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... Quinnipiac University released a poll today showing Ernst and Braley split 47-47 with 4 percent of voters undecided. ...

<p>In case you missed it over the weekend, Republican Joni Ernst is up by seven points over her Democrat opponent Bruce Braley in Iowa's U.S. Senate race according to a new poll from The Des Moines Register.</p> <p>Joni Ernst has charged to achieve a 7-point lead over Democrat Bruce Braley in a new Iowa Poll, which buoys the GOP's hope that an Iowa victory will be the tipping point to a Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate.</p>

Retiring Democratic Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin says that Iowa voters shouldn’t be fooled because Joni Ernst is “really attractive” and “sounds nice.”

NARAL Pro-Choice America’s president, Ilyse Hogue, said in a recent fundraising email that she’s “seriously starting to panic.” No, it’s not because she’s suddenly realized how her organization makes life easy for sexual predators. Rather, it’s because “[a]nti-choice Republicans are about to take over the Senate–and Mitch McConnell has already said that one of the very first things he’ll do is pass a ban on abortion after 20 weeks.” For evidence of the impending takeover, Ms. Hogue pointed to the Iowa senate race, where “polls say the anti-choice candidate is ahead by 2.5 points.” That “anti-choice candidate” would be Joni...

This started as a top ten list.Let's face it, with President Obama's awful approval ratings and the unfortunate consequences of Obamacare felt like a sting around the country, Democrats were already vulnerable in this year's midterm elections. These gaffes certainly won't help. Let's take a look at some of the worst mistakes Dems have made on the campaign trail so far:1.) That awful/insensitive/shameful and now infamous ad from the Wendy Davis (D-TX) gubernatorial campaign. 2.) Those colorful campaign memos from Michelle Nunn’s (D-GA) campaign, in which her own campaign referred to her as a “lightweight.” 3.) Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) saying he was...

New Polls Show Republicans Pulling Away In Key Senate Races November 02, 2014 Republican Senate candidates are pulling away in the final days of key races, according to polls released this weekend. Republicans are either leading in Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana or will likely win runoff elections, according to a NBC/Marist poll released Sunday. In addition, the Republican nominee in Iowa, Joni Ernst, now has a 7-point lead over Democratic challenger Rep Bruce Braley, according to a Des Moines Register poll released Saturday. Most polls have shown until now that the four races have essentially been deadlocked in the closing...

A poll by the Des Moines Register published today offers multiple reasons for GOP joy. Jodi Ernst is breaking out into a lead that is beyond the poll’s margin of error, while, Harry Reid, in words he may regret, has gone on the record saying that an Ernst win portends the GOP taking the Senate. "What Joni Ernst would mean, coming to the United States Senate, is that Mitch McConnell would be the leader of the Senate, someone who agrees with her on virtually everything. Think what that would mean to our country," Reid said on Friday. Unless this is...

If you’re in the Joni Ernst camp, then yesterday was probably a very exciting one given that the Des Moines Register’s  latest poll showed the GOP senate hopeful 7 points ahead of her Democratic opponent Rep. Bruce Braley [emphasis mine]: Joni Ernst has charged to achieve a 7-point lead over Democrat Bruce Braley in a new Iowa Poll, which buoys the GOP's hope that an Iowa victory will be the tipping point to a Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate. … Braley has lost vote share since an early October Iowa Poll (he dropped from 46 percent to 44 percent) while...

Des Moines Register 10/28 - 10/31 701 LV 3.7 51 44 Ernst +7

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Saturday urged progressive activists to get out the vote for Bruce Braley, calling Iowa crucial to Democratic hopes to keep the Senate. “If we win Iowa, we’re going to do just fine,” Reid said on a call organized by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Iowa is a key for what we do.” During the call, Reid said Joni Ernst, the GOP Senate nominee in Iowa, would be a disaster for issues key to progressives, like protecting Social Security and raising the minimum wage. Ernst, a state senator, and Braley, a four-term congressman, are...

REBECCA KAPLAN November 1, 2014 Harry Reid: Senate Control Hangs On One Key Race Republican takeover of the Senate will likely depend on the outcome of the Iowa Senate race. "What Joni Ernst would mean, coming to the United States Senate, is that Mitch McConnell would be the leader of the Senate, someone who agrees with her on virtually everything. Think what that would mean to our country," Reid said Saturday, according to Roll Call. Republican Joni Ernst is neck and neck with Rep. Bruce Braley, the Democratic candidate. Reid was participating in a conference call organized by the Progressive...

Fox News Poll: 1-Point Margin in Iowa, Kansas and North Carolina Senate Races By Dana Blanton October 31, 2014 “It all comes down to turnout.” That’s one of the biggest clichés in politics. It’s also true in one-point races. Welcome to Iowa, Kansas and North Carolina. According to the latest round of Fox News Senate battleground polls, none of the front-runners in those states hits the 50 percent mark. That means these races will be decided by late-deciding voters -- and campaigns competing furiously to get their voters to the polls. One thing that is baked into the cake: President...

The media’s sense of entitlement is really something to behold whenever they feel like they aren’t getting their due. The most recent example of this phenomenon has been the media’s reaction to Joni Ernst’s decision to skip meetings with three editorial board meetings, including one with the Des Moines Register, last week. The media, predictably, is up in arms over the gall of Ernst in skipping their gatekeeping function, leading the media to declare that Ernst is unfit for office. Predictably, Ernst has responded that she sees no value added in wasting her time kowtowing to people who aren’t going...

The clock is running out for Democrat Mark Pryor to keep from losing his U.S. Senate seat in Arkansas to Republican Congressman Tom Cotton. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Arkansas Voters shows Cotton with 51% of the vote to Pryor’s 44%. Four percent (4%) like some other candidate in the race, and two percent (2%) remain undecided.

In a poll released Wednesday by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group [Link at URL], Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) holds a commanding lead with early voters in Iowa's open Senate race compraed to his Republican opponent Joni Ernst. While the poll shows the race to be a dead heat, which is consistent with recent polling [Link at URL], Braley holds an impressive 15-point lead with those who have already voted. The poll also shows that Braley has a 10-point lead with independent voters. ...

Good ol’ Joe once again blurts out the awkward truth, while trying to be helpful to Democrat Senate candidate in Iowa, Bruce Braley (known to Michelle Obama as Bruce Bailey). .... you know the truth: The middle class is still in trouble,” Biden said. “You don’t have to know the numbers, you can feel it. You can feel it in your bones.” Biden’s lamentation failed to inspire any hope or energy among the crowd at Braley’s rally. Instead, the vice president’s words hun[g] in the air as he pointed out that all the positive economic numbers the Obama administration touts...

Joni Ernst, U.S. Senate candidate, has a banana, a cup of coffee, and a 31-foot RV painted with American flags, landscapes of corn, and hogs. She also has Iowa stretching vastly out in front of her. Seven counties today, eight counties yesterday, 99 counties in 44 days, and a tour she’s calling “Iowa Knows Best” that is intended to persuade Iowans to send her to Washington so she can show the federal government a better way: “the Iowa way.” The Iowa way is fiscal responsibility, she has been telling the people on this tour. The Iowa way is cutting taxes...

ARNOLDS PARK, Iowa — For almost 40 years, Carole Hinders has dished out Mexican specialties at her modest cash-only restaurant. For just as long, she deposited the earnings at a small bank branch a block away — until last year, when two tax agents knocked on her door and informed her that they had seized her funds, almost $33,000. The Internal Revenue Service agents did not accuse Ms. Hinders of money laundering or cheating on her taxes — in fact, she has not been charged with any crime. Instead, the money was seized solely because she had deposited less than...

In a few minutes, six-term Republican incumbent Steve King will debate his Democratic challenger Jim Mowrer in Storm Lake. Iowa Public Television's "Iowa Press" is hosting the debate, and C-SPAN is also televising. (SNIP) He is third in offering amendments on House floor after Jeff Flake and Sheila Jackson-Lee. You can't always pass a bill but he has highest percentage of success in getting amendments passed. Mowrer says Senator Flake [of Arizona] has asked King to stop claiming that, because it's not true. They show the King tv ad I transcribed above. Mowrer asked to comment. He says it's false....

Joni Ernst is back to “hogging” Iowa airwaves, as she barrels into Election Day with another pig-themed ad, a slight edge over her Democratic rival in the polls and a significant fundraising advantage. Whether that’s enough to carry the Republican nominee to victory in the hard-fought Iowa Senate race remains to be seen. But GOP operatives, some of whom have flocked to her campaign after she emerged from a crowded field to snag the nomination earlier this year, are touting her chances in the final days of the race. The latest good omen for Republicans was in early voting and...