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Blue dog Dem faces liberal challenger
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Apr 25, 2008 Posted by Stacy Brenton
Rep. Leonard L. Boswell (D-Iowa) has a voting record that makes many liberal activists frown. A Blue Dog Democrat, he initially supported the Iraq war, voted for the Patriot Act, supports gun rights, has been an advocate of free trade and has one of the more conservative voting records of any Democratic congressman.
And now he will be facing a credible, self-described progressive Democratic opponent in former state Rep. Ed Fallon, who actually carried the district in his gubernatorial bid in 2006.
State political observers say the race has upset potential — but only if Fallon picks up a fundraising pace that left him with less than $20,000 in the bank at the end of March.
“Ed Fallon has always taken a chance in terms of challenging the status quo or the norm in politics,” said former Iowa Democratic Party Communications Director Carrie Giddins. “But that’s always a hard place to come from. He would need all of those institutional investments, such as money and staff and buzz about his campaign, to make inroads.”
Fallon had quite a few things going for him when he announced his campaign in January. He built a sizable grass-roots infrastructure during his gubernatorial run, in which he campaigned as the most progressive candidate in the field. A former Nader supporter (in 2000), Fallon has embraced a liberal platform — supporting universal health care and public financing of campaigns and criticizing free trade — in his campaigns.
And he has had a history of scoring political upsets when the establishment has largely ignored him. In 1992, he knocked off a veteran Democratic state legislator in a primary in his Polk County district and spent the next 14 years in the state House.
Fallon also carried the congressional district, which encompasses the city of Des Moines and rural parts of the state to the east, despite finishing in third place in his 2006 gubernatorial primary campaign.
But Fallon appears to be missing a crucial element for a successful insurgent campaign: cash, which is surprising for a candidate with support from the party’s activist base. He raised a respectable $172,000 in his first quarter of fundraising but spent $152,000 of it, which left him with just $19,000 in the bank at the end of March.
More than half of those expenditures were for the salary of his 16 staffers, an unusually high amount of overhead for a primary campaign. None of the money was spent on direct mail or advertising, which will be necessary to get his message out to seriously challenge the much more established Boswell.
The primary is on June 3, giving him only about six weeks to continue raising enough cash to compete.
By contrast, Boswell raised $261,000 in the past quarter and is now sitting on a stockpile of $841,000 cash on hand.
Fallon said that he will be at a fundraising disadvantage because he doesn’t accept donations from political action committees. But he added that his message would resonate in a Democratic primary in which activists predominate.“I’ve been outspent three times in elections. Twice, I won pretty comfortably despite being outspent,” said Fallon. “We’re running a grass-roots campaign, and that takes ongoing expenditures. You’ve got to keep spending your money to keep building a grass-roots campaign.”
Successful, insurgent primary challenges from the left, however, usually have been well-financed operations. Some liberal activists point to nonprofit executive Donna Edwards’ surprise upset of Rep. Albert Wynn (D-Md.) in a February primary as an example that Fallon could follow, but there are some significant differences between the two campaigns.
Edwards was able to raise nearly $1 million in her upset bid, with support from a host of influential liberal groups, including the League of Conservation Voters and EMILY’s List, and with the backing of the Service Employees International Union.
Fallon, by contrast, has largely been shut out of high-profile backing from both the Democratic establishment and liberal interest groups. His only major endorsement has been from Democracy for America, the progressive group headed by the brother of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. All the major unions have endorsed Boswell.
Fallon has also drawn criticism for his own advocacy group, called Independence Movement for Iowa. The group, which is run as a for-profit general partnership, has advocated for a host of progressive causes, from campaign finance reform to global warming. Since it is not a nonprofit, it does not have to publicly report the sources of its revenue.
Boswell’s campaign accused Fallon of illegally using the group for his own political campaign, citing two e-mails to members that referenced Fallon’s campaign. One discussed his initial intention to run against Boswell, and another informed them about his campaign website.
“It appears like he’s created a shadow organization to use unregulated, undisclosed, possible corporate funding to finance his campaign,” said Boswell campaign spokesman Mark Daley. “For someone who talks so much about clean campaigns, it’s disingenuous not to run one.”
Fallon dismissed the charges as political posturing and said the fact that Boswell receives money from corporate PACs is much more significant.
The upcoming redistricting in 2012 could also play a role in how the campaign develops. Boswell, 75, has been rumored to be considering retirement in the years ahead, and if he stepped down, there would be a greater risk that Democrats could lose the seat under a redistricting plan that would eliminate one of Iowa’s congressional districts.
The likelihood is that much of Boswell’s district will be merged into the solidly Republican seats of either Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) or Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa). Fallon pointed to Boswell’s decision to move to Des Moines after the 2000 redistricting to avoid running against King in a more Republican district.
“I am ready for that fight, but I’m not sure if Congressman Boswell is going to want to take on Steve King or Tom Latham,” said Fallon. “Instead of defending his old seat against a Republican challenger, he decided to move to Des Moines.”
No serious Republican challenger has emerged this cycle to challenge Boswell, one of the top Democratic targets over the past three election cycles. A victory over Fallon would be tantamount to winning election to a seventh term.
“People have been content with the way he served people of this district. He’s got a very strong campaign staff, and he’s surrounding himself with good people,” said Giddins. “He’s always cognizant of the fact that he may have a race on his hands.”