Out here in Iowa, the polls are looking good for the top of the ticket. Senator Harkin and our three incumbents Democrats in the House (Braley, Loebsack and Boswell) look like they will sail through the election. In IA-04, Becky Greenwald, the Democratic challenger, appears to be making headway against incumbent Tom Latham, who went to the House in the 1994 Gingrich "Contract on America" election. Greenwald has reportedly performed well in the two radio debates held so far and has had some positive press. In addition, the recent fundraising numbers are reason to have hope. According to the recently released quarterly reports, Greenwald out-raised Latham $308K to $291K for the third quarter. (source: Swing State Project) While that leaves her campaign trailing in total fundraising for the election cycle, and in cash on hand, it does show an increase in financial support as election day nears.
It would be nice to have some polling numbers to see how the race is tracking - there seem to be no publicly available polls to be had. However, one would surmise that internal polls must be decent since the DCCC recently included Greenwald's as a "Red to Blue" race.
Even though Greenwald out-raised Latham for the quarter, her campaign reported only about $25,000 on hand at the end of the quarter. It would be great to have Becky Greenwald take out this Gingrich Republican this time around. This district should be in play in a Democratic year such as 2008.
One thing is for sure, she could use some cash. Go on over and give her a little help at one of these sites:
Red to Blue 2008 at ActBlue.
Becky Greenwald at ActBlue.
or
Contribute directly through her Campaign Website.
As a former resident of this district (back when Tom Harkin was our Representative), it would be a special treat for me to see this seat go from red back to blue.