Shit's getting serious in Iowa:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
A trio of environmental groups on Tuesday launched a $1 million campaign to help Rep. Bruce Braley (D) win the race for U.S. Senate in Iowa by taking on his opponent, state Sen. Joni Ernst (R).
The League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Action Fund are combining forces in the effort, which kicks off with an LCV TV ad that ties Ernst to Sarah Palin and the Koch Brothers.
The narrator says Ernst wants to "abolish the EPA, giving polluters a pass. That's why extremist Sarah Palin and the billionaire Koch brothers want Ernst in Washington."
The Iowa Senate race is a focal point for environmental activists and groups. Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, who has vowed to spend as much as $100 million in the 2014 elections (half from donors, half from personal money), has identified the Iowa Senate race as a target. - Washington Post, 6/24/14
Here's some more info:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/...
"Ernst has pledged to give polluters a pass by shutting down the Environmental Protection Agency, which is responsible for protecting public health by enforcing bedrock environmental laws like the Clean Air Act," said a news release this morning from the coalition of left-leaning organizations. "She's also pledged to eliminate the Department of Education, which helps hundreds of thousands of Iowa students attend college each year through the federal Pell grant program."
The television advertisement shows a clip from Palin's stump speech for Ernst in May, during the five-way GOP primary in Iowa. "We're hiring her, expecting her to fulfill campaign promises," Palin, the GOP's 2008 vice presidential nominee, says in the clip.
The ad claims Ernst's promises would erase 213,000 Pell grants for Iowa students. And the ad shows smoke-choked air.
The news release from the coalition said: "Ernst has also attended a Koch Brothers seminar and received nearly $25,000 in campaign contributions from the Koch Brothers' network of political donors, while the Koch Brothers' front group Americans for Prosperity has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on attack ads against Bruce Braley." - Des Moines Register, 6/24/14
Environmental issues are just only one are Braley's campaign is hitting Ernst on:
http://www.usnews.com/...
The 43-year-old Ernst, who successfully married the tea party and establishment wings of the GOP, is riding a burst of political momentum out of her pulverizing 38-point primary win that’s elevated her to become her party's most auspicious Senate contender of the cycle. She's slashed what was a 13-point deficit in March to just 4 points, according to the latest Quinnipiac University survey. Her first major speech as the party’s standard-bearer drew a vivid comparison with Braley that essentially aimed to define him by three unflattering traits: liberal, lawyer and of Washington.
“This campaign will come down to a very simple choice, our Iowa values versus Bruce Braley’s liberal Washington ways,” she told the state party convention.
There's also a historic nature to Ernst's candidacy: She's vying to become the first female elected to federal office in Iowa, one of just four states with that dubious distinction.
For Democrats, the race is on to move beyond her biography, soft smile – and the infamous pig castrating television ad – and apprise voters of a record they’re framing as “radical and extreme.”
They’re highlighting her opposition to the farm bill and renewable fuel standard – two issues with particular resonance in this farm rich and ethanol producing state – as well as her willingness to privatize Social Security, reconfigure Medicare into a voucher system and abolish the minimum wage.
Over time, Braley’s team is counting on the issue matrix to sink Ernst. Once her chummy, amicable veneer is gradually pulled back, they argue, she’ll be placed on defense, forced to explain a string of untenable positions.
“What goes up fast comes down fast,” says Jeff Link, a Braley adviser who has worked on the last four Senate campaigns in Iowa. “[She’s] sort of flash in the pan. And it’s hard to sustain a flash in the pan.” - U.S. News, 6/23/14
And Iowa Democrats are getting fired up for November:
http://www.radioiowa.com/...
Braley faces Republican nominee, state senator Joni Ernst. “Campaigns like life, have a lot of ups and downs. This is going to be a tough race between now and November 4th. But if this race is about Iowa values — we’re going to win,” Braley says. In the latest poll by Quinnipiac University poll, Braley led Ernst by four percentage points — compared to March — when Braley held a 13-percentage point lead.
Over the course of eight hours, Iowa’s entire Democratic ticket introduced themselves in a string of 16 speeches, with short breaks for party business. Des Moines developer and state senator Jack Hatch said his campaign for governor would focus on 4 points: education, the environment, energy independence, and raising the minimum wage.
“We’re going to make sure that the Iowa Senate remains democratic, that we can make sure that the Iowa House is going to become democratic,” Hatch says, “and that we’re going to have a state government that respects workers and treat everyone the same.” - Radio Iowa, 6/22/14
With the Kochs spending big on this race, we have to make sure our base comes out defeats Ernst at the polls. Click here to donate and get involved with Braley's campaign:
http://www.brucebraley.com/