Twists in the River
On a recent Saturday, brothers Tom and Bill Sanders huddled under a canopy during a downpour that soaked the weekly farmers' market, where pies, coffeecakes, apples, tomatoes, and corn—14 freshly picked ears for $4—were on soggy display. Fifth-generation fruit and vegetable farmers, both brothers have other full-time jobs to pay the bills and for health insurance coverage. They support the war—"you have to do something about terrorists," says Bill, who usually votes a straight Democratic ticket. But they are interested in the change promised by Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama. "He wants to straighten the government out," says Tom, a Republican. Though raised Catholic, the Sanders brothers have not been moved by the issues of abortion or same-sex marriage.
But the Roman Catholic Church still wields a powerful influence here. Republicans have been jockeying to appeal to these cultural conservatives who supported Nussle, an abortion opponent who became an early acolyte of then Speaker Newt Gingrich. (As head of the GOP Governors Association, presidential candidate Mitt Romney plowed $750,000 into Iowa during Nussle's tough gubernatorial race last year. But Nussle, now serving as Bush's budget director, has endorsed Rudy Giuliani.)
Organized labor has a strong voice in the district, and illegal immigration is less an issue here than in western Iowa. But Dubuque has struggled with race as its population has grown more diverse. Recently, after a white man was stabbed to death by a black man, city leaders worried that racial divisions of the past could resurface. An effort in the 1990s to encourage minority workers to settle in the city by offering them jobs led to a series of cross burnings.
Like many Iowa Republicans, Smeltzer considers herself a moderate in the mold of revered former Gov. Robert Ray. She says she rejects single-issue abortion politics of Republicans like Sam Brownback. "I sat down with him and thought, 'You're going to be the darling of some groups, but you don't have anything to offer beyond that,'" says Smeltzer, who chaired Nussle's county campaign and is now doing the same for Sen. John McCain.
For the record, Smeltzer says, her husband supports Giuliani, and her mom likes Romney. No doubt it will be an interesting year in Dubuque, and in the Smeltzer homeas well.
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