Christopher Reed Looking at Loebsack Race

Reed May Get Into Congressional Race

Is Christopher "Not Tom Harkin" Reed looking for a new nickname: Not Dave Loebsack?

Reed, the Republican's 2008 Senate nominee, is telling his Facebook friends that he's running for Loebsack's 2nd District seat.

Reed sparked a fair amount of controversy late in the campaign in the Iowa rightosphere, charging that the Iowa Republican Party was undercutting his campaign. The most attention he got in the traditional media was after his one debate with Harkin, when he called the senator "the Tokyo Rose of Al-Qaida."

It turned out to be Harkin's easiest re-elect by far. Reed did manage to carry five western Iowa counties. But none of that turf is in the 2nd District, where Loebsack beat Mariannette Miller-Meeks (who the rightosphere really, really REALLY thought would pull an upset despite any objective evidence) by nearly 20 points.

If Reed does get in, we'd see a partial rematch of the 2008 Senate primary. Third place finisher Steve Rathje, like Reed a Linn County businessman, now has "for Congress" instead of "for Senate" on his website. All we need now is George Eichhorn to complete the set.

(He's not a 2nd CD resident, but you don't have to live in the district to run. Back in 1998 the Natural Law Party ran an entire congressional slate that all lived in Fairfield...)