Election 2012: Loebsack v. Archer, Battle in New District Over Economy, Lack of Bipartisanship

Beating an incumbent candidate even in a new congressional district is a tough challenge, and it looks as if Republican challenger John Archer, 40, of Bettendorf, will face an uphill battle against two-term incumbent Democrat Dave Loebsack, 59, of Iowa City.

The pair of opponents are squaring off in the new 24-county Iowa Congressional District 2, formed after recent congressional redistricting lost Iowa a U.S. congressional seat due to Iowa's slow population growth.

Loebsack has been confident enough in President Obama's support in Iowa and the district to campaign with him several times and share in the president's theme of defending the middle class.

Loebsack has raised more money - more than four-to-one - than Archer due to the support of outside groups. Loebsack has brought in more than $400,000.

Loebsack is currently listed as a likely Democrat win by Real Clear Politics and he said recently he is comfortable with his internal polling.

The question of the election will be if he will be able to use his incumbent advantages to pull out another win in a new district that includes the Quad Cities, a territory that is new to him this election cycle.

The district includes counties with some of the highest unemployment rates in the state, plus a mix of rural and urban areas with the two largest population centers being the Iowa City metro area and the Quad Cities.

With the high unemployment rates, Archer, a lawyer for John Deere and business owner, has unsurprisingly focused his campaign on the need for stimulating the economy and reigning in the national debt. He argues that national spending can be cut down without eliminating military spending and that the economy can be stimulated by the lowering of taxes on corporations and foreign earnings that he said are restricting American competitiveness here and abroad.

“We have to allow these companies to bring back the dollars that they have made overseas at a much lower tax rate, perhaps even zero, repatriate that money and invest here in southeast Iowa, invest in America to create the jobs that are needed,” Archer has said.

Archer also has had to play a tricky game of political jujitsu, blaming the incumbent Loebsack for the lack of bipartisanship of an extremely unpopular congress while at the same time supporting many of the positions held by the Republican majority party.

For his part, Loebsack has countered his opponent on both points, arguing that the economy is improving, he has been bipartisan when possible with Republicans, and he vowed not to make cuts to the social safety net by making cuts or voucherizing Medicare or privatizing social security -- changes he accused Archer of supporting.

“Barack Obama and I are never going to voucherize Medicare, and we’re never going to privatize Social Security. I know that for a fact,” Loebsack said.

Loebsack also has had the benefit of blaming the controlling Republican party in the House for the lack of progress in Washington, and has also been able to tie Archer to their policies.

"...I'm very fearful that the partisanship, the hyper-partisanship, the dysfunction, I'm very concerned that the election is not going to resolve that," Loebsack said, adding he regularly hears from people frustrated with the partisanship in Congress.