The Constitution Party started as the US Taxpayers Party, an umbrella group of several single state conservative parties. It changed names in 1999. Baldwin was the 2004 vice presidential candidate. He’s running under different labels in some states.

The Socialist Party is the lineal descendant of Eugene Debs’ campaigns a century ago and has elected, as Alice Cooper duly noted in “Wayne’s World,” three Socialist mayors of Milwaukee. The party faded almost to non-existence in the 1960s but has been an off and on presence on Iowa’s presidential ballots since 1980.

Nine presidential tickets is about average for Iowa in recent presidential cycles. The most crowded ballot was in 1992 with 14 candidates.

The big news in Congressional filing was the non-filing by Democratic primary loser William Myers in the 4th Congressional District. There will be three-way contests in the 3rd and 5th Districts, and a four-way race in the 2nd. The U.S. Senate race is a two way contest between incumbent Democrat Tom Harkin and Republican Christopher Reed.

Democrats have a slight edge over Republicans in filling slots on the ballot in Iowa’s 125 state legislative races. Democrats have fielded 114 candidates, while Republicans have 108.

Iowa's Capitol Building

The two parties break nearly even on uncontested races. 10 Democrats and 11 Republicans have no opposition in the fall. The Democratic edge comes in the seven races where Democratic incumbents will face only a third party opponent and no Republican.

In Senate District 2, Republican Randy Feenstra will walk into his first term without facing an opponent in either the primary or general election (not that having a Democratic opponent would have made much difference in a Sioux County district).

With Friday’s filing deadline, the Democrat vs. Republican matchups for Iowa’s federal and state races are final — even if a candidate dies. That actually happened two years ago, when unopposed Republican Rep. Mary Lou Freeman passed away. A December 2006 special election was required to fill her seat.

There’s one asterisk on the list: In Cedar County-based House District 79, Democrat Rebecca Spears filed in March, and then announced her withdrawal from the race. However, she did not file the paperwork to withdraw by the Aug. 7 deadline, and will appear on the ballot against Republican incumbent Jeff Kaufmann. Spears failed to respond to an inquiry from Iowa Independent. Cedar County Democratic Chair Linda Carillo told Iowa Independent that Spears did not respond to repeated attempts at communication before the withdrawal deadline.

Third parties still have a week to substitute candidates, but only in districts where they’ve already filed. The Libertarians have two candidates and the Greens have one.

Complete list of candidates at the Secretary of State’s site (.pdf)

Unopposed Democrats
House District 22: Deborah Berry, D-Waterloo (won a primary challenge)
House District 24: Roger Thomas, D-Elkader
House District 25: Tom Schueller, D-Maquoketa
House District 30: Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville
House District 34: Todd Taylor, D-Cedar Rapids
House District 38: Tyler Olson, D-Cedar Rapids (Republican opponent dropped out)
House District 42: Geri Huser, D-Altoona (won a primary challenge)
House District 48: Donovan Olson, D-Boone
House District 78: Vicki Lensing, D-Iowa City
House District 88: Dennis Cohoon, D-Burlington

Unopposed Republicans
Senate District 2:  Open Seat — Dave Mulder retiring, GOP nominee Randy Feenstra was also unopposed in the primary
Senate District 26: Steve Kettering, R-Lake View
Senate District 28: James Seymour, R-Woodbine
Senate District 30: Pat Ward, R-West Des Moines
Senate District 32: Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale
House District 5: Royd Chambers, R-Sheldon
House District 6: Mike May, R-Spirit Lake
House District 51: Rod Roberts, R-Carroll
House District 82: Linda Miller, R-Bettendorf
House District 97: Rich Anderson, R-Clarinda
House District 98: Greg Forristall, R-Macedonia

Candidates With Third Party Opponents Only
Senate District 4: Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg (”Grassroots For Life” opponent)
House District 15: Brian Quirk, D-New Hampton (independent opponent)
House District 46: Lisa Heddens, D-Ames (Libertarian opponent)
House District 66: Ako Abdul-Samad, D-Des Moines (Green opponent)
House District 77: Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City (independent opponent)
House District 90: John Whitaker, D-Hillsboro (”4th of July Party” opponent)
House District 93: Mary Gaskill, D-Ottumwa (independent opponent)

One of Latham’s challengers in the 4th District, Democrat Kurt Meyer of St. Ansgar, completed his paperwork over the last week.  And while he didn’t file, a potential GOP challenger to 1st District Democrat emerged: state Sen. David Hartsuch, R-Davenport.  Hartsuch, a conservative who knocked off moderate Maggie Tinsman in the 2006 primary, is in midterm and would keep his legislative seat if he runs and loses.  He’s passing paperwork across the district, but says he hasn’t decided yet.

In the most intriguing state senate filing, Pella City Council member Bruce Schiebout, a Republican, has filed in the Senate District 36 seat of Paul McKinley, R-Chariton.  Two-term Sen. McKinley, who lost a leadership fight last year, has announced his candidacy but hasn’t yet filed.

Former Sen. Al Sorenson, D-Boone, is hoping for a comeback against Republican incumbent Jerry Behn, also from Boone, in Senate District 24. 

The two incumbent Democratic representatives running for Senate seats filed last week.  Rep. Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, is running in Senate District 14, where fellow Democrat Mike Connolly is retiring.  Rep. Swati Dandekar, D-Marion, filed in Senate District 18, where  she’ll face Republican Joe Childers. GOP incumbent Mary Lundby is stepping down to run for the Linn County Board of Supervisiors.  Meanwhile, in Dandekar’s open House District 36 seat, Democrat Gretchen Lawyer is likely to face Republican Nick Wagner, a Marion city council member.  In Jochum’s House District 27 seat, Communications Workers leader Francis Giunta, a Democrat, has announced his candidacy.

Incumbent Senators Filing, March 3-7 (3D, 2R)