Ads are pure poison to rational thought and careful consideration.
If you allow an ad or a series of them to influence your vote, you have given up the franchise to someone else's desires, and not your own.

Research the candidates yourself, find their platforms or direct statements and positions and vote YOUR conscience. That goes for us all in ANY election. I am so fucking sick of the media and advertising running everything I want to scream nearly all the time.

in case they have information I do not have..

in my opinion. Getting Ernst out should be the top priority. Franken neutralizes her chief (only?) strength.

I mean if Grady can come back from Hollywood and get elected. Someone who has served their country should definitely get a pass on the carpetbagger label (far less of a carpetbagger than Hillary Clinton if you ask me).

I mean his only fault is going to Nebraska for his engineering degree when he could have gone to Iowa State. I will give him a pass on that transgression.

Love the Iowa State reference.. most people do not know what a great engineering college ISU is.. My son is totally Franken for exactly the reason you said.. he sees him as the best bet to push Ernst. I guess I never saw Franken as a carpetbagger because he really is from Iowa.. I think Sioux County..

I have taken over 30 hrs of graduate engineering courses from them. They are a great school. The school is lot like Purdue which I attended. Nebraska is also a fine engineering school with the same tradition of land grant excellence. I have worked with many engineers from there.

The ad apparently portrays him as a carpetbagger. I haven't seen it, but it seems particularly nasty if that is the case. In all seriousness, unless your politics align better with Greenfield, she doesn't look good in comparison to Franken. She will be pounded about her inexperience in the general election. I wish the prominent Iowa Democrats had held back a bit on endorsements, but part of the problem was Franken's relatively late entry into the race.

She also has the signature scandal to overcome, and, I have to ask, since she apparently questioned Franken's Iowan bonafides, is she an Iowan or a Minnesotan?

And Mauro has really done a number on Greenfield.. it is interesting.. I used to work for ISU through the extension office. Love the school.. or as my son used to say (he is an Iowa grad).. Mom works for the other Iowa.. rofl!! Oh the ad also attacked him for being a former republican . I could not find anything on that, but if you are born in Sioux County, you are born into the republican party.. and become republican out of habit.. .. that is like being a Democrat in Johnson county.. its in the DNA..

Mechanical engineering, the people who make the toys for all the other engineers.. Congrats to the kids for a good choice!!!

I even contributed to Greenfield's campaign, but her campaign seems geared to trying not to lose instead of working to win. Her ads and many of her interviews I have seen she really doesn't say much. It is like she is trying to not offend anyone.

Franken OTOH has quite a record as an admiral. I just saw that hatchet job ad on Franken that claims he was a Republican. If he was then now he is a great actor, because I believe what he says and what he says is generally very liberal. From what I have read he is genuine. My thoughts are that his career, his accomplishments and his stands will dwarf Ernst.

One more note - I hope Mauro is proud of doing Ernst's work for her. His attack strategy really, really makes me mad. If we had a normal campaign with live appearances I would jump at the chance to tell him that to his face. Quit tearing our candidates down.

Glad you asked I was wondering how folks here felt about this race.

Greenfield does have a big money advantage and a huge wad of endorsements, most of which came before Franken entered.

and I have to agree with you and my son, and now my husband.. We are all voting Franken. I got the same vibe on Mauro.. It is almost personal with him the way he is going after Greenfield.

edit to add: I found this on his wikipedia page ...


2003 to 2005 and was the first military officer to serve as a legislative fellow for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

Cal Woods is still on the ballot, but he has dropped out and endorsed Franken.. Greenfield has the money and all the party behind her, so she will get a big boost from all that power.. but Franken is on the move for sure.. I am good for either one, but voting Franken for sure.. just feel better about that vote

I read about him working with Ted Kennedy back in the day. So much for "life-long Republican"! I'm so old, I can recall when some DUers tried to smear Elizabeth Warren with that crap.

I used to think they were pretty good, but this makes me question them.

here is an article a friend sent me this morning from Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/craighooper/2020/05/26/iowas-senate-primary-will-decide-democratic-national-security-leadership-in-the-senate/#74c1155616b3

Hopefully you can open it.

rural there is just such a surge for Franken.. I think some are going to be very very surprised. Emily's List is dedicated to getting Democratic women elected.. and that is good.. but if the best candidate is not the woman candidate.. well Emily's list may have done exactly what the DSCC did, and did a coronation too soon

I don't know why the DNC rushed to endorse Greenfield. Mauro annoys me. Kimberly Graham turned me off with her comment during the debate that "one can argue that Bernie won the caucus."

I don't know if Franken can catch Greenfield. She had a running start. I was very impressed with his debate answers. He seems to be a person who knows who he is and he has demonstrated that he has deep democratic values. His intellect was refreshing.

Franken grew up on a farm in Iowa and left the state to serve the country with a decades long military career. The "carpetbagger" commercial is shameful.