2nd District rivals trade charges in run-up to June 8 primary

A relatively cordial four-way race for the Republican nomination in Iowa's 2nd District has turned nasty in the final days before the June 8 primary election.

Steve Rathje is calling on Mariannette Miller-Meeks to condemn “cowardly attacks” that are the work of a “fake” third-party group that has “lied and distorted” his candidacy.

Miller-Meeks has denied any connection to the video, but said as the target of various attacks she has “a lot of sympathy.”

A third candidate, Rob Gettemy, also targeted by the Coalition for Iowa Values for his ties to Bob Parsons of GoDaddy.com, which is known for its racy TV ads, said the verbal war between Rathje and Miller-Meeks is the “exact reason we can't attract more Republicans to our candidates.”

Rathje, he said, “appears to be a personal ‘do-over' from his contentious 2008 U.S. Senate primary.” Miller-Meeks, he added, “appears to be the only one in the race who can be on three sides of a one-sided issue.”

“Rathje and Miller-Meeks are in a race for the bottom, and I'd say at this point they're neck and neck and headed for a photo finish,” Gettemy said.

The attack ad on Rathje follows the release of his ad saying it's time to bench Miller-Meeks because she lost to Democrat Rep. Dave Loebsack in 2008, the same year he lost the U.S. Senate primary race to Christopher Reed, who also is seeking the 2

^nd

District nomination this year.

Rathje complained an ad posted by Jeff Patch of the Coalition for Iowa Values leaves the impression he is pro-choice. It includes a clip from a Linn County pro-life forum of Rathje saying: “I will not accept abortion under any circumstances-unless it is between the mother and God-and the doctor, period.”

According to his campaign, the statement referred only to cases when a mother's life is in danger – a position he repeated at a forum last week.

“There is one exception and that is when the life of the mother is in peril, where she cannot physically survive the birth,” Rathje said. “That's my stand and that's where I'll take my grade.”

Miller-Meeks, Reed and a fourth candidate, Rob Gettemy, all have taken pro-life positions.

Rathje's rant is his “way of diverting attention away from what he said by attacking another candidate,” Miller-Meeks said.

“There have been plenty of those attacks and misrepresentations about abortion leveled at me, so I'm sympathetic,” she said. “It's part of what's going on. I've elected to ignore it.”

Jeff Patch, a former campaign volunteer and now spokesman for the Center for Competitive Politics, said he posted the ad on YouTube. Patch said the ad was all his own doing and compiled from publicly-available sources. There was no coordination with the Miller-Meeks campaign, he said.

He suggested Rathje “man up” because he'll face tougher attacks if he wins the primary election and faces Loebsack.

“Mr. Rathje needs to switch to decaf,” added Miller-Meeks spokeswoman Tracie Gibler.

Patch volunteered with the Miller-Meeks campaign in 2008, working with Todd Henderson, now Rathje's spokesman. Henderson charges Patch created similar attacks in that campaign. Patch charges Henderson leaked internal campaign e-mails and spread “demonstrably false information about his opponents.”

Voters are tired of the “politics as usual” approach to attack videos, mudslinging, and candidates who don't focus on the issues,” Gettemy said.

“Unfortunately, it's pretty apparent that my opponents are already part of that culture,” Gettemy said.