GOP Senate primary points may haunt party in fall

YahooNews ^ | May 25, 2014 | Thomas Beaumont

[Din Maker]

Some Republicans say state Sen. Joni Ernst's recent campaign ad featuring her firing a handgun will not sit well with some swing voters when Democrats resurrect it. Likewise, others say former Reliant Energy CEO Mark Jacobs' past public statements supporting climate-change legislation make him indistinguishable from likely Democratic nominee Bruce Braley.

In what is their best chance to win the Senate seat in 30 years, Republicans have accepted the risks of focusing on GOP-favored issues in the June 3 primary after failing to convince the state's better-known Republicans to run once Sen. Tom Harkin, a six-term Democrat, announced he wouldn't seek re-election.

So, it's become a delicate balance for candidates: Convince the party faithful they have the conservative chops to distinguish themselves from the Senate's longtime liberal lion, then turn around and face one of the nation's most politically balanced statewide electorates in a general election that could determine which party controls the powerful chamber.

"Braley has had the luxury of messaging directly to general election voters, where our candidates are messaging to a narrow segment," former Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn said.

Each candidate's position is being closely noted by Braley's campaign, and top advisers said those will be used against the eventual Republican nominee.

In an appeal to GOP-leaning gun owners and noting her backing by the National Rifle Association. Ernst is airing an ad where she fires six shots from a handgun on a shooting range. "Give me a shot," she says at the end.

Fewer than 20 percent of Iowa adults, across party lines, supported relaxed gun restrictions, according to The Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll in February 2013.

Ernst dismissed Gross' suggestion, saying that during her time in the state Senate, she has found Democrats who are equally adamant about gun rights.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Claimed to be. Even Wikipedia states that, “Some (blank) people say...” are weasel words. Only liberals would make such a complaint.

[logic101.net]

Republicans who are raising the subject

YES, that is exactly the problem; establishment Republicans who worry about offending committed dimacrats, and that that will hurt them in elections! Do the Dims worry about their ads preventing us from voting for them? I think not! They don’t care if their adds offend me; they know I won’t vote for them!