Sen. Chuck Grassley, the gatekeeper to the federal judiciary from his spot at the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is looking for some friendly audiences back home in Iowa this week. He's doing three town meetings, and 16 appearances that are most definitely not open to the public. As much as he's trying to limit his audiences to friendly crowds, he's still facing tough questions.
Monday's meeting took place in a Republican-dominated county where Grassley won more than 80 percent of the vote in his last two elections. On Tuesday, his sole public event is set in a neighboring county where 92 percent of voters backed him in 2010.
Some observers think it's no coincidence that the 82-year-old senator has chosen this time to hold public events more than 200 miles from far more liberal Des Moines or other urban areas.
That strategy isn't working so hot, if you take a gander at the headlines on the front pages of Iowa's papers. The Des Moines Register says "In Iowa, Grassley takes flak for court stance" and quotes constituent Randy Waagmeester, a Rock Rapids attorney. "It's not fair for this man not to get a hearing. […] It's not right for this country to be short-staffed on the Supreme Court." The Omaha World Herald headline says "Amid Supreme Court battle, Grassley met with ire at town hall," and reports that "discussion at a senior center was dominated by his refusal to hold confirmation hearings." The Worthington Daily Globe headlines its story "Grassley against hearing for Supreme Court nominee" and quotes a woman in the crowd: "In other words, you're stalling."
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Here's how the senator responded:
Grassley calmly replied that many people believe presidents in their last year should not name justices, believing that voters should first have their say when they elect a new president.
Retired railroad worker Dave Damstrom of Spencer was more blunt.
“Excuse me, Senator, but it seems to me like there’s so much crap in the political system, and I expect you to be a leader and not part of this,” he said. “I’m just getting sick of this stuff. Just do your job, and let politics be what it is.”
That's not going to happen, and Grassley is going to be hounded by this story for the whole of the campaign. Local media has been fully devoted to the story and very hard on Grassley since the Republicans announced their blockade. This is a state where the citizenry seems to be well engaged in the story. There are letters to the editor: "Following the direction of the Republican’s logic, I politely ask you to step aside as chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee until the elections take place." That's just one of many letters chastising Iowa's senior senator.
This is with the general election not even begun, because the state's primary isn't until June. At that point, Grassley isn't going to be able to hide out anymore. He's not going to be able to avoid debates, and he's going to have to appear everywhere in the state, including in front of Democrats. That'll be fun, given how badly he's holding up under the pressure so far.