Conlin knows her history, campaign staff insists

Roxanne Conlin is at least as smart as an Iowa third-grader, according to her U.S. Senate campaign staff.There's no problem with her recall of U.S. history, campaign manager Mark Daley said, after a political blogger quoted the Des Moines Democrat who is challenging Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley as saying Alaska and Hawaii gained statehood in the mid-1970s.

In his “Friday Interview” June 18, Marc Ambinder, politics editor of The Atlantic, quoted Conlin saying: “(Grassley) was first elected in 1975 -- before Alaska and Hawaii were states.”

Grassley wasn't elected to any office in 1975 and Alaska and Hawaii were, of course, granted statehood in 1959 – Alaska on Jan. 3 and Hawaii on Aug. 21 – something taught in third grade in many schools.

“She knows that. She knows her history,” Daley said Friday afternoon. Both candidates are old enough to remember Alaska and Hawaii gaining statehood. Grassley would have been 26 and Conlin 15.

Conlin actually was referring to Grassley being elected in 1958 to the Iowa House, which was before the 49

^th

and 50

^th

states gained statehood, Daley explained.

The Democratic challenger has been making an issue of Grassley's longevity in office. He served in the Iowa House from 1959 until being elected to the U.S. House in 1974. In 1980, Grassley was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Daley insisted this wasn't a slip of the tongue as when then-candidate Barack Obama referred to visiting “57 states” and later told reporters that was a sign “that my numeracy is getting a little, uh …”

Ambinder's interview with Conlin may be read here: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/06/friday-interview-challenging-grassley/58371/.