Iowa’s 1st-time candidates attract political ‘celebrities’ for campaign boost

CEDAR RAPIDS – Ground Zero in the battle for control of the Iowa Senate is being waged by a pair of mild-mannered candidates – and their celebrity endorsers.

'Yeah, I'd say we're at Ground Zero,” says Mike Moore, a Washington, Iowa, Republican running for the open Senate 39 seat. 'When I win this seat, it will set up Republicans to control the Senate.”

'It's an important seat,” agrees Kevin Kinney of Oxford, who hopes to help Democrats maintain or expand their 26-24 advantage in the Senate.

Senate 39, which covers Keokuk and Washington counties and all but the northeast quarter of Johnson County, is one of two open Senate seats where both parties have candidates.

Republicans have a paper thin voter registration advantage as of Aug. 1. The Secretary of State Office reported 13,484 Republicans registered to vote and 13,480 Democrats out of a total of 43,460 voters.

'There's no question this is one of the Senate seats that will be competitive and will determine the majority,” says Senate Minority Leader Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock.

It's not the only Ground Zero for Iowa Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, says, but 'it's a seat we're very interested in winning.”

Given what's at stake, Moore and Kinney, both first-time candidates, and their parties are employing star attractions to raise awareness of their campaigns and the cash to pay for them.

Kinney had a closed-door fundraiser with Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley last month and Moore brought in Texas Gov. Rick Perry for a similar event Aug. 10.

Candidates love those kinds of endorsements, Gronstal says, but they 'don't make much difference to ordinary voters.”

'Voters want to make their own choices,” Gronstal says. 'They want (candidates) to make the case to them.”

However, an O'Malley or Perry can help the local candidates make that case to voters.

'It helps a candidate to fill up a room and can create some new energy and enthusiasm,” Dix says. 'It gets people to come and see someone they may not have seen.”

Senate 39 incumbent Sen. Sandy Greiner, R-Keota, has done more than a few fundraisers during her 20 years in the Legislature.

'Any time you get more than 25 people it's a big fundraiser,” she said as she mingled with more than 70 people at the University Club in Iowa City to hear Moore and Perry.

'People are coming to see Perry, especially those people who aren't familiar with Moore and might not be following the race closely,” she said. 'There's a lot of interest in Perry because of the situation on the border. So some people think that if Perry is here for Mike, they'll come.”

Kinney can't say for certain more people attended his fundraiser because O'Malley was there, 'but you get a different group of people there. You raise money from different people, people who might not live in the district or be following your race.”

The presence of a Perry or O'Malley 'helps the candidate raise the money rather than raise the money for them,” Dix says. 'It's the added draw they are to the event that helps raise money.”

It also helps fire up the base 'so they go pound on a few more doors,” says Greiner. 'I'm sure it works the same way on the other side.”

It's not a one-way street, Gronstal says. Perry and O'Malley don't walk away empty-handed.

'You're seeing what the caucuses have created in Iowa,” Gronstal says. The potential presidential candidates participate in Iowa campaigns to build up their credibility with voters who may participate in the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

'It's also a good opportunity for local Democrats to meet and get to know these people,” Gronstal says. If the headliners are looking down the road, 'It builds support among Democrats when they come out and help the local candidates.”

This year, it's mostly GOP 2016ers who are doing fundraisers for Iowa candidates. Moore's event was the third fundraiser Perry did Sunday. Earlier in the week, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul did fundraiser for congressional candidates and the other potential candidates have been making similar appearances for candidates, too.

On the Democratic side, Gronstal predicts O'Malley will be back before the election and expects anyone else who's serious about running in 2016 will join him.