Why does Iowa tilt D?

[freepcrusher]

the state has always had a populistic streak to if IIRC. Also, like Minnesota, the senior population tends to be unusually democratic.

[freepcrusher]

as someone who lived in the state until jr high and still have some relatives back home, here is what I will say about the political tinge to it:

The state republican party has two main factions. You have the old guard. Think of guys like Grassley Branstad Leach Ray etc. They are rank and file republicans and will vote with their party but will occasionally stray away (especially Leach). I would call these guys "Bob Michel Republicans".

Then you have the more conservative wing. It is a much newer arrival but has existed under different circumstances. In the mid 20th century, the state had somewhat of an isolationist streak to it (think Harold Gross). In the modern day this group is dominated by the dutch community who tend to be very religious and often have bircherlike antistatist attitudes and often homeschool their kids or send them to private schools like Des Moines Christian, Western Christian, Pella Christian, Unity Christian etc. Most of these types are at the lower offices. King is the only one in federal office that fits in with this group. He is essentially the best democratic party fundraiser and I hope that he gives his seat up to run against Harkin (which would net him in the low 40s at best).

The democrats were historically the minority party in the state until the 1960s so they have usually been a much more unified group. They tend to be of the populistic variety. They tend to range from slightly left of center (Neal Smith, Lenny Boswell) to extremely liberal democrats (but not of the Stark/Hinchey bombthrowing variety) such as Senators Clark, Hughes, Harkin, Culver and Rep Braley.

But the state is pretty nonideological in many ways too. The state has one republican and one democrat senator who have been around since before the rocks cooled and tend to easily get re-elected (especially Grassley) because they bring home millions of dollars in pork every year. Harkin himself represented a conservative leaning district in the southwest corner of the state in the 1970s that sent him to DC every two years because he could bring home the bacon. So Harkin had been able to win over a lot of otherwise conservative farmers. But they also vote for Grassley every six years because he comes across as "one of you" and tours all 99 counties each year.