Cardella backing Reed

Cardella backing Reed in 2nd CD Primary

Republican supervisor candidate Lori Cardella has taken sides in the upcoming 2nd District congressional primary, backing Christopher "Not Tom Harkin" Reed over `08 nominee Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Senate primary loser Steve Rathje.

Cardella shows up (h/t Bleeding Heartland) as a Reed county chair on Reed's campaign site.

It's hard for me, from my perspective on the left end of the Democratic party, to measure degrees of conservative-ness, but I'll try. In the 2008 congressional primary, MMM was seen as more conservative than Peter Teahen, who she narrowly beat. But not conservative enough for RNC member Kim Lehman and Iowa "Right To Life" (sic)

Anyway, MMM and Teahen were both a heck of a lot more conservative than Jim Leach. Reed, winner of the Senate primary, was seen as more conservative than that, and his main claim to fame in the general election (where he carried only five counties out of 99) was calling Tom Harkin "the Tokyo Rose of al-Qaida."

So by my math (Leach > Teahen > MMM > Reed) that puts Reed, and supporter Cardella, three standard deviations from the kind of Republican who was actually able to win Johnson County over major opposition...

Rathje, for his part, was just seen as inept; he started running two years before the primary but looked weak enough that both Reed and defeated ex-legislator George Eichhorn (now running for Secretary of State) saw an opportunity late. It was almost a three-way dead heat, but Rathje wound up at the bottom of the pile.

(George Eichhorn: Losing your legislative seat as a stepping stone for higher office?)

Krusty Konservative took a shot at Rathje for a poorly timed campaign launch:

Why in the hell did he send out a press release on New Years Eve that was for release on January 3rd, that says he will having an announcement tour for his 2nd Congressional run. Just set up the tour and let us know when and where you will be. Trust me, you would get better coverage.

Steve Rathje, you’re an idiot for sending out a press release on New Years Eve.

Still, not the biggest dumb of the day. That goes to Dave Funk in the 3rd CD, in the form of the classic put the whole contact list in the cc: field instead of the bcc: field. Funk brags: "Funk for Congress campaign hires Iowa Tea Party Chairman as Political Director." Reply, and not from me: "I wouldn't brag about this, you moron."

Back to Cardella and Reed, perhaps she can finance his campaign and buy him a campaign-funded haircut,... which is pretty funny, as Reed's buzzcut could easily be achieved with a pair of clippers at home. Two problems with that: 1) the rules changed, so no clothes with campaign cash 2) unlike county races, federal races have donor limits. Question: Is Cardella on track to spend more on a county supervisor race than Reed spent on a statewide run?

And this doesn't fit anywhere else but was the scariest headline of the day: "King Reconsiders Senate Bid." Turns out it was PETER King of New York, not Krazy Steve.