By Jason Hancock

Third District U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell and his challenger in the June 3 Democratic primary, former state Rep. Ed Fallon, disagree about nearly everything, even whether or not they disagree.

“If you look at the issues, there’s just not a lot of difference between us,” Boswell said. “He’s taking things out of context and trying to conjure up differences that don’t exist.”

Fallon doesn’t share that view.

“There is just a huge list issues we disagree on,” Fallon said. “Time and time again, Congressman Boswell has voted with the minority of Democrats supporting Republican policy. He’s out of touch with where most Iowans are on the issues.”

The campaigns are even a contrast in styles. Boswell has raised $982,605, with $652,570 coming from political action committees. He has relied on a series of glossy mailers to remind constituents why he deserves their vote, with most of them focusing on Fallon’s support in the 2000 presidential contest of Green Party nominee Ralph Nader.

“[Fallon] has to take responsibility for the fact that he supported Ralph Nader, and thus, helped elect George W. Bush as president instead of Al Gore,” Boswell said. “That is a legitimate issue.”

Al Gore, however, won Iowa in 2000.

Fallon has raised only $171,619 and has refused to accept donations from PACs or registered lobbyists. For the home stretch of the campaign, he has only $19,734 cash on hand, so he is relying on an army of volunteers to try to get the word out.

“We have a really good staff and a great group of volunteers,” Fallon said. “This is a real grassroots effort.”

The two can’t even agree on a debate, with Fallon accepting invitations from every major media outlet and Boswell declining, saying he’s too busy in Washington, D.C., to participate in a debate this late in the campaign despite making five trips to the district in recent weeks.

“What’s the point?” Boswell said. “He’s just going to do what he’s done throughout the campaign and take my votes out of context and be a Monday morning quarterback. If we could have gotten a debate scheduled that would be great, but it isn’t going to happen.”

And so, the battle for the Third District Democratic nomination is a showdown of two distinct individuals: the six-term congressman with the support of almost the entire Democratic Party apparatus, from elected officials to trade unions; and the political outsider hoping for grassroots support to topple an incumbent. Many observers believe the Boswell-Fallon battle is a microcosm of a national struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party between centrists and their progressive counterparts, and eyes all over the country will be on Iowa when voters select their nominee.

Leonard Boswell

Gordon Fischer, former state chair of the Iowa Democratic Party and a Boswell supporter, said one of the main reasons he’s supporting the incumbent in this race is his biography.

“It is just such an amazing story,” he said. “And it’s such an American story.”

Boswell grew up in Ringgold and Decatur counties and graduated from Lamoni High School. He served 20 years in the United States Army, including two tours in Vietnam as a combat assault helicopter pilot and two tours of duty in Europe with NATO. When he returned to Iowa after his military service, he made his living as a farmer before being elected to the Iowa Senate in 1984. By the time he left the senate in 1996 to run for the U.S. Congress, he had become the chamber’s president.

“Leonard Boswell has deep roots in this district,” Fischer said. “Ed Fallon is a strong candidate, and I have a great deal of respect for him, but Congressman Boswell has served this district well, so I see no reason why I shouldn’t support him.”

Ed Fallon

Fallon’s first taste of political activism came at the age of 15 when he organized a group of citizens in a small Massachusetts town where he was living at the time to help protect a local wetland.

“I can’t take full credit for it, as a lot of people worked on it, but it’s now a protected area,” he said. “So if I would have quit back then, I would have been batting 1,000.”

But Fallon didn’t quit. When he moved to Des Moines’ inner city, he became more aware of the injustices facing those living in poverty.

“I saw so much injustice against the poor, against minorities, against neighborhoods,” he said. “I saw my own neighborhood discriminated against. I thought, ‘Well, maybe there is something I can do to make a difference in government.’”

So in 1992, Fallon ran for a seat in the Iowa House of Representatives, and despite being outspent nearly 2 to 1 by his opponent, earned 67 percent of the vote. He served in the House until 2006, when he ran unsuccessfully for governor. Despite coming in third in statewide voting, Fallon actually won the Third Congressional District.

“I’ve known Ed for 20 years, and he’s always been a person of conviction and dedication,” said David Hurd, retired chairman and CEO of Principal Financial Group Inc. and a Fallon supporter. “He is the kind of congressman this country needs.”

The Iraq war

No issue seems to separate the two candidates more than the war currently raging in Iraq.

“When the President of the United States looks you in the eyes and tells you there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, you believe him,” Boswell said. “Turns out that wasn’t true. I regret that vote. It was a mistake and if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t vote the same way.”

Boswell voted in 2002 to authorize using military force in Iraq, a bill that was opposed by House Democrats 126 to 81. In 2006, he voted against setting a date for withdrawal or redeployment of U.S. troops.

In the past year, however, Boswell has begun changing direction. He said he voted five times to create a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Fallon said he has opposed the war from the very beginning and questions why it took Boswell so long to come out in opposition.

“My question is why has it taken him four years to get to a point of opposing President Bush’s war?” he said. “Two years after it was verified that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he’s still voting for funding the war.”

Fallon was in France on Sept. 11, 2001, and said in all his travels he has never experienced such goodwill than he did on that day. But the actions of the U.S. government since that day have sullied America’s reputation abroad.

“I love my country and I want it to be revered, be a beacon of hope and opportunity that it has been historically,” Fallon said. “It isn’t that way right now because of the actions of this administration and a complicit Congress. Too many Democrats voted with the Republicans for Bush’s agenda, and Congressman Boswell is one of them.”

Boswell said if it wasn’t for Ralph Nader, whom Fallon supported in 2000, Gore would have been president and the war in Iraq might never have taken place.

Fallon also points to Boswell’s votes to reauthorize the Patriot Act and in support of the Military Commissions Act and the Protect America Act, all of which were overwhelmingly opposed by Democrats in the House of Representative.

“It’s remarkable to have him call me a bad Democrat when he’s the one who’s been voting with the Republicans,” Fallon said.

The environment

Fallon said Boswell’s record on the environment is an embarrassment.

“He voted against raising fuel efficiency standards on cars, but he gives tax breaks to oil and gas companies,” he said. “He voted to end a 25-year moratorium on offshore oil drilling and he signs a letter to the House Speaker and House Majority Leader calling for legislation to support continued use of coal.”

Boswell called Global Warming an issue that has to be addressed immediately.

“I have children and grandchildren, so I absolutely understand how urgent it is that we do something about this,” he said.

He is proud of his record in supporting alternative energy, saying science is the key to breaking the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

“I don’t know if coal will be part of that equation, but we would be foolish not to look into it,” he said. “If science can figure out a way to clean it up, it could be a wonderful energy source.”

Fallon agrees that coal should not be considered unless the toxic emissions can be sequestered, but disagrees that it is the government’s role to pay for the research.

“I think before we build any more coal plants, we need to figure out if it is possible to capture the carbon emissions and eliminate other contaminants. We’re not close to doing that, and if we can’t do it then we shouldn’t build more coal plants,” he said. “I’m happy to see the industry continue to pay for research that might develop that technology, but it isn’t the taxpayers’ job to fund that research.”

When it comes to differences on the environment, Fallon said he and Boswell have been on different sides of the issue since 1995 when the state legislature passed House File 519, which changed state law to enable a drastic sift in hog production from family farms to corporate farms.

“I was among a handful of Democrats that were leading the charge against that bill,” Fallon said. “Democrats in the House were fighting against that bill and Congressman Boswell, who was president of the state Senate, was pushing hard for it. We largely have factory hog confinements in Iowa because of Congressman Boswell’s leadership in the state Senate.”

Campaign finance reform

Boswell said he is proud of his record on campaign finance reform, and in the future, if adjustments need to be made, he would happily vote to tighten regulations.

Fallon, who has chosen not to accept money from PACs, said money has corrupted politics and eroded the public trust.

“Without real campaign finance reform we won’t be able to accomplish the things we need to do,” he said. “Lobbyists for gas and oil companies obviously don’t want us to get serious about global warming. Lobbyists for Halliburton don’t want us to serious about ending the war in Iraq. The drug companies and insurance companies don’t want us to get serious about healthcare. A lot of things hinge on our success in this area.”

Boswell said he sees nothing wrong with groups of teachers, farmers or other constituents pooling their resources together to support the candidate of their choice.

“It’s perfectly legal,” Boswell said. “And if he is pointing the finger at me, he’s pointing the finger at the entire Iowa congressional delegation. He’s desperate for an issue, and this is something he thinks he can use against me.”

Boswell said he was part of the coalition that passed the McCain-Feingold Act of 2002, which prohibited national political party committees from raising or spending any funds not subject to federal limits.

Fallon said even though his decision not to accept PAC money puts him at a disadvantage politically, people know where he stands and that he is not going to succumb to pressure to vote a certain way just because someone gave him money.

Other issues

Fallon points to Boswell’s votes in favor of several trade agreements as more evidence that he is not interested in protecting workers or the environment. He said those agreements have been profitable for large, multinational corporations, but have been costly to American workers and their families, as well as workers and the environment in other countries.

Boswell said we all live in a world community and the U.S. has to be engaged in the global market.

“We just don’t do it very well yet,” he said. “We must be involved in free trade, but all these agreements must be looked at on an individual basis. You can’t just make a blanket statement.”

Boswell said he opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and will continue to oppose bills he thinks aren’t good for Americans.

Fallon points to the Peru Trade Agreement, the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement, which received support from Boswell but were opposed by labor and environmental groups.

Boswell’s support of the 2005 Bankruptcy Act, which was opposed by a majority of House Democrats, is another area where the two disagree. Boswell also voted to eliminate the estate tax and in favor of the recent Republican immigration legislation.

Boswell said Fallon is taking many of his votes out of context in order to try to make him look bad.

“I’ve represented this district very well for 12 years,” Boswell said. “I’m proud of my record and am happy to stand by it. He spends all his time trying to tear me down without saying what he would do.”

The race

“I really think it could be a close race,” Fischer said. “Both men are good candidates. I think it’s all going to come down to turnout. It could be a dog fight to the end.”

Low turnout could help Fallon, as the people who would turn out tend to be more activist, and thus more predisposed to support Fallon, Fischer said.

“I think Boswell is taking this challenge very seriously,” Fischer said. “He shouldn’t take a single vote for granted. Plus, Fallon is a strong candidate.”

Hurd said he is disappointed with how negative the campaign seems to have turned, as well as the fact that there will be no debates.

“I can see why an incumbent wouldn’t want to debate, but I think it is a disservice to the voters,” he said.

No matter what the outcome is, however, both Boswell and Fallon have promised to support the party’s nominee, even if it isn’t the one they originally hoped for.

“I always support the Democratic candidate,” Boswell said. “That won’t change this time around.” CV

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