In that campaign, which Reed lost by more than 20 percentage points, the Marion Republican claimed that Harkin’s support for same-sex marriage also meant he supports marriage between “any 2, 3 or multiple people of any and all sexes. Heck, as far as he is concerned, you could marry your horse if it makes you happy.”

During a debate later in the campaign, Reed said Harkin had “an eight-year history of becoming the Tokyo Rose of Al-Qaeda and Middle East terrorism.”

In an interview Thursday with conservative blogger Craig Robinson, Reed said he learned a lot from his 2008 defeat and promises a campaign that focuses less on personal attacks and more on the issues.

“Last time, I took the race personally. This time, it’s about the people. So the vitriol and the remarks are not going to be there this time because there is too much at stake. This campaign has to be about defeating Dave Loebsack and what he votes for in Washington.”

Reed is expected to square off in a primary with Mariannette Miller-Meeks, the party’s 2008 nominee in the 2nd district, and Steve Rathje, who Reed defeated in 2008 for the right to take on Harkin.

Christopher Reed, who narrowly won a three-way Republican primary to challenge U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin in 2008, will officially become a candidate for the U.S. House on Thursday, with a planned announcement in Ottumwa. Following the first stop, Reed also plans to visit the communities of Solon, his hometown, and Cedar Rapids, a part of the metropolitan area where he and his family currently live.

The tour, which the campaign has dubbed as “Defending our Children’s Future Tour,” will set the stage for a campaign that Reed said will focus on fiscal issues.

Christopher Reed was the only political candidate to take part in an anti-immigration rally in Postville following a massive 2008 immigration raid at a meatpacking plant. Reed, who was then a U.S. Senate candidate for Republicans, will announce his candidacy for U.S. House this week.

This appears to be a switch of tactics from his campaign against Harkin. During that race, Reed made national news for his personal attacks on Harkin, especially his proclamation that Harkin was the “Tokyo Rose of Al-Qaeda” during an October 2008 debate.

Reed, however, is not the only individual who has been mentioned as a Republican candidate for Iowa’s 2nd district.

Steve Rathje, a Cedar Rapids businessman who faced Reed for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, has also been making statements on social networking sites that seem to indicate an interest in a congressional run. Although the titles of the pages on Rathje’s website continues to reference his past U.S. Senate aspirations, the overall theme of the site now simply references Congress, leaving open which chamber he is considering.

Ottumwa ophthalmologist Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who served as the 2008 Republican nominee for the 2nd district race, has also remained active — especially in the area of health care reform. While the domain associated with her former campaign site remains active, it automatically redirects to her personal blog, Doctor’s Notes, where she writes on numerous topics that are consistent with someone who is considering a second run.  Further, it is widely anticipated that she will be making her own announcement in relation to the 2nd district in the near future, and the fact that Reed has chosen her community of Ottumwa to spark his own campaign launch does little to tamper such speculation.

Since there doesn’t appear to be any Democrats positioning themselves for a primary run against incumbent U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, it is nearly certain that the Republican chosen during the primary process will challenge the Democratic incumbent. The 2008 election ended with Loebsack claiming 57 percent of the vote and, according to the Cook Political Report, Iowa’s 2nd district is considered the state’s most solid Democratic voting block with a partisan voting index of  D+7.

In closing remarks in the KCRG-sponsored debate, Miller-Meeks criticized Loebsack for voting with the Democratic leadership “98 percent of the time” and for accepting political action committee money. “America is not divided,” Miller-Meeks said, “Congress is divided.”

Loebsack said that despite Miller-Meeks’ contention, he had never taken a no PAC money pledge, and that he listens to his constituents. “I’ve been back to the district every weekend, except for the times I went over to Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Loebsack, citing trips to the war zones he made as a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

“You didn’t listen to your constituents on the bailout bill,” Miller-Meeks retorted.

The candidates clashed on Social Security and health care. Miller-Meeks favored a move toward at least partial individual accounts on both fronts. Loebsack endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s health care plan, and said any move toward privatizing Social Security was risky. “Right after he was re-elected, George Bush pushed this risky scheme, and it was rejected by the American people,” he said.

Panelist James Lynch of the Cedar Rapids Gazette cut to the chase and asked about Miller-Meeks’ nickname for Loebsack, “Do-Nothing Dave.” “We haven’t seen leadership… when it comes to flood relief or the bailout bill,” said Miller-Meeks.

“As a freshman, I think I’ve accomplished quite a lot,” said Loebsack, citing the $4.6 billion Midwestern Disaster Tax Relief Act he cosponsored with Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley that was included in the revised bailout plan.

At that point, Miller-Meeks tossed out a well-rehearsed “You’re no Chuck Grassley” line.

The two-candidate format in a TV studio, with questions from journalists rather than the public, made for a more formal debate than the previous four-way debate in Coralville. Longer responses gave the major party candidates more opportunities to flesh out their proposals.

Green candidate Wendy Barth and independent Brian White participated in the earlier debate, but were not invited by KCRG. Barth liveblogged her responses to debate questions from an Iowa City coffee shop.

Loebsack took many opportunities to mention communities in the southern tier of the district. “I’ve been to Ottumwa 41 times,” he said, citing Miller-Meeks’ home town.

Loebsack also named Obama four times, and Republican nominee John McCain once. Miller-Meeks did not mention McCain’s name.

Iowa Independent’s Lynda Waddington contributed to this report.

Barth, Loebsack, Miller-Meeks, White

The four-candidate 2nd Congressional District debate seemed fairly congenial — but that may have been because the format left the candidates little time to engage one another. With a strictly enforced 45 seconds an answer, it was hard to stretch out.

“I’m running out of time, I’m just getting started,” said Green candidate Wendy Barth as the red STOP card went up. “It’s not fair,” Democratic incumbent Dave Loebsack nodded in sympathy.

But Barth and independent Brian White were grateful to the Johnson County AARP, the debate sponsors, for including them with Loebsack and Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the Thursday afternoon forum. The equal treatment extended to the order of speaking and even to the moderator’s repeated habit of skipping the fourth candidate as the questions rotated.

The questions leaned toward the senior-oriented, but the answers revolved around the relative effectiveness of the Congress Loebsack joined two years ago.

“I got tired of seeing Congress doing nothing but seeing who was the victor in a partisan fight,” said Miller-Meeks, citing Social Security, health and energy policy.

Loebsack defended his record while agreeing with the premise. “I ran in 2006 because I was fed up with a system that was broken. I wanted to once again make government a positive force in people’s lives,” said the congressman. “I have worked tirelessly to provide for our troops and provide oversight to the Bush Administration’s Iraq policies.”

But the harshest criticism of partisanship came from White, who is premising his entire candidacy on breaking away from the two-party system. “The answers are simple. The reason I’m running is nothing gets done,” said White. “The first thing you do is get rid of everything in Washington including the interest groups.” White, somewhat surprisingly, drew the most applause lines in the forum, as he returned again and again to his theme and called for term limits, getting rid of PACs, and ethics reform.

Barth described herself as a single-issue candidate: “My single issue is sustainability,” she said, adding that thousands of issues fall under that umbrella. “It means having a lifestyle that continues generation after generation. Our lifestyles have to change. We can embrace that change or deny change.”

Barth launched the sharpest exchange of the debate as she attacked Loebsack for his vote on the financial bailout bill. “The biggest mistake you made was voting for that,” she said while looking at Loebsack. “They want us middle-class taxpayers to bail them out, ” she added while running out of time.

“I’m disgusted. Both the Democrats’ and Republicans’ hands are dirty in this,” said White to sustained applause.

“Those are the two toughest votes I’ve had to take,” said Loebsack. “The downside of not doing anything, I feared, were worse.” Loebsack said the second version of the bill included $4.6 billion, which he cosponsored with Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, for flood victims and wind tax credits.

“The risk has been passed on globally, and we’re paying the price for that,” said Miller-Meeks. Asked about tax policy, the Ottumwa doctor said, “I advocate an optional flat tax and then we could go to further tax reform. Time is money,” she said, in reference to the cost of tax preparation.

“We have to stop tax incentives for companies going overseas,” says Loebsack, who said flat tax proposals hurt the middle class. Loebsack said the Bush tax cuts should not be extended. He also called for alternative minimum tax reform. “If we don’t reform it, it’ll catch the middle class.”

“I am a huge flat tax supporter,” said White. “No loopholes, no deductions, none of that. It’s very simple.”

“A progressive tax system is better,” responded Barth. “There should be a Peace Tax so people can say ‘I don’t want any of my money going to the military,”’ she said.

“Social Security funds should not be used in the general budget,” said Miller-Meeks. “That’s part of the reason we have a problem now. We need to have a Congress that lives within its means and not continue to rob the Social Security fund.”

“President Bush pushed this idea of Social Security privatization after his re-election,” said Loebsack, “and it was roundly rejected by the American people.”

Loebsack said the initial Patriot Act went too far and he would have voted no. “I don’t believe we should impinge too much on our civil liberties. It’s got to be a balancing act.”

Miller-Meeks said anti-terrorist issues that risk civil liberties should have timelines. “We need an active and a vigilant press because they hold officials feet to the fire, and they have an investigative arm.”

“We have to protect civil liberties as a priority,” said White. “We need to do it the same way the criminal system does — with probable cause.”

“There’s never going to be 100 percent safety. We have to protect ourselves but can’t be paranoid,” said Barth.

2nd District candidates will have another forum on Oct. 21 — or some of the candidates will. Only the major party nominees were invited to the KCRG-TV event. White urged Loebsack and Miller-Meeks to go to bat for his inclusion, while Barth pledged to liveblog her responses to the questions.

The 2nd District congressman made the pilgrimage Tuesday to the old-fashioned diner which is a well-known stop for presidential and local politicians. His main opponent, Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks, made the stop in August.

The Hamburg Inn runs a “Coffee Bean Caucus,” where diners vote for the candidate of their choice by dropping a coffee bean in a jar. On Tuesday, Barack Obama had two full jars. The one John McCain jar was half full for Republican optimists, or half empty for pessimists.

“It looks kind of like the Republican economy,” said the usually nonpartisan Dave Panther, the Hamburg Inn’s owner.

“If the vote in the bean jar is any indication, I’m going to do well,” said the congressman, though as a former political science professor, he was quick to note the unscientific nature of the poll. The Loebsack jar appeared to have about three dozen beans in it, while Miller-Meeks had a total of two.

Gary Sanders of Iowa City offered a strong opinion of Loebsack’s opponent. “It really pisses me off that Miller-Meeks is running this Do-Nothing Dave thing,” he said of the Republican candidate’s ads. “We know how much you’re doing.”

Loebsack has now earned a picture on the wall in the Hamburg’s Ronald Reagan booth, where the Gipper dined in 1992. The new congressman’s picture is kitty corner from a portrait of his predecessor, Republican Jim Leach. “I’m proud to be next to Jim,” said Loebsack, who defeated Leach two years ago. “We ran the best and most civil campaign in the country.”

“I’m the same Dave Loebsack who ran two years ago,” said the congressman, whose campaign is focusing on his record during his first term. He cited the College Cost Reduction and Access Act he worked on as an Education Committee member. “It provides the largest single infusion of college funding since the GI Bill.”

“I think I’m the only person on Armed Services who doesn’t have a big base in the district,” Loebsack said of his other committee. “But we have a lot of veterans and active duty personnel, and on that committee I can do a lot for our veterans and our National Guard.”

Loebsack greets Hy Joseph of Iowa City

Loebsack’s last several months have been dominated by flood relief efforts, including a visit by President Bush to eastern Iowa. “People ask what was it like to be on Air Force One, but I would have taken President Bush around in my Ford Focus if the Secret Service had let me,” said Loebsack. “But Senator Harkin and I had President Bush alone two on one for 30 to 45 minutes. He was literally a captive audience. When we got on the plane he was at $1.8 billion (for flood relief), and we got him up to $2.65 billion.”

Loebsack and Miller-Meeks meet in a candidate forum Thursday in Iowa City, along with Green candidate Wendy Barth and independent Brian White.

“I couldn’t agree more and we have to find out how we got into this mess and then we need to resolve the problem,” Loebsack said, when asked by Maria Conzemius of Iowa City if there was bipartisan blame for the financial crisis. “We need to hold folks accountable who made these mistakes, and if we find malfeasance we ought to punish them with prison terms,” he added.

But Loebsack said the bill was, ultimately, necessary. “When it didn’t pass, you saw what happened in the stock market,” he said of the Dow Jones drop of more than 700 points the day the first version of the bill failed in the House.

Loebsack said the second version of the bill included more provisions for individual homeowners.

“If I had my way, we would have had a quick vote on the Paulson plan and voted it down. But over the course of a week to ten days the plan improved. I was concerned that if we didn’t do anything the consequences would be far worse,” Loebsack said.

Loebsack’s three opponents — Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Green Wendy Barth, and independent Brian White — have all said they would have voted against the bailout.

“This is one of those issues where people really have to search their conscience,” said Loebsack.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack

Dave Loebsack’s approach to his first re-election campaign is simple. “Eventually, I guess I’ll get to campaigning,” the 2nd District congressman told Johnson County Democrats Thursday night, “but in the meantime, I need to do my job.”

Since mid-June, that job has been, first and foremost, dealing with flood relief. The district’s two largest cities, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, were the hardest hit in the state.

“We had two votes to adjourn” last week for the August recess, said Loebsack. “In both instances, I voted no. I thought it was more important to stay and get a disaster relief package. I’m disappointed that we didn’t get it through, but I’m confident we will in September.” Loebsack said there is no hard dollar amount yet attached to the pending legislation, and it’s not clear what kind of bill President Bush would be willing to sign.

“I think I need to be in two places at the same time,” Loebsack said of flood relief efforts. “We’re still working with folks in Washington during the district work period.”

Loebsack has spent much of his first week back in the district meeting one on one with flood victims. “I’m taking as many stories as I can back to my colleagues,” he said. “It’s anecdotal, but it’s powerful.”

Iowa’s seven member delegation — four Democrats, three Republicans — is “working together in as bipartisan a fashion as we can,” said Loebsack, noting he’s signed onto a small business relief bill sponsored by Steve King.

King is among Republican House members spending at least part of the recess in Washington in an effort to force a vote on drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), dubbed the “Drill America First Act.” Loebsack is skeptical about the proposal. “The oil companies have access to 68 million acres, and that’s where they need to look first,” he said. “We don’t need to drill in ANWR. There’s a lot of reserve up there already where they can drill, and I’m OK with that. But we need a comprehensive plan that includes alternative fuels and renewables.”

Other than “doing my job,” Loebsack’s campaigning has been limited to a few parades and small events with party activists, such as Thursday’s Johnson County central committee meeting. He skipped the state Democratic convention in July, but will be attending the Democratic National Convention later this month as a superdelegate.

As for his re-election chances against Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks and two other potential candidates, Loebsack said, “I feel confident that the record I’ve built over the last 20 months is the record the people of the 2nd District want to see.”

Loebsack said he is also confident that Democrats will increase their House and Senate majorities — “By how much, I don’t know.”

“I try not to get into the process stuff as much now that I’m not a professor anymore,” said the former Cornell College political scientist, “but if we get to 57 or 58 in the Senate and we have Obama as president, some Republicans will get on board and we’ll have fewer filibusters. We can get out of Iraq and get our troops home — but we’ve got to have Obama as president.”

Barth would be the fourth announced candidate, joining Loebsack, Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and independent Brian White.

Barth (left) with Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney (center) in December.

“My record as a peace activist speaks for itself,” Barth told Iowa Independent. “Bring the troops home, redirect the military budget to social programs that can provide real security, and encourage Israel to establish more respectful relations with their neighbors so they won’t feel like they need so many weapons from us.”

Barth declined to criticize Loebsack or the other candidates. “My opponents are all fine well-meaning people, courageously putting themselves into the spotlight,” she said. “If we can use the media as a forum to explain our positions on the issues, the voters will be able to make an educated choice.”

Barth’s supporters are planning a Saturday meeting in Iowa City to make further plans.

The Barth candidacy represents a change in strategy for the Greens. “There were a couple mentions of running someone for Congress,” Green Party secretary Holly Hart told Iowa Independent in late June, “but then Loebsack started voting against the military budgets.”

“I had been toying with this idea for a while, but thought I should pragmatically spend a few more months saving my paychecks before I go out on the campaign trail again,” Barth explained. “However, several people expressed to me the need to have a wider selection of candidates for the US House seat this fall, and it was pretty easy to get me to agree to be their candidate.”

“I intend to run an issue-oriented campaign focusing on sustainability and the environment,” said Barth. “We need to careful not to invest our precious last drops (of oil) in wasteful boondoggles. With my long-standing interest in the environment and alternative energy, I believe I have something meaningful to contribute to this very important issue, and if elected, the voters can be assured that I intend to act on these principles.”

Barth needs 300 signatures by August 15 to qualify for the ballot.

“Nothing has changed in Washington” since Democrats took control of Congress in 2006, White told Iowa Independent. “And I’m the type of guy that when things aren’t going right, you do something about it.”

White deliberately avoids party labels, but he sees former 2nd District congressman Jim Leach as something of a role model, and interned for Leach one summer. So, would White describe himself as a Jim Leach Republican? “Well, without the Republican part,” he said.Leach had a moderate and independent image during his tenure, but the Republican label caught up with him in 2006 when he lost one of the nation’s biggest upsets to Democrat Dave Loebsack.

“He’s putting his party’s interests ahead of the district,” White said of Loebsack. “He’s voting with the leadership 98 percent of the time.” That might not be a disadvantage in a district that, in terms of voter registration and performance, is the most Democratic in the state. But White disagrees. “There’s a lot of pressure to follow the party” in Washington, he says, pressure he would be immune to as an independent. “(Loebsack’s) a freshman playing the D.C. game.”

White’s web site has little mention of the hot-button social issues that motivate partisan activists of the left and right. He says some of those, like gay marriage are state issues. He’s focused on “fiscal responsibility” and supports a flat income tax, but not the sales-tax driven “Fair Tax” that was a prominent issue in the Republican caucuses.  White said his own presidential vote is up for grabs between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.

White says partisan posturing has made a solution to the Iraq War more difficult. “We need to move past the status quo of placing blame for past events and move forward to work together to create solutions that will ultimately bring our troops and our money back home without compromising our security,” he said.

“If a person of another nationality wants to move to America and become a citizen, it should not take five years to become one,” White says on the immigration issue. He supports increases in legal immigration that would immigrants to establish residency after criminal background checks, followed by a faster path to citizenship.

White works as a legal counsel at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The medical connection, and Leach-like positioning, could cut into totals for Republican nominee Mariannette Miller-Meeks, an Ottumwa doctor. Neither the Miller-Meeks nor the Loebsack campaign had anything official to say about White’s candidacy, though staffers for both candidates were curious.

White has not filed campaign finance paperwork with the Federal Election Commission yet, though he says he plans to soon. He plans a grass roots campaign centered on letters to the editor and individual supporters. Unlike a party candidate “we don’t have county chairs built in,” said White.

Another disadvantage White faces is the straight ticket line on the ballot. As many as a third of voters are likely to mark the straight ticket and automatically cast a ballot for Loebsack or Miller-Meeks, but White must earn each vote on his own. He says Iowa is one of only about a dozen states that still have the straight ticket, and while it’s a state issue he would like to see it abolished.

White said prominent individual supporters have contacted him from both parties, though he named no names. “Every supporter is important regardless of stature, he said.” Ultimately, White expects his campaign to cost in the low tens of thousands of dollars. That’s small compared to the $470,000 Loebsack has raised.

“Take out the party, and 80 percent of (Loebsack’s) money has come from out of state,” White says. “I have no delusions we can raise as much.” But White says he’s in the race to win and is confident he can help bridge the partisan divide in the House, even if he is the only independent.

There are currently no independents among the 435 member House of Representatives, and the odds are long. Bernie Sanders of Vermont served eight terms before moving to the Senate in 2006, but he functioned as a de facto Democrat. Seven other members were technically elected as independents in the last half century. But those members were all elected under unusual circumstances and quickly aligned with a party.  The last true independent was Frazier Reams of Ohio, who served two terms in the 1950s.

The filing period for independent and third party candidates is July 28 through August 15. The bar is low — 300 signatures, less than party candidates need for the primary.  White says he’s well on the way.  He would be the first independent to run in the 2nd District under its current configuration.  The 2006 race was a two-way fight between Loebsack and Leach. Libertarian Kevin Litten ran in 2002 and 2004, but is not a candidate this time.

So did Miller-Meeks win, or did Peter Teahen lose? A little of each, perhaps.Teahen started the race as a perceived front runner, but he didn’t sit well with the conservative base. Opposition research is easy in the Internet era, and a little quick searching turned up a December 2007 party affiliation change from Democratic to Republican. Most damning were campaign contributions to Democrats Mike Blouin and 2002 congressional candidate Julie Thomas.

Teahen offered an unapologetic defense of the Thomas donation, saying the pediatrician had saved his daughter’s life. But it left a bad taste with conservatives, who repeatedly emphasized the donation and party changes on their blogs. It didn’t stop there. Shortly before the election, an email from a British disaster worker surfaced, charging that Teahen acted like a diva on a Darfur mission and calling his resume into question. The charge cut to the core of Teahen’s biography as a Red Cross disaster expert.

Bloggers also attacked Teahen’s family values, posting links to his divorce papers. Democrats joined the attack as well, filing complaints about ads for Teahen’s funeral home that (they said) too closely resembled campaign ads.

Mariannette Miller-Meeks, meanwhile, made the most of a medical and military background. (How many M’s can I cram in? Well, the campaign played on the name by handing out M&Ms as favors.) By the April congressional district convention, she seemed to have established a strong foothold among the party activists, which matters a lot in a low-turnout election.

Her GOP bona fides were also attacked by third candidate Lee Harder, whose underfunded campaign that emphasized the social issues never gained much traction. Harder’s signs proclaimed “Vote Conservative,” while Teahen and Miller-Meeks both left off the word “Republican.” But that appeal fell flat, as the race was treated as a two and a half way contest with a focus on “who can beat Loebsack.”

Teahen started the night in the lead, as returns from his base in Linn County rolled in early. He won a big margin — 67 percent to 26 percent — over Miller-Meeks in Linn, where turnout was high due to hot courthouse primaries. It was almost, but not quite, enough. Over half of Teahen’s total vote came out of Linn, which is the 2nd District’s largest county but doesn’t dominate the way Polk County controls a majority of the 3rd District.

Teahen’s base in Linn was considered a strength early in the campaign, as he argued that a candidate from the northern end of the district would run stronger in Linn and Johnson counties against the Mt. Vernon-based Loebsack. But Miller-Meeks turned the argument against Teahen, arguing that he was raising money exclusively from Linn County and not campaigning enough in the rest of the district.

As returns rolled in from the rest of the district, Miller-Meeks caught up and took a narrow lead. County by county, she picked up wins of several dozen or a couple hundred in low turnout, whittling away at Teahen’s 2,500 vote Linn margin. A 742-vote win in her home of Wapello County was enough to seal the deal.

The race is not yet on the national radar. But, then, it wasn’t on the national radar two years ago either.

The 2nd District, on paper, is the most Democratic in the state, and in retrospect it seems that the real fluke was not Loebsack’s 2006 upset win, but rather Republican Jim Leach’s ability to hold the district for 30 years. Leach was able to pull as much as a quarter of the Democratic vote, until that vote went flooding back to Loebsack in the national landslide of 2006. Miller-Meeks will need to win back some of those Democrats and independents to take this race off the “safe Democratic” list.