Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Persistence Breeds Failure

Until this week it look like the race for Iowa candidate futility was close between Democrat David Johnson and Republican Jane Jech, who are each on their fourth runs for the Iowa Legislature after three losses.

But the one candidate who filed Monday has lost more elections than Johnson and Jech combined, and without the one fluke primary win and actual election to lower office (city council for Johnson, community college board for Jech) that each has scored.

Libertarian Eric Cooper is making his EIGHTH consecutive run for office, filing against Beth Wessel-Kroeschell in House 45. Cooper has run on the Libertarian line every two years since 2000. Six of those runs have been for the House, in varying Ames districts and against various opponents due to retirements and redistricting (under three different maps!)

In 2002 Cooper ran for state senate and in 2010 he was the candidate for governor, finishing fourth with just a hair over 1%, about half what he needed to earn full party status for the Libertarians.

The biggest factor in Cooper's results is the number of opponents. He  won 6% in a three way 2012 race against BW-K and Republican Dane Nealson. In 2008 he scored 21% as the only opponent of Democrat Lisa Heddens. Those scores are pretty typical of his many previous runs, and he'll probably be on the high end this year as there's no Republican candidate.

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