Iowa Senate: Democrat Conlin Narrowly Outraises Incumbent Grassley

Iowa's Republican Senator Grassley has been among the most obstructionist members of the "Party of No." Grassley is the fool who claimed Obama would "pull the plug on Grandma." He has blatantly lied about healthcare reform...then lied about his role in shaping the bill once it passed and was well received.

Grassley's obstructionism has become rather unpopular among Iowans. Iowa overall is a pretty progressive, common-sense state, and Grassley's right wing extremism is out of step with Iowa today.

Fortunately, Iowans have an option this year. Democrat Roxanne Conlin is running against Grassley. Conlin has been Assistant Attorney General for Iowa and then the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa. Everyone agrees she has an uphill battle defeating Grassley. However, as Grassley's obstructionism becomes less and less popular among Iowans, it looks like Conlin's chances are going up. The Des Moines Register reports that Conlin has surprised everyone by outraising her incumbent opponent, something that is very rare in politics:

Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Roxanne Conlin edged Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley in campaign contributions during the first quarter of 2010, according to reports for the fundraising period due today...

Grassley reported raising $613,577 for the quarter, while Conlin reported collecting $629,615 during the three months..."

Now don't get me wrong. Conlin still has a challenge since Grassley has more money overall:

Grassley has collected almost $4.9 million so far in the 2010 campaign cycle, and posted $5.3 million cash on hand. Conlin has raised just short of $1.5 million in contributions, and had $1 million on hand at the end of March, having also lent her own campaign $250,000.

But these recent numbers show that the momentum is with Conlin, at least for now. If she can keep gaining momentum, she has a real shot at winning. So, for my Iowa readers, if you haven't met Roxanne Conlin yet, let me introduce her:



To find out more about Roxanne, go here.

To volunteer, go here.

To contribute, go here. Or donate to the IA Senate general fund which will support which ever Democrat becomes the candidate.