Elections: 2006 Candidate Profiles

Iowa - House (3)

District Geography | Summary | History | Outlook | Polls

Leonard L. Boswell (Democrat, 5-term incumbent)

Website: www.boswellforcongress.com

Jeff Lamberti (Republican)

Website: www.jefflamberti.com

Helen Myers (Socialist Workers)

Website: N/A

District Geography:

Iowa's 3rd Congressional District comprises twelve counties in central Iowa: Benton, Grundy, Iowa, Jasper, Keokuk, Lucas, Mahaska, Marion, Monroe, Polk, Poweshiek, and Tama.

Summary:

Five-term Democratic incumbent Leonard L. Boswell is one of three Blue Dog Democrats from the Upper Midwest in the U.S. House. Boswell is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Agriculture Committee, and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. His re-election campaign pledges that improving education is his top priority. Boswell also backs more fiscal responsibility, more equitable Medicare reimbursements and making prescription drugs more affordable, expanded use of ethanol, and vows never to vote for tax increases.

Jeff Lamberti is a two-term Iowa State Senator, who also served two terms as a state representative. He is currently Co-President of the Iowa Senate. Lamberti, a fiscal and social conservative, is an advocate of small government, strengthening Social Security (without privatization), improving educational opportunities, and aggressive law enforcement and longer prison sentences for gang and violent crime offenders.

History:

Boswell earned a seat in the House of Representatives in 1996 when he won a close open-seat race against Republican Mike Mahaffey by 1.8 points. This broke the Republican monopoly of the Iowan congressional delegation - five of the state's five congressional seats were held by Republicans in 1994. Boswell is the only Democrat to have won a House race in Iowa since 1996: he won convincingly in 1998 (15.8 points) and 2000 (29.1 points), but had a closer call against Republican nominee Stan Thompson in 2002 - winning by just 8.4 points. Boswell won a rematch against Thompson by 11 points in 2004.

Outlook:

Boswell has endured near-competitive races in recent years, and faces a competitive race again in 2006. Although IA-3 is a purple district (which split its presidential vote 50-50 in 2004), this Blue Dog Democrat (who is securing a double-digit lead in public polls) has a very good chance at winning his sixth straight race.

Polls:

1 "If the election for Congress were held today, would you vote for Leonard Boswell, the Democrat, or Jeff Lamberti, the Republican?"

2 "I would like you to think about the race for Congress. If the election were today, would you vote for Republican Jeff Lamberti or Democrat Leonard Boswell?"