Day by day, you can feel the momentum and conventional wisdom shift in the Iowa Senate race:
Today, the Joni Ernst for Senate campaign announced that it raised approximately $6 million in the third quarter, more than doubling the total raised by her opponent, Congressman Bruce Braley, and setting an all-time Iowa record for the amount raised by a statewide candidate in one quarter.
A campaign’s fundraising isn’t the end-all and be-all of campaigns anymore, with the explosion of outside groups running their own television ads and get-out-the-vote operations.
But it is revealing that someone like Andrea Mitchell would say flatly, “Bruce Braley has turned out to be a terrible candidate.” As the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza added, “In many ways, it is the candidate that is hurting Democrats. Joni Ernst, to her credit, has turned out to be a suprisingly good candidate, much more average Joe or Jane than Braley has come across.”
The Des Moines Register will release a new poll of this race tomorrow.
Is Joni Ernst the biggest GOP star of the cycle?