Well said:
http://thehill.com/...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told an audience of Iowa voters on Sunday that billionaires aren't going to decide who will be the next senator from Iowa.
Warren traveled to Iowa this weekend to stump for Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), who is running against Republican candidate Joni Ernst for the open Senate seat.
Warren touted Braley's hard-working roots at a rally in Iowa City on Sunday afternoon and said Braley is "fighting for your future," according to the Iowa Democratic Party's twitter account.
"I don't think the billionaires are join to decide the next Senator from Iowa," Warren said, hinting at Ernst's alleged ties to the conservative donors Charles and David Koch. "I think you are going to decide." - The Hill, 10/19/14
Warren has been kicking ass on the campaign for Democrats like Braley:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/...
Warren, a Massachusetts U.S. senator who some Democrats hope will jump into the next presidential race, made nary a mention of 2016. Instead she gave a fist-pumping speech centered on rousing Iowa activists to fight for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Braley until the polls close in the final hour of Election Day in two weeks.
"The people that are going to determine this election are right here in this room," Warren said in a 30-minute speech at the Hotel Fort Des Moines in downtown Des Moines.
In a full-throated rallying cry, she called out: "Are you ready to do this?"
The audience, which the Braley campaign estimated to be around 600, cheered zestily. - Des Moines Register, 10/20/14
Braley also recently secured a big newspaper endorsement:
http://thegazette.com/...
We’re far more familiar with Braley, who has represented much of Eastern Iowa in Congress since 2007. That’s how we know, contrary to TV attack ads, that Braley’s record on veterans’ issues has been solid, regardless of which meetings he did nor did not attend. And we appreciate Braley’s cautious approach to reintroducing ground troops to Iraq.
The congressman also has compiled a positive record on rural issues, from helping dairy farmers to sticking up for renewable fuels, despite his opponents’ efforts to cast him as an urban elitist. He’s called for a national manufacturing strategy, which strikes us as prudent here in a city where the continuing success of manufacturing and processing are vital.
Braley was swift in his response to the 2008 flood, when his district included Waterloo-Cedar Falls but not the Cedar Rapids metro. Since Cedar Rapids became part of his district, Braley has pushed for federal recovery assistance, including funding for Cedar Rapids flood protection. He disagrees with Ernst’s call for eliminating federal environmental oversight, pointing out that President Richard Nixon formed the EPA because states were doing little to protect the environment.
On immigration, Braley favors bipartisan legislation that passed the U.S. Senate, providing more resources to secure the nation’s borders while also creating a long pathway to legal status for millions of undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S. We’ve supported that legislation, and reject attempts by Ernst and others to simply label it as “amnesty.” We also agree with Braley that although the Affordable Care Act needs significant changes, its overall effort to provide health coverage to millions of Americans is worth continuing.
Braley has demonstrated the ability to work across party lines and make the compromises necessary to govern the country, which is sorely needed in the Senate. He’s experienced, and demonstrates a deep understanding of important issues beyond sound bites, attacks and talking points.
We see Braley as the best choice to carry on Iowa’s bipartisan Senate tradition. - The Gazette, 10/19/14
And Braley's been going after Ernst on this:
http://rhrealitycheck.org/...
Democrat Bruce Braley on Thursday attacked Republican Joni Ernst for saying one thing and supporting another when it comes to abortion and contraception during the final Iowa Senate debate.
“Your words have consequences,” Braley told Ernst, saying that her policies contradict her stated support for access to contraception.
“I do support a woman’s right to accessible, reliable, and safe contraception,” Ernst said during the debate in response to a question about whether she wants to ban any specific form of contraception.
She also said for the first time that she would support an exception for saving a woman’s life if abortion were banned.
When asked if in vitro fertilization (IVF) should be banned, Ernst avoided directly answering the question, but told a story about a friend of hers who has two daughters via IVF.
“I am glad that she is blessed to be a mother,” Ernst said.
Braley said that Ernst can’t say she supports access to contraception if she’s also going to support policies that undermine that access, like the “personhood” amendment or her support for the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision.
“You can’t say that you protect a woman’s right to contraception and then vote against it on the senate floor,” Braley said. “You can’t say that you want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which provides free contraceptive services to women, and increase their costs by $600. And you can’t say you support that right and then say it’s OK for employers to interfere with it.” - RH Reality Check, 10/20/14
I'm confident that Braley will win this race because Democrats have a better ground game:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/...
On a recent Wednesday, more than two dozen Democratic activists in Des Moines were dialing for Braley alongside Wadden. There weren't enough tables and chairs in the field office, so some of the younger volunteers sat cross-legged on the floor, phones pressed to their ears. In a quieter corner, two legally blind volunteers were making calls together; their service dog, Amber, milled about the office.
Democrats have 35 of these field offices across the state; Republicans have only 13 (not counting local organizations).
Iowa is one of the first states to begin voting, back in late September. Its election rules also allow for so-called ballot chasing—party officials or volunteers physically gathering ballots from voters to turn them in. It's a setup that benefits the best-organized campaigns.
Both parties have tussled who has a superior early-vote operation this year. Democrats boast that they are mobilizing people who would otherwise not have voted, pointing to unusually high numbers of voters who didn't cast a ballot in the last midterm. "We are literally expanding the electorate," brags Christina Freundlich, communications director for the Iowa Democratic Party.
Of the Republicans, Braley says, "If you just are targeting voters, to get them to vote early, who would have voted on Election Day, that's not how you're going to win this race."
National Democratic operatives say that Iowa is one of the states where the much-ballyhooed $60 million get-out-the-vote operation dubbed the "Bannock Street Project" will make the most difference. (Colorado is another.)
The fact that the Iowa race is within the margin of error in most polls heightens the importance of field operations. - National Journal, 10/19/14
Click here to donate and get involved with Braley's campaign so he can defeat this extremist on Election Day:
http://www.brucebraley.com/