Congressman Leonard Boswell says his challenger in this June’s third district Democratic primary is not being "genuine" with voters on a variety of issues. Ed Fallon, a Democrat from Des Moines, is challenging Boswell in the June primary. "I don’t think that Ed is too genuine in some of the things he says," Boswell says.
Boswell cites Fallon’s support of presidential candidate Ralph Nader back in 2000, over Democrat Al Gore, and wonders what Fallon, who has endorsed Barack Obama, will do in the fall with Nader in the race. Boswell also faults Fallon for criticizing Boswell’s vote to go to war in Iraq. "I was presented by the Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America that there was weapons of mass destruction going to be used against Americans and I was misrepresented on that as were a number of others, as you know, in both the House and Senate and it should not have happened," Boswell says, "but we listened to the chief executive, who had more information than anybody else."
In addition, Boswell takes issue with Fallon over criticism that Boswell has failed to promptly respond to voters who want the troops out now. "A number of times I have voted for us to bring our troops out of there," Boswell says. "And of course he says I don’t, but I do." Boswell says he initially voted against a timeline for withdrawal because his experience in the military made him doubt the military had drawn up an orderly plan for such a witdrawal.
Boswell’s harshest charge against his challenger may be that Fallon has been an opponent of corn-based ethanol. Boswell cites a letter to the editor Fallon wrote in 1993 in which Fallon talked about the ethanol "myth."
"In Iowa, ethanol’s a myth?" Boswell says. "Come on, give me a break."
Fallon has charged that Boswell is a "Bush Democrat" because of his initial support for the Iraq war and votes on key issues important to the Bush Administration. Boswell, in turn, suggests he’s compiled a long list of examples which show Fallon is out of the mainstream.
Boswell made his comments on the Iowa Public Television program "Iowa Press" which airs this evening at 6:30. A spokesperson for the Fallon campaign was not immediately available.