A Republican who waged an unsuccessful campaign in Iowa’s second congressional district in 2008 says she’s going to try again in 2010. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa says if you’re a “mature person,” you learn from your mistakes.
“While I’m articulate and intelligent, I didn’t raise enough money and that’s my fault as a candidate,” Miller-Meeks says. “I didn’t get enough in the areas where I needed to be, such as Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and, again, that’s my fault as a candidate because I had to continue working.”
Miller-Meeks quit her job as an eye doctor in Ottumwa in January and she plans to move somewhere in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City corridor.
“So I think all of those things combine into being a more aggressive candidate and by aggressive, I don’t mean angrily aggressive,” she says. “i just mean being available; being forward with the message; drawing more contrasts; raising more money; building a greater, most expansive grassroots network…I think you learn from all of those things and can put forward a better campaign.”
Congressman Dave Loebsack, a Democrat Mount Vernon, has indicated he’ll seek a third term in 2010.
Miller-Meeks says she ran in 2008 because she was concerned about government encroachment in medicine. “That has only been enhanced by what has gone on both in congress and the senate throughout the year,” she says.
Miller-Meeks will formally kick off her campaign on Monday with stops in Muscatine, Marion, West Burlington and Ottumwa.
Another Republican, Christopher Reed of Marion, has already announced his intentions to run in the second congressional district, too.