Conlin backs Judge

Conlin backs Judge

Women maybe winning in Iowa...

The timing of this move is really good news for Patty Judge, coming the same week as Mike Gronstal decides not to run. Lots of liberals were hoping for a Gronstal bid, and now face what appears to be a final set of choices:

Culver, who continues to suffer from a gravitas gap;

Blouin who is absolutely unacceptable on choice;

or Ed Fallon, Iowa's own Dennis Kucinich, who burned a lot of party bridges in 2000 with his Nader endorsement. (I loved it, but there's lots of folks who'll never forgive Ed - or me.)

Patty Judge looks pretty good in comparison. And with the Conlin endorsement, she reminds Iowa Dems that we join only Mississippi on the never elected a woman list.

I'm counting out Mike Fitzgerald, who doesn't seem to be moving very fast and who is all but tenured in his job as state treasurer.

Sal Mohamed is worth mentioning for sheer comic relief. He's adopted the unique strategy of standing at busy intersections holding up his sign and waving. I've seen him twice - at the Coral Ridge Mall exit where he stood for at least an hour and a half, and on Burlington Street in downtown Iowa City. Still, that's a more active campaign than some of the major contenders seem to have managed. And give the guy credit for coming to the U.S. and taking the American dream at face value, and for being a Democrat in unfriendly Steve King territory.

In terms of biography, and it feels weird to say this, but Chet Culver and Jim Nussle feel a lot alike. Two 40-something slick big white guys who, let's be honest, didn't grow up in Iowa. A tune in at the last second voter might have a hard time telling them apart despite clear policy differences (tune in at the last second voters don't notice that). Patty Judge presents a hell of a contrast in biography; a Genuine Iowa Farm Gal and about a generation older. Someone rural Iowans can picture out in the barn - a quality Roxanne Conlin and Bonnie Campbell conspicuously lacked.

So Iowa progressives can take a chance on the Culver machine, or cast a protest vote for Fallon and risk throwing the nomination to Blouin. Or they can try something really different. I'm still thinking but I have a good idea what I'd do TODAY...

Politics, Iowa