a trip organized by multiple advocacy groups.

Multiple newspaper editorial boards across the state have written that Grassley should at least hold a hearing for Garland, even if the Senate does not approve him.

And some polls have suggested Grassley's approval ratings among Iowa voters have fallen, and that voters want Grassley and the Republican-controlled Senate to hold hearings on Obama's Supreme Court nominees. The DSCC memo notes two polls --- one from the liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling and another commissioned by the liberal End Citizens United PAC --- that say a majority of Iowans want the Senate to take action on the Supreme Court vacancy.

'These polls clearly showed the divide between Iowans and Senator Grassley,” the DSCC memo says.

Conservatives have rallied to Grassley's defense. The Judicial Action Network, a conservative legal organization, is running television advertisements in Iowa defending Grassley's position on the Supreme Court vacancy. The group has scheduled today a conference call on which Brenna Bird, a former member of Republican Gov. Terry Branstad's staff, and others will discuss the issue with Iowa supporters.

The Republican Party of Iowa this week issued a statement defending Grassley and pointing to a poll by the D.C. news service Morning Consult, which showed Grassley with a plus-26 approval rating of 55 percent favorable and 29 percent unfavorable.

Grassley also is scheduled today to hold his weekly conference call with Iowa reporters.