Braley, Ernst continue fight to define themselves, each other

CEDAR RAPIDS - Lately, Joni Ernst has been talking a lot about making biscuits.

In a television ad, the Republican Senate nominee says the fat that makes a good biscuit is deadly to federal budgets.

It's the kind of down-home imagery that has marked the campaign of the state senator who just four years ago was a county auditor in Red Oak, in southwest Iowa.

Just listen to how Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds introduced her at a rally last month:

'She is Iowa through and through,” Reynolds exuded to dozens of cheering supporters in Davenport. 'She is authentic, and she is a good old southwest Iowa farm girl.”

Much of the battle for the U.S. Senate seat Iowa's Tom Harkin will vacate has been about defining who his two would-be successors - Ernst and Bruce Braley - really are.

You could say that in the nearly 10 years since Braley stepped onto Iowa's political playing field, he's been struggling to present a public picture of who he is.

In 2006, in the telling of his critics, he was a greedy trial lawyer.

In 2010, he was accused of backing a mosque at Ground Zero in New York City and losing touch with people back home.

Both times, he argued the characterizations were lies. Both times, he ended up with a victory - the first in convincing fashion, the second a nail-biter.

The outcome this year, his biggest race yet, is a question mark. But what isn't in doubt is the intensity of the all-out war - on television, social media and on the campaign trail - to portray the 56-year-old four-term congressman from Waterloo as a guy who doesn't show up for work, threatens to sue a neighbor over chickens and disrespects Iowa farmers - and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, to boot.

And that doesn't even include his voting record.

Braley is more likely to cite his upbringing in tiny Brooklyn, Iowa, or the jobs - working on a road construction crew is one - he held while growing up and going to school.

Or working with Republicans on bills such as a measure to extend a federal grant program aimed at helping disabled veterans stay in their homes.

Last month, he toured a Des Moines area senior center with his 85-year-old mother, Marcia, who brought a peach pie.

'They've spent millions of dollars misleading Iowa voters and lying about my record, so people don't really get to know me,” Braley said in a recent interview.

Bridge building

At a campaign event earlier this month in Davenport, some of his supporters blanched at the idea that Braley is out of touch.

'I don't think you could find someone with stronger roots,” said Barbara Orfitelli of Davenport.

Still, recent polls say that Ernst has higher favorability ratings than Braley.

Braley is basing much of his efforts on an appeal to middle-class voters, pushing for an increase in the minimum wage and promising to protect programs such as Social Security and Medicare from cuts.

His campaign, as well as outside groups, also have taken their own all-out approach to define Ernst, a rendering that seldom leaves out the word 'extreme.”

In an interview earlier this month, the Waterloo congressman said Ernst would be even more conservative than U.S. Rep. Steve King, the Republican firebrand.

'If you look at where she stands on the issues ...

I think it's an extreme agenda, and I think it's wrong for Iowa,” he said.

In the closing days of the campaign, Braley has hit hard on the idea that he's a 'bridge builder” not a 'bridge burner,” one who has demonstrated the ability to reach across the aisle.

An example of his approach that has been contentious in this campaign was a measure floated in the House last month that would have stopped an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to clarify the Clean Water Act's jurisdiction over rural waterways from going forward.

Some farm groups say it's too broad, and Ernst backed the bill to stop the rule.

Braley took a different route. He voted for an amendment that would have limited the EPA's authority but against the measure that would have stopped the proposal.

Republicans have roundly criticized the vote as symptomatic of Braley's view of rural matters.

'When it comes to fighting for Iowa's farmers, Congressman Braley is not an honest broker,” said Jahan Wilcox, a spokesman for the Republican Party of Iowa.

Republicans say Braley tried to mislead farmers about his stand on the issue - a charge his campaign rejects.

Braley said the state's farm economy must be balanced with clean waterways.

'One of the things that Iowans need is somebody who can be their voice, who can actually be a bridge builder between these federal agencies and the people you represent in Iowa,” he said.

Braley hasn't always helped his own cause.

Last fall, he was hammered during the government shutdown by talking about the lack of towels in the House gym. And for much of the campaign, he has been criticized for a comment he made earlier this year at a Texas fundraiser, in which he warned the lawyers attending that if Republicans took the Senate, Sen. Chuck Grassley, 'a farmer from Iowa,” would chair the Judiciary Committee.

Braley apologized, but the comment - along with the video of him in a dimly lit room next to a table laden with booze bottles - has played on a seemingly endless loop on Iowa television.

Braley said that image misrepresents his relationship with Grassley, who has been campaigning for Ernst.

The Democrat recalled touring northeast Iowa with Grassley when the area was flooded in 2008. And he talked about how he helped arrange for the shipment of 2,000 books from the Library of Congress to Grassley's hometown library in New Hartford to help it replenish its shelves.

'That's the type of relationship that I have with Sen. Grassley,” Braley said. 'That's the type of relationship I would build upon if I was elected United States Senate.”

Iowa Values

Ever since winning the Republican primary - fueled in part by provocative television ads in which she told of castrating hogs and, firearm in hand, pledged to take aim at the Affordable Care Act - Ernst has campaigned to take 'Iowa values” to Washington, D.C.

It's a theme that has infused her entire campaign.

At a speech last month, she pointed to the Iowa Legislature's property tax cut and its balanced budget, giving much of the credit to Gov. Terry Branstad's leadership and a legislature that worked with him.

'We need the same thing in Washington, D.C.,” she said, arguing for cuts in spending and less regulation - and a change in Senate leadership to break what she described as a roadblock to legislation passed in the Republican-controlled House.

'We have a majority leader who sits on every bill, every great idea that comes from Congress over to the Senate,” Ernst said.

Democrats are trying to make the case that Ernst's values aren't really in keeping with Iowa.

They've spent millions of dollars highlighting her statements during the primary when she called for shutting down the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Education, as well as her backing a 'personhood” measure that would protect life 'at any stage of development.”

At a forum in January, Ernst also appeared open to the idea of impeaching President Barack Obama, something she backed away from when it was highlighted in a news report this summer.

In a telephone interview about a week ago, Ernst said her desire to shut down the EPA and the Education Department merely reflect the idea their tasks can be handled by the states.

'The best government is the government that is closest to the people,” she said.

She also dismissed the Democrats' claim the personhood amendment would limit a woman's right to certain types of contraception.

'Oh, heavens, I am always going to protect a woman's right to affordable, safe and reliable contraception,” she said, expressing exasperation at what she said was Democratic opponent Bruce Braley's 'lecturing” her on women's issues.

Ernst said her co-sponsorship of the measure - which called for amending the state Constitution - was simply a statement in support of life.

The 44-year-old Ernst rejects the idea she's some kind of extremist, the label the political left relentlessly has tried to pin on her.

Instead, her campaign points to her roots growing up in farm country, of 'walking” beans and teaching Sunday school, of serving in the Iowa National Guard for 22 years, including a stint leading convoys in the Iraq War in 2003 and 2004.

'My boots have been on that ground,” Ernst, a lieutenant colonel, plaintively told Braley in a debate last month.

That military experience is a big part of the Ernst campaign. And, she said, it will inform her service if she wins.

'I have gained so much leadership experience, when it comes to working with other people of all different backgrounds in the military,” she said.

That service, she said, has given her the ability to sort through various options and arrive at a solution, often under stressful circumstances.

'I think having a veterans serving in the United States (Senate) is a good thing,” she said.

Campaign support

On the campaign trail, Ernst's supporters say she is grounded and real.

'She strikes me as the kind of person that's doing this for the right reasons because she really cares,” Barb Havenner, a Bettendorf Republican, said at Scott County Republican headquarters recently.

Ernst has spent much of the campaign drawing attention to Braley referring to Sen. Grassley as 'a farmer from Iowa.” But Ernst herself has been the target of critics about remarks she made in a private gathering of her own.

In June, she attended a private conference organized by the industrialist Koch brothers, telling the people in attendance that exposure to the group 'really started my trajectory.”

Christina Freundlich, spokeswoman for the Iowa Democratic Party, said the tape confirms Ernst 'was groomed by the oil billionaire Koch brothers from Day One to represent their economic interests over Iowa's.”

But Ernst said the remark was no different from what she says to people in Iowa - or anywhere, for that matter. Behind closed doors or not.

'I'm thanking people for being supportive of my candidacy, which is exactly what I say to people in Iowa, too,” she said. 'Any time that someone donates, I am thanking them profusely for believing in me and believing that I can make a difference in Iowa. There is nothing sinister there.”

Earlier in the campaign, Braley said he didn't owe anything to Tom Steyer, the ex-hedge fund manager and environmentalist who has spent millions on ads criticizing Ernst.

Ernst gave the same answer about outside interests that have helped her campaign, and she said her allegiance is to the people who have provided her success and whom she will represent in Washington, D.C.

'I don't owe anything to special interest groups. I owe it to the people that I have grown up with in southwest Iowa, my parents and their generation,” she said.

'Everything that I've experienced in my lifetime has come from the great people of Iowa. That's who I owe this to.”

Candidate Bios:

Joni Ernst

' Age: 44

' Political party: Republican

' Hometown: Red Oak

' Current occupation: State senator; lieutenant colonel, Iowa Army National Guard

' Previous political experience: Iowa state senator, Montgomery County auditor

' Highest Education: Master of public administration, Columbus State University

Bruce Braley

' Age: 56

' Political party: Democrat

' Hometown: Waterloo

' Current occupation: U.S. Representative, Iowa 1st District

' Previous political experience: U.S. Representative

' Highest education: Juris doctorate, University of Iowa