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IA-Sen: Christie Vilsack May Run

by: Crisitunity

Wed Oct 14, 2009 at 4:07 PM EDT


It sounds like Christie Vilsack may have been the mystery candidate who was poised to give Chuck Grassley the race of his life. Vilsack, wife to former Governor and current Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, told WHO-TV that she's strongly considering the race, although not fully committed yet:

"I am honored that people would think of me in that way and would talk to me about running for any office and I think I'm well-qualified to run," Vilsack said.  "I think I'm qualified to serve, so time will tell."

Vilsack isn't ready to jump in the race just yet - and she's giving herself enough room to decide not to run.

Although Vilsack hasn't held office herself before, she'd bring name recognition and Beltway connections to the race, putting it squarely on the map for next year -- especially in view of the nosedive in Grassley's approvals in the wake of his health care obstructionism. (H/t Taegan.)

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IA-Sen: Christie Vilsack May Run | 38 comments
So what about Conlin ...
.... was she a decoy or is she running (or possiblity running) also?

What is Christie Vilsack's bio, other than Iowa First Lady?

Christie Vilsack
Unlike her husband, Christie is a native of Iowa; she was born and raised in Mount Pleasant, which is where she and Tom Vilsack settled as adults.

She attended Kirkland College, graduating in 1972. Kirkland was located in Clinton, New York, as is Hamilton College, from which Tom Vilsack graduated in 1972. (Kirkland has since been absorbed into Hamilton.) The couple married in 1973 and settled in her hometown of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, after he graduated from Albany Law School in 1975.

She taught English and journalism on the high school level for 18 years and at Iowa Wesleyan College for 6 years. She earned a Master's Degree in Journalism in 1992 at the University of Iowa. She also put that degree to use as a reporter and columnist for the local Mount Pleasant News.

As First Lady of Iowa, she led a literacy initiative in the Iowa public schools.

Source: http://www.christievilsack.org...

[ Parent ]
rather ordinary actually


Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus
[ Parent ]
vs. Grassley, ordinary does it for me

[ Parent ]
I'm fine with it too
Grassley is as useless and obstructive as any other Republican in Congress.  And if the Twitter stuff is any indication, no genius or philanthropist either.

He's still above water because of all the constituent services and pork he got Iowa over the years, I'd assume.  It's time to carve down his undue credit and vote percentage to where it should be.  And if he loses the election, so much the better.

[ Parent ]
lots of people are convinced
it is Roxanne Conlin. If that's true, maybe Christie Vilsack is just trying to keep everyone guessing this week.

I'm sure they wouldn't run against each other.  

[ Parent ]
But why would Vilsack bother to do that
A Conlin vs Vilsack primary would be very interesting.
[ Parent ]
No it wouldnt
This is a once in a career opporunity to defeat Grassley whos been elected since 1958. There is no reason to divide our resources for entertainment value.  Either Christie or Roxanne would prove to be his best funded and top challenger ever.

Id prefer Roxanne, one of the smartest lawyers around, but Im fine with Christie.  

Kiernan was right though, either woman is a first round draft pick for Iowa Democrats.

[ Parent ]
Conlin is a horribly poor choice......
She wouldn't have a chance.  She's from yesteryear, a quarter-century ago.  We're better off with any more recent former Congressman or recent former low-level statewide officeholder.  Conlin might have money, but voters will never take her seriously.  Her time came and went.

Vilsack is today's news.  She would be taken much more seriously by voters.

43, male, Indian-American, Democrat, VA-10

[ Parent ]
Oh please
please let her run. That would be awesome.  
I don't have any hopes on this
It would have been really nice though to see Bruce Braley run against Grassley, now that would have been a race, as Braley is a fantastic campaigner with a solid NE Iowa base and deep pockets of his own. With Grassley's sinking approvals I could have seen that becoming a race.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus
no no no
It would be foolish for any Iowa Democrat to give up an elected office to run against Grassley next year. Braley is young and has a good committee position on Energy and Commerce. He should run when Harkin or Grassley retires.

The nice thing about Vilsack is, she would really mobilize that network of Clinton supporters across Iowa. Although Hillary finished third, she did get more than 70,000 people to stand in her corner. Also, I think a lot of people are like the Bleeding Heartland commenter who said

I've been pretty committed to sitting out in 2010, as far as putting my boots on the ground to volunteer.  I'm still burned out from the caucus/general election cycle of 07-08, but if the Iowa Democratic party puts a viable female candidate up against Grassley, I might just have to change my mind.

[ Parent ]
desmoinesdem is 100% right. (nm)
nm

43, male, Indian-American, Democrat, VA-10
[ Parent ]
Except that it appears
that the commentator who you refer to was actually for Obama.
[ Parent ]
she was for Obama
My point isn't just that Vilsack would mobilize the Clinton supporters--she would also mobilize a lot of women who have a new dislike for Grassley because of his actions this year.
[ Parent ]
Does this change the dynamics of this race at all?
I mean sure, her husband may be popular, but you know Hilary barely won her senate seat in New York in 2000 (for such a high profile candidate in such a blue state I guess I should say).

I'm skeptical, but hey, is she can beat Grassley, she can certainly be my huckleberry.

20, Male, Democrat, CA-44 (home) CA-12 (college)

Barely?
2000 NY Senate:

Hillary Clinton (D): 3,747,310  55%
Rick Lazio (R):   2,915,760 (43%)

I guess we have different definitions of "barely."

[ Parent ]
OK
At the top of the ticket Gore beat Bush 60%-35% in New York.
[ Parent ]
Rick Lazio had more strength
than Bush.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus
[ Parent ]
Yeah
it's hardly surprising that Rick Lazio was a better fit for New York than Dubya.  Lazio represented a relatively balanced district in Long Island and had about a good a base as any Republican who hopes to go statewide in NY.
[ Parent ]
He also wasn't a carpetbagger.
Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Dole, Alan Keyes...when anyone moves to a state solely to run for office, that's a point against them in my book.
[ Parent ]
Lazio
was Al D'Amato without the sleaze.
[ Parent ]
oh please
Daman CLEARLY stated why him saying barely is a bit disingenous and not paying attention to that is really just disagreeing to be disagreeable.
[ Parent ]
I would imagine she would be endowed with...
The fundraising connections and machine her husband previously had.  She's someone party members can get excited about amid Grassley's flailing approvals.  
[ Parent ]
we are unlikely to beat Grassley
but if we can hold him below 55 percent or even below 60 percent, it will help our candidates down-ticket. In 2004 Grassley was re-elected in 70 percent of the vote.
[ Parent ]
And that would be wonderful all by itself
She's the best possible candidate, given that Mr. Vilsack and none of the Congresscritters will take him on.

This is a toxic cycle for incummbents of both parties, and Grassley has been doing himself no favors.  he can definitely be beaten if he opposes a health care bill that is very popular.

[ Parent ]
Grassley in 2004
I hate to say it, but maybe if our Democratic nominee this cycle is less cash-poor, we'll do better against Grassley. Grassley is a real institution in Iowa -- he's held elective office since 1959 -- but surely the advantages of his incumbency can be rivaled by anger over his obstructionism and a well-funded Democratic campaign?

After all, maybe part of the problem in 2004 was that Grassley's opponent, Art Small, didn't accept contributions from special interests. An admirable stand, surely, but not a good way to boost exposure.  

[ Parent ]
Art Small was a token candidate
In 2004 many Iowa Democrats felt it would be a mistake to even try to run a top-tier candidate against Grassley, because doing so might drive up Republican turnout (it was thought). Now the socially conservative base of the GOP is less pro-Grassley than they used to be, and the dynamics are different.
[ Parent ]
What were Tom Vilsack's approval ratings?

more popular than Culver
less popular than Grassley. Grassley has been Iowa's most popular politician for decades. Then again, Iowa Democrats have never run a hard race against him since 1980.
[ Parent ]
In his last year as governor
they ranged from 52% to 62%.  
[ Parent ]
Will be difficult defeat Chuck Grassley if Tom Vilsack get out

Good luck, but i think the correct challenger is Tom.

With KBH running in Texas without resign in senate...

Chuck Grassley win the right of have the race of his life. Hi really deserve the race of his life.

Tom is right where he wants to be
bolstering his resume at USDA. I wouldn't be surprised to see him run for Senate if Harkin retires in 2014, or Grassley in 2016.
[ Parent ]
I wish see Tom running again in Iowa, but

but i hope not for Harkin's seat in long years )

I think Iowa need a Tom Vilsak corageous for free Iowa from Grassley and/or Branstad. Iowan republicans are really dirty opportunists after Obama's nomination of Vilsack for the cabinet.

[ Parent ]
I would also
like to see Harkin serve for many more years. He seems to be in good health, but some say his wife would like him to retire in 2014 (30 years after he was first elected to the Senate, 40 years after he was first elected to the House).
[ Parent ]
the goal is not solely to defeat Grassley
He's never been re-elected with less than 66 percent of the vote. Last time around he got 70 percent. The federal races are at the top of the ticket, and Iowa has party-line voting.

A strong, well-known candidate against Grassley should increase the straight-ticket D voting next year, with benefits to Governor Culver and our state legislative candidates.

In my opinion, holding Grassley to, say, 55 percent would be extremely valuable.  

Even more,
holding Grassley to that kind of number would send a powerful signal to the rest of the country, given his prominent role in obstructing healthcare reform.
[ Parent ]
Bingo
As a fellow Iowan I would like to say that desmoinesdem is dead on about developing strong candidates up and down the ticket as opposed to merely just defeating Grassley.  People must remember that we had a very old pharmaceutical lobbyist in Art Small running against Grassley last time so any of the candidates who have been discussed will certainly be a stiffer challenge to Grassley in comparison to the one he got last time.  I actually encouraged people to vote for the Green candidate back in 2004 because Art Small was seemingly so lacking in many ways.

People also need to realize as they probably do that Bruce Braley's congressional district is not as blue as we would like it to be, of course we have some capable state legislators who could run for the seat.  

Please donate to amcharities.org to help build more after school centers in the Miami area.  

23, Democrat, IA-2

IA-Sen: Christie Vilsack May Run | 38 comments

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