The best chance Dems have of picking up a seat in the US House lies in Northeast Iowa with the vaccancy of Jim "The Unknown Congressman" Nussle's seat.
Both sides have a 3 way primary in the making and a general election that will not be short of money.
This is a district that leans dem (+13 k reg adv over GOP, both trail IND), has voted for Kerry, Vilsack and Harkin (all 3 winning at least 10 of the 13 counties)and near parity in the state delegation.
The 6 candidates and fec snap shots are included
Dems
Bruce Braley (braleyforcongress.com) is a lawyer from Waterloo. A long time activist making his first foray into the arena. He has raised the most money of any of the 6 candidates ($211,887, $191 k cash on hand) and his ties to the legal community should help him through the primary. I haven't met him, but his website makes him sound like a traditional dem on most issues.
Richard Dickinson (no website found yet) is a former politician from Dubuque. He too has found early fundraising success ($184,586 raised, $145 k on hand). I know some of the people who are on his committee and that speaks volumes about his personality in a very positive way.
Bill Gluba (glubaforcongress.com) from Bettendorf was the candidate against Nussle in 04. His name ID will help overcome his lagging fundraising ($66,832 raised, $41 K on hand.) Bill is a quality individual who will not be outworked. (see his schedule for the last 3 months at his website.)
The Gop consists of State Sen Bill Dix of Waverly ($201,036 raised, $173 K on hand), former State GOP chairman Brian Kennedy of Bettendorf ($110,131 raised, $94 K on hand) and Machine Shed restaurant owner Michael Whalen of Bettendorf ($139,613 raised, $69 K on hand).
A couple of quick GOP notes. My Dem state sen respects Dix, so he cant be a total GOP hack. My friend worked with Kennedy at GOP and describes him as a fiscal rep who will listen but not kowtow to social conservatives. And I hate the Machine Shed restaurant. (Also whalen money includes nearly $55 k from himself.)
Any of the 3 dems would make an excellent congressman.