A parade a high-profile Republicans, from President Bush to former New York Mayor Rudy Guilliani, have campaigned this year on behalf of Jeff Lamberti, the GOP’s candidate in Iowa’s third congressional district. But the only media poll conducted in the race — released last week by KCCI television in Des Moines — found Democrat Congressman Leonard Boswell holding a lead over Lamberti.

Lamberti, though, was upbeat Saturday when he stopped by to thank GOP volunteers making phone calls and walking door-to-door. “We’re ahead of all our pace in terms of what we need to be doing to turn out voters,” Lamberti said. “We’re excited. Momentum’s on our side and we’re going to keep working ’til election day.”

Boswell, the Democrat, is equally upbeat, too. “Heading into Tuesday I feel like that we are winning and we feel very positive,” Boswell says. “It’s been kind of a rough race…but I think the people of the third congressional district are going to send me back.”

Boswell bemoans money spent against him by a Texas man who bankrolled the Swift Boat ads against John Kerry in 2004. “I guess I’ve heard of other people having those kind of things happen to ’em, but didn’t expect it to happen to me,” Boswell says.

Lamberti says as a state senator, he expected the negative campaigning that came his way in this congressional race. Lamberti says he tried to explain it all to his teenaged children, who took the campaign slights hard. Lamberti will vote early Tuesday morning in Ankeny with his 18-year-old daughter. “She just turned 18 (years old) October 5th,” Lamberti says. “This is her first election, so she’s excited.”

Iowa’s third congressional district includes Des Moines, Newton, Grinnell, Knoxville, Pella and Oskaloosa.