Ernst bags a big win, and Braley should be wary

Thank heavens for hog castration.

It's an attention getter, huh? And without the snip, the Republican race for U.S. Senate would have lacked a certain zip, not to mention a 'core narrative.” That's journalism talk for something to write about other than dull issues.

Who knows what would have happened in Tuesday's primary if state Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Red Oak, hadn't made pork cutting the theme of arguably the most successful political ad in Iowa history? It grabbed us by our attention span. It went viral. Republicans less-than-enthused by their B-list field suddenly had a candidate with a pulse, and a pistol and a Harley.

The rest is history for the first woman ever nominated by the GOP for U.S. Senate. The once murky race ended with a bang, a squeal and a blowout, but not a messy state convention.

Now, I gather, we're watching for a 'pivot.”

Will Ernst steer her gunslinging primary campaign toward the more gentle center to please general election voters? On most issues, I doubt it. Today's GOP doesn't take kindly to squishy moderating.

But from an image standpoint, there are signs of change. In a meeting with our editorial board, Ernst didn't mention the Harley, but did say she drives a hybrid. Her most recent TV ads play up her small-town Iowa roots and the fact she taught Sunday school. Forget blasting holes in Obamacare.

During her victory speech Tuesday, Ernst talked about how, as a farm girl, she wore bread bags over her 'one nice pair of shoes” when it rained. 'It wasn't high fashion, but I wasn't embarrassed about it,” she said.

In North Iowa, we wore bread bags on our feet inside leaky moon boots. I totally agree, dry feet are never embarrassing.

And maybe, if Ernst feels the need to pivot on climate change, those bread bags could turn into a policy prescription. When more frequent heavy rains deluge Iowa, we'll all just grab our Joni Bags. At least our feet will be dry.

Laugh it up, Braley backers. But you just punched a ticket to the hot new summer movie 'The Trial Lawyer vs. The Farm Girl.”

For all his advantages, it's entirely possible that the Democratic Senate nominee, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, could become the Democrats' Jim Ross Lightfoot. Lightfoot, a former GOP congressman, looked like a no-worries, bet-the-farm, shoo-in to beat little-known state Sen. Tom Vilsack in the 1998 race for governor. Then the campaign happened, Vilsack caught on and Lightfoot got stomped.

During the past 30 years, since U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin first won the Senate seat we're now fighting over, Iowans have resisted making U.S. reps into senators or governors. Ask Lightfoot, Jim Nussle, Tom Tauke and Greg Ganske. And could there be a worse moment to run for anything from Congress? That 9 percent congressional approval rating isn't a springboard. Congress is an Edsel-Corvair caravan, tailgating a Pinto.

Sure, Braley remains the favorite. But Ernst has shown considerable skill in jolting and revising a campaign storyline. And what if a major national security issue flares, allowing Ernst, a National Guard lieutenant colonel, to show her military chops?

Could it be that running with scissors is actually smart? We'll see.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com.