Joni Ernst courts seniors in Iowa Senate race

ONAWA, Iowa—Five miles east of the Missouri River, the town of Onawa, Iowa, is known as the birthplace of the Eskimo pie, and has roughly 3,000 residents. One of those residents, Lorraine Davis, is a 93-year-old bundle of energy who is known to many in town because she used to dress up as a clown and once taught them—or taught their kids—during her 35 years as a kindergarten teacher.

Davis’ husband and only son passed away years ago. Today she keeps herself busy volunteering at a local consignment shop, writing out price tags for used shirts and pants. Proceeds benefit the hospital in town. “I’m by myself. I fight, fight, fight!” she says with a look of mischievous grit, pumping her fists in the air. “I’m not a politician, I just do what’s right in this world.”

On Wednesday morning, Davis got to meet and hug an actual politician—one she admires. Republican state Sen. Joni Ernst stopped in to Millers’ Kitchen, a restaurant in the center of town, to greet a couple dozen potential voters, including Davis.

“She’s A-plus! She’s down to earth,” Davis said outside the restaurant after meeting Ernst.

Onawa, the Monona County seat, is one of the stops Ernst made Wednesday along Iowa’s west border, part of the “99 county tour” she plans to complete before the November election, when Iowans will decide whether to send Ernst or her Democratic opponent, Bruce Braley, to the United States Senate.

With Republicans just six seats short of taking control of the Senate, conservatives hope to leverage President Barack Obama’s current unpopularity to win races this November. One of the closest is happening in Iowa, where Ernst, a 44-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard and an Iraq War veteran, is facing off against Braley, a U.S. congressman. The latest polling average from Real Clear Politics has Ernst leading the race by 2.8 percentage points.

To pull in a win, Ernst is trying to gain the trust of middle-aged and senior Iowans like Davis. In Monona County, nearly a quarter of residents are 65 or older—the highest percentage of seniors anywhere in the state. They are more likely to vote than other age groups, and many are concerned about social security, the economy, abortion, and illegal immigration.

Inside Millers’ Kitchen on Wednesday, Ernst went from table to table in a green suit jacket, offering hugs and posing for photos with supporters.

“I like that she’s a veteran, so I know that she’ll work for the veterans,” said Joan Hennings, who came out to the restaurant with her husband, Deryl. They’ve been married 43 years and have retired from farming cattle and corn. Hennings said they were concerned about abortion, which runs contrary to their Christian faith. (Ernst believes life begins at conception and co-sponsored a “personhood” amendment in Iowa last year.)

“I’m hoping she’ll be able to work with the rest of Congress, that we won’t be in a stalemate,” Hennings said.

Across the table from Hennings sat Ray Gosch, a farmer who lives near Charter Oak and owns about 1,100 acres. “For me, the top issue is ‘Close the border,’” he said. “The illegals are taking over.”

Longtime Onawa resident Donna Feldhacker, 81, didn’t realize Ernst was coming to town today, and happened to be in Millers’ when she showed up. Feldhacker is concerned about immigration, but said, “Social Security’s on the top of the list.” She’s no fan of Obamacare: “They need to sit down and talk it over and do something a little different.” (Ernst would like to repeal the healthcare law.)

Some of Ernst’s supporters had questions: Evelyn Thies, a retiree and candidate for City Council in nearby Mapleton, asked Ernst about an ad claiming she had given tax breaks to businesses going overseas.

“She said that was part of another [measure] to help businesses,” Thies said afterward, seemingly satisfied by the candidate’s response. “She did not give a break specially to businesses going overseas.”

Randy Lamprecht, 62, lives outside town, farming corn and soybeans, and said his top concerns were the debt crisis and national defense. He thinks Ernst is the right candidate for Iowa’s Senate seat. “She’ll do a lot better job than Mr. Braley,” he said outside the restaurant, before driving off in a pickup truck.

Ernst made her stop in Onawa just three days after her first televised debate with Braley. The two candidates spent an hour discussing Social Security, Medicare, minimum wage, taxes, immigration, abortion, Obamacare, and the environment, taking frequent opportunities to criticize each other’s record. They’ve also run an expensive flood of mostly negative television ads, earning the race a reputation as one of the nastiest in the country. (A spokeswoman for Ernst has claimed the negative ads are funded by outside groups she has no control over.)

If conservative Iowans agree with Ernst on policies, many do seem weary of the TV commercials. After Ernst left Millers’ Kitchen in her campaign RV, four women lingered in the restaurant over coffee and commented they had seen a lot of “very negative” ads—although one of the women, Lois Vanderbur, said Ernst’s ads were “more positive than Braley’s.”

Davis, the former kindergarten teacher, seems weary, too: “I don’t like dog eat dog. Tell her not to run the other guy down.”