Braley could be the perfect mascot for Democrats in an election year where almost nothing has gone their way, and the party’s chances of holding on to the majority of the Senate seem to get dimmer by the day. A year or so ago, Braley seemed poised to ascend to the Senate with minimal trouble. He was running in a state President Obama won twice, the last time by 6 percentage points; his party was unified behind him, and his potential Republican opponents, a clown-car’s worth of no-namers, were busy tearing each other apart in a messy primary. “Democrats have the advantage here,” the Cook Political Report said of Iowa in December 2013, “and their prospects could get even brighter.”
What a distant memory that seems now. Braley’s opponent, state Senator Joni Ernst, has led in five straight public polls, by an average of 2.5 percentage points. His fellow Democratic candidates can relate. In past election years, Democrats have been able to rely on Republicans squandering opportunities thanks to infighting, inept candidates, and campaign missteps. But this year, it is Democrats who have made the mistakes, while the GOP has produced compelling, relatively gaffe-free candidates and unified around them. The national mood continues to darken, and Obama’s approval ratings continue to slide, dragging down Democrats everywhere. And Braley is—for the moment at least—losing to a woman who’s served a single term in the Iowa legislature and who was virtually unknown until a few months ago.
Braley, who has been in Congress since 2006, can barely hide his contempt for Ernst.
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