John McCain picked up a relatively rare newspaper endorsement Saturday from the Cedar Rapids Gazette. The eastern Iowa daily also backed incumbent Democrats Tom Harkin for U.S. Senate and Bruce Braley in the 1st Congressional District, but chose Republican challengers Mariannette Miller-Meeks over 2nd District Rep. Dave Loebsack and Kim Schmett over Leonard Boswell in the 3rd District.

“Obama has offered no clear plan to deal with our country’s staggering debt,” wrote the Gazette editorial board, citing McCain’s economic policies as the main reason for the endorsement. “(Obama’s) tax plan could stifle the economic rebound we desperately need.”

But the Gazette expressed disapproval of McCain’s vice presidential choice. “Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin might well shake up Washington’s entrenched politics as usual, but she obviously lacks working knowledge and understanding of foreign policy and many national issues, which raises valid questions about McCain’s judgment in choosing her.”

The Gazette cited Harkin’s seniority in its endorsement and noted that his Republican challenger, Marion businessman Christopher Reed, did not meet with the editorial board.

Likewise, Bruce Braley’s challenger, state Sen. Dave Hartsuch, did not meet with the editorial board, which said Braley “quickly gained a reputation in his first term as a smart, bulldog questioner who does his homework.”

“We were pretty comfortable with endorsing Loebsack for a second term … until we met Mariannette Miller-Meeks,” writes the board. While praising the Mt. Vernon freshman Loebsack, the endorsement calls Miller-Meeks a “dynamo” who can “say no to requests and programs that can’t be funded without more taxpayer debt.”

In contrast, the Gazette had little praise for the 3rd District candidates and said Boswell offered few specifics. Schmett “didn’t exactly wow us… but it’s time for someone else to represent the 3rd District.”

The Gazette has a policy of no endorsements in caucuses and primaries.

After 12 years of light accomplishment and wrongheaded votes, Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell doesn’t deserve to return to Congress.

But his Republican challenger, Kim Schmett of Clive, also fails to make a compelling case that he deserves a congressional seat.

Iowans deserve better.

However, the Register’s editorial board subscribes to the philosophy that if voters must decide, so must we. So the Register gives a weak nod to Boswell, with a list of expectations:

Among their expectations is one big one: that this should be Boswell’s final term in Congress.  Although rumors that Boswell plans to retire have circulated since 2004, the congressman has made no commitments of his own since breaking his self-imposed four-term limit that year.

During this year’s primary campaign, the Register endorsed Boswell’s opponent, Ed Fallon, who lost by double digits.

In 2006, veteran Republicans Gil Gutknecht in Minnesota, Jim Leach in Iowa and Jim Ryun in Kansas suddenly found themselves in tough reelection fights. By the time the party saw what was happening, it was already too late.

And thus it is this year, as the GOP moves resources. In Iowa, that’s going to mean, if anything, Rep. Tom Latham, who has a race on his hands in the 4th District against Becky Greenwald.

National Republicans don’t have much invested in the other races, and the Latham-Greenwald race is the only one in the state that’s on the national handicapper’s lists (though still near the bottom.)

Democrat Rob Hubler is running a spirited race against Steve King, the other Republican incumbent, but the district lines strongly favor King.

In the 2nd District, Mariannette Miller-Meeks is an energetic and very visible opponent to Dave Loebsack, but she was never the pick of the RNCC. They’re the ones who recruited Peter Teahen, but the base rejected him in the primary. His donation to Democrat Julie Thomas in her 2002 race against Leach was probably the fatal blow. “Support ALL Republicans” is a big meme on the GOP side of the Iowa blogosphere.

Of course, Loebsack wasn’t on the Dem’s national priority lists in 2006 until … well, until after he won. But he was swimming with the national tide, not against it. And the fact that Leach has enthusiastically and actively been campaigning for Obama doesn’t help the Republican who’s trying to win his seat back.

In the Des Moines-based 3rd District, Kim Schmett looks like an abandoned backup plan, positioned for a serious race if Ed Fallon had knocked off Leonard Boswell in the Democratic primary.

And in the 1st District, the race has descended to the point that Dave Hartsuch is calling John McCain too pro-gay. Seriously. Hartsuch has said he was not invited to Saturday’s McCain rally in Davenport because he disagreed with McCain on the definition of traditional marriage. The Hartsuch campaign, and the Christopher Reed Senate campaign, seem to be focused now more on winning position in the ongoing internal battle within the Republican Party of Iowa than on their opponents.

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.