CRESTON -- Retired educator Joyce Schulte of Creston, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Iowa's Fifth District the past two times, is collecting signatures for a third run she says will happen this year unless some unforseen circumstance cuts her off at the pass.
"I think you could put it down like that," Schulte said in an interview tonight.
As it stands she would make the Democratic primary here in western Iowa into at least a three-person contest as retired Presbyterian minister Rob Hubler of Council Bluffs and retired businessman Bob Chambers of Essex are in the race.
Schulte, 65, lost two elections by wide margins to U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron. In 2006, in a decidedly off year for Republicans that even saw the outster of Iowa icon Jim Leach in eastern Iowa, King pulled 58 percent of the vote to Schulte's 36 percent in the sprawling, 32-county western Iowa district. King spent $620,000 compared to just $73,000 for Schulte. A largely self-financed Independent, Roy Nielsen of Orange City, spent $150,000 but failed to break into double digits with just 5 percent of the vote.
In 2006, Schulte beat Chambers to get the Democratic nod, and in 2004, Schulte bested former State Rep. Gene Blanshan of Panora in the primary.
During the interview Schulte, retired as the director of support services for Southwestern (Iowa) Community College in Creston, said she is working on collecting the necessary signatures for a run.
"I generally don't start things that I don't think are feasible," Schulte said. "This is one of those things I want to do. I think its feasible."
What would make 2008 different for Schulte than her earlier two failed bids against King, presuming the congressman doesn't seek to trade up with a Senate run against Tom Harkin, D-Iowa?
"I wouldn't want to divulge everything," Schulte said.
Last week, Hubler told Iowa Independent he was well funded for a primary race with more than $80,000 raised. For her part Schulte said she's not stared on that yet.
"I haven't put my energies into that," Schulte said.
On Tuesday night, Schulte noted that Iowa has never elected a woman to a congressional seat or to the U.S. Senate, and the Hawkeye State has never had a female governor.
She touched on that theme in an earlier interview on women in politics.
Is there any way a female candidate can win in the most conservative district in the state?
"That's a fascinating way of putting a question, that women aren't electable in Iowa," Schulte said last spring.
Schulte said she knows the electoral history with women for top political positions in Iowa.
"Yeah, I know what the rule is at the moment," Schulte said. "We've gone all the way up the ladder except moving into those top three."
Why is that?
"It beats my five aces," Schulte said. "You know, women are good to keep home and whatever. We brag about them in every way except. And I just don't know whether it's a figment of our imagination in a sense that women can't do those top pieces in government. We do the top pieces in raising families. We do some of the top pieces in business."
She noted that women are fighter pilots and astronauts.
"Why we can't do it in Iowa for those congressional and senatorial pieces I'm not sure," she said.
Sioux City Journal reporter Bret Hayworth has reported that Chambers has the signatures needed to enter the race. Here is Hayworth:
It was just a formality, but Iowa 5th District cogressional candidate Bob Chambers of Essex has gotten the necessary petition signatures to officially file nomination papers for the post held by Republican Steve King. Democrat Chambers met the requirement of getting 16 counties with 793 signatures. The 5th District is composed of 32 counties.
This story is cross-posted at Iowa Independent.
6 comments:
Joyce, if you are reading this...do your fellow Democrats a favor and please stay out of the race.
What's happened to fact checking these days? What Hubler "says" and what he's reported to the FEC are two vastly different numbers. His filings with FEC report TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS of only $7,995, along with a loan he made to his own campaign in the amount of $19,105. Perhaps my math is off, but to me, $7,995 is a far cry from "raising" $80,000.
Hubler also has publicly given three different reasons for his full-quarter-late recent FEC filing, most recently attributing it to confusion with "upload" vs. "download" computer commands. Amazingly enough, however, he's had no trouble "uploading" speeches to various sites, and, on YouTube, when a Democrat left a comment asking many of the very same questions posed to Hubler by the FEC (letters publicly available at the FEC website), Hubler also had no problems with comment "delete" commands before "disabling comments" altogether.
Hubler had an opportunity there to address a voter's valid concern, and instead he chose to ignore it and all future questions, comments or concerns. If this is how he responds to questions as a "candidate," what does it say about how he'd respond as a representative?
As far as I'm concerned, this is a two-way primary -- now between Joyce Schulte and Bob Chambers. They've both got sites and are more than willing to answer to constituents. Publicly. After all, aren't they seeking a "public" office?
In response to the above post, and as a concerned Democrat, I checked the FEC website to see if the allegations against Hubler were true. I'm not sure what the anonymous poster above me saw, but the FEC is reporting that Hubler did indeed report receipts of some $83,000. We need to stop these petty attacks and stick to the message: getting rid of Steve King and finding the best person for the job.
In response to Anonymous above, "this" concerned Democrat also went to the FEC's website, only to sadly discover even more FEC investigations into Hubler's "latest" amended report, which you cited above. Go to fec.gov, and on the left under "Campaign Finance Reports and Data," click on "View Images of all Finance Reports." There, you'll also find the document (one of numerous amended reports) that confirms the $7,995 figure stated in the post just above yours, and for the very same time period. I loathe Steve King and his immoral Iowa values, but (big gulp here) at least HE "Votes." Hubler hasn't even voted in more than a decade (only once, in Fact, in 1996 -- CD-ROM available at IA Secretary of State website). So, to my Anonymous Democratic friend (and I honest-to-God share your concerns), this isn't at all about "petty attacks," but rather being responsible (i.e. truth-seeking) Democrats. We simply can't afford to be sheep. King's no saint, but these FEC records Are public. Quite honestly, based on the FEC's growing impatience with Hubler's subterfuge (just read their letters to him on their site), I expect the IDP will quietly ask him to end his campaign in order to save Iowa's Fifth District further embarrassment.
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