Has Fallon burrowed under Boswell's skin?

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

(Des Moines Register)Rekha Basu

Like most campaign Web sites, Ed Fallon's has a section for "Issues," and there is a full roster of timely ones, like global climate change, health care, the Iraq war and bankruptcy reform.

But the candidate for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District also has a less typical section called "Non-issues." It comes with provocative questions such as:

"Did Fallon create a shadow organization to skirt campaign-finance regulations?

"Did Ed weigh an independent bid for governor?

"Does Ed support Ralph Nader?"

It's an unlikely - some would say risky - campaign strategy to raise negative associations with one's self, even if one goes on to discredit them. But then, Fallon figures his opponent has already put them out there, so why not address them head-on?

Head-on is Fallon's signature style. Head-on is not how his opponent in the June 3 primary, incumbent Democratic Congressman Leonard Boswell, is handling the challenge. Indeed, Boswell's response has been a bit puzzling since he's a six-term incumbent with an insider's advantage, a comfortable lead in the polls and much more campaign money. It seems Boswell has allowed the bicycle-riding, accordion-playing former state legislator from Des Moines to get under his skin.

It's one thing that Boswell turned down a slew of dates to debate Fallon, saying he'd be tied up with congressional business or there wouldn't be enough time before the primary to address misinformation.

That's not so unusual for an incumbent with a comfortable lead. If you just ignore the challenger, he might melt away.

But Boswell's campaign also called attention to Fallon by sending out two almost caricaturish fliers questioning Fallon's allegience to the Democratic Party, just in case anyone missed the point that Fallon supported Nader for president in 2000. The glossy, eye-catching mailers paired Fallon's face with Ralph Nader's and said, "Ralph Nader + Ed Fallon = George Bush." They suggested Fallon was thereby responsible for everything from a trillion-dollar war in Iraq to "huge tax breaks for the wealthy."

That's a little disingenuous considering that Boswell voted to authorize the Iraq war, and Fallon opposed it.

Fallon has repeatedly called his Nader endorsement a mistake. And since Al Gore won Iowa, it apparently didn't count for much.

Boswell and his supporters also tried to raise ethics questions about Fallon's campaign spending, though those complaints generally failed to get traction.

Gore has returned Fallon's 2000 snub by endorsing Boswell, whose campaign Web site features a letter from the former vice president saying his friend, Leonard Boswell, "is facing a serious primary challenge."

Besides Gore, Boswell has locked up the endorsements of Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin and Gen. Wesley Clark.

Boswell last month was leading Fallon 52 to 28 percent among likely Democratic voters, according to a KCCI-TV poll. In the first quarter of the year, he had raised $260,277 to Fallon's $171,618. (Fallon doesn't accept PAC money. Boswell does).

So why does Boswell seem to be running scared?

One seasoned elected official, talking about another race, says every now and then an official facing election lets an opponent "get inside" his or her head, and then the race becomes more about reacting to the challenger than playing up one's own strengths. He was referring to Hillary Clinton's response to Barack Obama. But it could have been said of Boswell in relation to Fallon.

Politics is a funny psychological game. But candidates sometimes forget the voters aren't playing. They just want to know who will best represent them.