Kim Schmett, the Republican nominee for Congress in Iowa’s Third District, has been keeping a low profile so far in his quest to unseat incumbent Rep. Leonard Boswell. In fact, he’s had practically no profile at all. But in a new ad posted on his campaign Web site, he finally gets the chance to debate his opponent on the issues of the day.

Sort of.

With a cardboard Boswell cutout in hand, Schmett discusses gas prices, the closure of the Maytag factory in Newton and the mortgage crisis, all the while insisting the Democrat is running on a platform of “it’s all Bush’s fault.”

Schmett has $28,769 cash on hand as of his last filing with the Federal Election Commission on June 30. Boswell has  $393,852. So don’t expect to see this ad air during your nightly newscast. But, as he points out in the ad, Boswell wouldn’t debate his opponent in the Democratic primary, so Schmett won’t likely get a chance to debate Boswell before election day. If that’s the case, this might be as close as he gets.

So far, YouTube statistics indicate that Schmett’s Web video has been viewed only 123 times.