Grassley could face toughest challenger yet

DES MOINES -- Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley could face his toughest re-election race yet after Des Moines lawyer Roxanne Conlin secured the Democratic nomination Tuesday night.

With personal wealth to tap for her campaign and a name recognizable to many Iowa voters, political observers say Conlin has an advantage over others who have tried to take on Grassley in the past.

Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, said the rate at which Iowans re-elect incumbents is actually higher than the national average, noting statistics do not favor a challenger.

But Bystrom thinks Conlin is a formidable opponent, pointing out it's not the first statewide race for Conlin, the Democratic nominee for governor in 1982.

Add to that Bystrom's take that 2010 is one of those unusual election years when almost anything can happen.

“We don't really know yet how the anti-incumbency mood's going to play out in Iowa,” Bystrom said.

For some, saying Grassley could face his toughest re-election fight this year isn't saying much.

“He's never had a really heavy-hitter opponent in all of his re-election races,” said Dennis Goldford, a professor of politics at Drake University.

Grassley beat Democrat Art Small by about 625,000 votes when he last stood for re-election in 2004. In 1998, Grassley's margin of victory over Democratic challenger David Osterberg was roughly 360,000 votes.

Goldford said one reason Grassley has always done well is his strength with independent voters.

“In a normal year, it would be an uphill climb for any Democrat to beat him, and in a year that looks as though it's a Republican year, it's an even steeper incline,” Goldford said.

Grassley, first elected to the Senate in 1980, said Wednesday he takes no opponent for granted, because if he did, he would be taking Iowans for granted.

“Here's what I know about public office: I work for you. You don't work for me,” Grassley said on a conference call with reporters. “The office I hold is a public trust. It doesn't belong to Chuck Grassley.”

Grassley cast the race as voters having a choice of more of the current agenda in Washington, which he said Conlin supports, or a new direction he said the people of this country are demanding.

“People right now are very, very concerned about the legacy of debt that's being left by this administration, and most of the people that are winning, are the people that are going to challenge the status quo,” Grassley said.

Conlin is on record, Grassley said, of continuing the trend of the Obama administration of taking the country down the path of more spending, more government regulation, more costs to consumers and health care reform Grassley said would lead to the government taking over health care.

“Those are the things that I'm here fighting,” Grassley said.

He said his focus will be on holding government accountable, protecting the taxpayers and taking on waste, fraud and abuse.

In an interview Wednesday, Conlin stressed that Grassley has been in Washington 36 years.

“This a choice for Iowans between a career politician concerned with the next election and a challenger who's looking out for the next generation,” Conlin said.

Conlin said she is glad Grassley is admitting he is fighting regulation.

“He has fought regulation for Wall Street. That's why the economy went off the cliff,” Conlin said. “He's fought regulation for big oil. That's why we have oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.”