Iowa Rep. Steve King, a Republican, looks like he’s preparing to jump into the race for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2014.
King had previously told The Iowa Republican that the chances of him running were “fifty-fifty.” Now King says “that needle has gone over fifty percent, and each day that goes by, on balance, it’s more likely rather than less likely.”
The announcement by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin that he would retire after this term has set the stage for a fierce battle for the seat.
King contended that, despite naysayers like the Karl Rove-backed Conservative Victory Fund, who believe he would not fare well in a statewide general election, that he was in a very good position to do exactly that.
“You know, if you can’t win the primary, you don’t need to speculate on the general election. And, so of all the polling that I’ve seen, I would have a significant lead in a primary contest for U.S. Senate. That’s the first cut. Analyze that,” he said, “and then take a look at the general election side.”
King also noted that he has been historically underestimated by “the powers that be,” who have told him ever since his first run for office 17 years ago that he had taken on an “impossible mission” and could not win, predictions he repeatedly proved wrong.
In terms of policy, he said, his time in congress had left him well positioned to compete in 2014. He pointed specifically to his vocal opposition to Obamacare, and his exhortations to fix the national debt and deficit.
“Those are the two top things I ran on in this election; those will be the two most important things in the 2014 election. That puts me, I think, in the best spot to win a general election,” he said. “We’re gonna look at the numbers too, but that’s the policy that i think provides momentum.”
King also emphasized the important role that input from Iowans would play in any decision he made.
But, King said, before he could make any decision at all, he had to battle with Karl Rove.
In a New York Times article last week about the American Crossroads-backed Conservative Victory Fund, a group dedicated to backing Republicans in primaries who are seen as strong general election contenders, King was singled out as an unelectable option the group would like to avoid having as the party’s nominee in the general election.
King has made an effort to turn lemons into lemonade, using the comments to fundraise. Still, he said, it is something he must deal with before announcing a run.
“When Karl Rove decided that he was going to make me his national poster child for their elitist attitude of deciding who would be the nominee and who would not be the nominee, now I’ve got a different battle I need to fight before the way can be cleared to do the analysis” about running, he said.
“And that it’s gonna become to clear, not just to Iowans but to everybody in this country, that when in comes to nominating candidates for the general election ballot, that’s a decision made in this state by Iowans and nobody else. And if you go to other states, they need that kind of protection to,” he said.
“If I would back up in front of Karl Rove’s initiative, that would just empower him, and he would go on state after state, candidate after candidate, and I don’t think any individual has the wisdom to make those kind of decisions,” King went on. “But I think Iowans together can make those decisions, and should. That’s the principle. We have to fight this out in the court of public opinion. I don’t know how long that’s going to take, but we have to clear with that before we can go on with the decision making process.”
Asked for a specific timeline, King replied: “It’s almost equivalent to declaring when a war will be over. And if you make the announcement, then the people who are strategizing will go ahead and move towards that strategically.”
