A Near Perfect List

Better Get Aboard Son: The Braley Train is way out of the station and gathering steam; Team Braley just dropped a press release boasting of a mass legislative endorsement:

71 Democratic members of the Iowa legislature have announced their formal endorsement of Bruce Braley for Senate.  45 Iowa House Democrats are endorsing Braley today, as are all 26 Iowa Senate Democrats, including Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal and President Pam Jochum.

This is good news but there are 47 House Democrats  and the list geek in me was asking: who are the two? My first guess was someone from a red district but the real answer was the polar opposite.

The missing names are minority leader Kevin McCarthy and congressional candidate Pat Murphy.

To me the absence says less about Braley and more about the missing two. But what exactly is it they're saying by staying off the list? Perhaps they're trying to plead a leaderly neutrality.  But in addition to Senate leaders Gronstal and Jochum, dual role state rep/Democratic party chair Tyler Olson signed on as well, so that doesn't cut it.

Although I see a point: a fringe candidate - which is all the opposition Braley is going to get in a primary at this point - could exaggerate a big stink about not getting a fair shake. I saw this happen way back when I was an Objective Journalist, and it's tricky. The serious candidate can't really dignify the loony tune with a response, and the traditional press isn't allowed to flat out say "this person is nuts."