A Democrat who’s likely to be a presidential candidate in 2004 is wading into Iowa’s U-S Senate race on behalf of Democrat Senator Tom Harkin. North Carolina Senator John Edwards today held a telephone conference to criticize Harkin’s challenger, Republican Congressman Greg Ganske, for failing to support a bill that seeks to get cheaper drugs on the market sooner. He says, “Senator Harkin is standing with the senior citizens, and unfortunately up to know, Congressman Ganske appears to be standing with the drug companies.”Edwards is co-author of a Senate-passed bill that would prevent pharmaceutical companies from extending patents in order to keep generic competitors off the market. Edwards says Ganske sits on the House Committee that’s refusing to consider the bill. Ganske, in turn, has criticized Senator Harkin for the Senate’s failure to pass a bill that would establish a prescription drug benefit under Medicare.
