Trends could spell trouble for Boswell

DES MOINES (AP) — With little more than three months before the November election, Democrats acknowledge 3rd Congressional District Rep. Leonard Boswell faces a tough fight for an eighth term.

Boswell, of Des Moines, is matched up against Republican State Sen. Brad Zaun, a businessman and former mayor of Urbandale.

Although Democrats hold a registration edge in the district, which includes Des Moines, some in the party acknowledge that national trends could spell problems for Boswell. And if he’s in trouble, that could indicate problems across the nation, said former Iowa Democratic Chairman David Nagle.

“If a race like Leonard’s goes Republican, it’s probably a pretty good bellwether of the Republican chances of taking the House,” said Nagle. “Democrats have got to hold Leonard’s seat.”

Some Democrats worry that Zaun has won races before that should have favored Democrats.

“Brad Zaun is an overachiever who has exceeded Democrats’ expectations year after year,” said Democratic strategist Ron Parker. “He has done well in areas that have been traditionally Democratic strongholds.”

Boswell, 76, was a career Army officer who flew helicopters in Vietnam before settling on a southern Iowa farm. He served in the state Senate for 12 years, ascending to president of the Senate before being elected to Congress.

Zaun, 48, was a longtime hardware store owner who now works in real estate. He was elected to the Urbandale City Council, served as mayor and is now in the middle of his third term as a state senator.

Boswell agreed the race was competitive but said that was typical, given the voter registration breakdown in the district. About 38 percent of 3rd District voters are Democrats, with 30 percent Republican and 32 percent nonaffiliated.

“I think I’ll always have a competitive race in this district,” Boswell said in a telephone interview. “We’ve got a race on our hands. OK, nobody’s surprised.”

Boswell said he will contrast his life story with Zaun’s, “not only having gone off to war, but I’ve been through the farm crisis.”

Some worry that Boswell’s military record and experience during the deep recession of the 1980s may not be enough. They point to longtime former U.S. Rep. Neal Smith, who served in Congress from 1959 until being defeated in the Republican landslide of 1994.

Des Moines attorney and Democratic activist Jerry Crawford said Smith’s story illustrates just how tough it is to survive anti-incumbent waves.

“There comes a point where the length of his service momentarily became a negative,” Crawford said.

State Sen. Tom Courtney, a Burlington Democrat, said it’s not only an anti-incumbency climate that could hurt Boswell.

Courtney noted that Boswell was first elected to Congress from a heavily rural southern Iowa district that fit his background. When the Legislature drew new district lines after the 2000 census, it tossed Boswell into the overwhelmingly Republican 5th District, prompting him to move to Des Moines and into the 3rd District.

“When Boswell moved to that part of the state, his races got tougher,” Courtney said. “I think this will be one of the toughest fights he’s had.”

Republicans for months have been crowing about Boswell’s vulnerability, noting that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee felt the need to set aside $336,000 to air commercials on Boswell’s behalf. Last weekend, former President Bill Clinton came to Iowa to raise money for Boswell.

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn and others argue that Boswell has stood by party leaders, whom they claim are far more liberal than mainstream Americans.

“Leonard Boswell has abandoned the people of Iowa for people like Nancy Pelosi,” Strawn said, referring to the House speaker.

Democrats have responded that it’s Zaun who is out of the mainstream, arguing he supports far-right policies.

To back up that claim the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this week posted video on a website that showed Zaun at a candidate forum earlier in the year. In the clip, Zaun called for personal responsibility and stated, “We expect when there’s a flood or something that’s going on, the government to come in and help us.”

Democrats posted the video just days after flooding swept away an eastern Iowa dam, draining Lake Delhi and flooding dozens of structures and damaging farmland. They claimed Zaun didn’t support federal aid to flood victims.

Zaun declined to return telephone calls about his campaign, but he released a statement about the video, saying his comments had been taken out of context by “the liberal hit machine in D.C.”

“I am against creating new government bureaucracies that have the same job description as a pre-existing agency,” Zaun said in the statement. “Natural disasters should not be used as a reason to create another layer of government that eats money. We need to invest the time to ensure financial resources get directly to the people in need.”