GOP overreaching to put Gettemy ‘On the Radar?’

Stu Rothernberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political report (www.rothenbergpoliticalreport.com) is questioning whether the National Republican Congressional Committee is overreaching by putting 2

^nd

District GOP hopeful Rob Gettemy of Marion its long-shot list of “One the Radar” candidates.

Gettemy, a late entry into the four-way race for the nomination to face two-term Democrat Rep. Dave Loebsack, has met the NRCC's very basic goals of building a website, setting up a Federal Election Commission reporting system and having a basic media package.

However, Rothenberg, in a column in Roll Call, suggested Gettemy is one of the “most obvious examples of On the Radar candidates who shouldn't yet be on your radar?”

“Rob Gettemy is a businessman whose current project is 1M4JC.com (One Million for Jesus Christ.com), which sells T-shirts with the 1M4JC logo. His March 31 FEC report showed net receipts of $129,000 -- and debt of $100,000, suggesting that he had raised a trivial amount of campaign cash other than from his own pocket. (T-shirt sales must be going well ...)

“Gettemy is running against Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack in Iowa's 2nd district, by far the most liberal district in the state. It gave President Barack Obama 60 percent of the vote in 2008 and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) 55 percent four years earlier. Sure, Loebsack owes his election entirely to a huge Democratic wave in 2006, but that's not enough reason to promote a GOP challenger who, at least right now, has no chance of winning.”

Before he gets a shot at Loebsack, Gettemy will have to either win the June 8 primary election with at least 35 percent of the vote or, failing that, win a 2

Also running in the primary are Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa, Steve Rathje of Cedar Rapids and Chris Reed of Marion.

^nd

District nominating convention.