Some may not be aware, but Iowa has a Republican Senate Primary tomorrow. The three contenders are Cedar Rapids businessman Steve Rathje, Marion businessman and Navy vet Christopher Reed, and Strattford attorney and former Iowa Representative George Eichhorn.
Any of the three would be better than incumbent U.S. Senator Tom Harkin who has not represented Iowa well. His liberal positions are not in touch with mainstream Iowa (which I noticed his most liberal positions are conveniently left off his issues page on his website).
Another reason why I feel that Tom Harkin is bad for Iowa is that he no longer lives here. Unlike the senior senator for Iowa, Chuck Grassley, who lives here when the Senate is out of session and visits every county in Iowa every year; Harkin resides near Washington, D.C., just maintains a P.O. Box in Iowa and is only out here when he is fundraising or campaigning.
I have decided that I am going to cast my ballot tomorrow for George Eichhorn, and I would like to encourage my fellow Republicans who live in Iowa to do the same tomorrow. I think that George Eichhorn has excellent experience having served in the Iowa Legislature for three terms. While I am not against seeing non-legislators run against Harkin I feel that both Rathje and Reed are the the strongest candidates.
Regarding policies they are all pretty similar. I feel George Eichhorn articulates his the best and knows how to campaign. Steve Rathje has been running for two years, but as a recent Des Moines Register article points out as of 5/14/08, only had $7,700 in the bank. Eichhorn only has $4,100, but he just declared his candidacy. Eichhorn also seems to have the backing of some key party leadership. I also watched a recent debate between Eichhorn and Reed (could somebody explain to me why Rathje wasn’t there?), and I feel that Eichhorn best explained his positions. Reed came across as inexperienced, and Rathje communicated a lack of desire to win since he couldn’t even bother showing up.
So George, you have my vote tomorrow. I hope to see you on the ballot in November against Tom Harkin.
Cross-posted at From Their Own Mouths
Update (6/4/08): Congratulations to Christopher Reed who yesterday’s primary. Very close race. Mr. Reed was my second choice.
1,873 of 1,873 precincts – 100 percent
- Christopher Reed 25,150 – 35 percent
- George Eichhorn 24,735 – 35 percent
- Steve Rathje 21,326 – 30 percent
Source: KCCI TV
Shane-
I read your blog on the Republican primary. It’s true that as of that time Steve Rathje only had $7700 in the bank and Eichorn had around $4000. I could see why this would concern people however, Steve Rathje out raised Eichorn by 75 to win and Reed by 100 to win. Go to the FEC website and check out how much Steve ACTUALLY raised during this campapign. You will clearly see that he was clearly the front runner in fundraising. Only 4 people contributed to Eichorn’s campaign who were not relatives or himself. Steve had almost 90 people contribute to the campaign and onlly dontated to himself once.
Yes, Steve only had $7700 in the bank but the reason why was simple: he was spending his money. If he raised all this money and than left it sitting in his bank account and didn’t use it to print literature, make commercials, or do the other things neccessary to win in a race everyone would thnk he was crazy.
The point is, no Republican U.S. Senate Candidate raised more money than Steve Rathje did during his campaign. He spent every dime the PEOPLE gave to him to make Iowa and America better and we owe him our heartfelt thanks!
-Michael Bahr
City Council Member
City of Iowa Falls, IA