GOP Senate Hopeful in Iowa Enlists a Familiar Face

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Nothing about Joni Ernst's Senate campaign here has been conventional.

Not her choice of advertising, in which she has highlighted castrating hogs on the family farm. Not the pattern she is trying to break: Iowa has never elected a woman to Congress. And certainly not the choice of party leaders who have endorsed her, such as Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, who represent two very different wings of the Republican Party.

Mr. Romney's record in Iowa is less than stellar. He lost the Republican presidential caucuses in 2008, then appeared to win in 2012, only to finish second when the official count was certified. He then lost the state to President Obama in the election, as Senator John McCain and Ms. Palin did in 2008.

But Ms. Ernst sees star power in Mr. Romney, and in her campaign's closing days before the primary on Tuesday, she is counting on him to help deliver a victory. On Friday, Ms. Ernst appeared with Mr. Romney at two rallies in the eastern part of the state, where he played up Ms. Ernst's Iowa roots, lapsing back into the 1950s sensibility that he became known for during his presidential bid.

'If you're to take out a dictionary someday, my guess is you could look up 'Iowan' and you'd turn the page and there'd be a picture of Joni Ernst,' Mr. Romney told a crowd of roughly 60 people here. 'She was raised here, she worked on a farm. She didn't just sit home and needlepoint. As you know, she was actually doing some work on the farm - squealing work on the farm.'

Ms. Ernst's first campaign ad noted that her experience in hog castration would help her make the powers in Washington 'squeal.'

Later, at a rally in Davenport, Mr. Romney offered a different version of the same theme: 'She wasn't just in the living room doing some crocheting. She did more than that on the farm.'

Ms. Ernst, 43, a self-described farm girl from Red Oak, in the southwest part of Iowa, has risen like corn in July out of a crowded Republican primary field. She has been spurred on by her attention-grabbing ads; a sense of charisma with a risk-taking streak; and a potentially vulnerable Democratic nominee in Representative Bruce Braley, a trial lawyer whose comments dismissing Senator Charles E. Grassley, the popular six-term Republican, as a 'farmer from Iowa who never went to law school' were caught on video at a closed-door fund-raiser in January. (Mr. Braley later apologized.)

On Friday, Ms. Ernst looked ahead to the general election, repeatedly referring to 'Bruce Braley's Obamacare' and promising to pass the Keystone XL pipeline and cut spending if elected.

'Bruce Braley's way, the Washington way - it's not working,' she said. 'Let's replace Bruce Braley's Washington way. Let's take our Iowa values to Washington, D.C.'

The winner on Tuesday needs at least 35 percent of the vote to avoid having the Republican nominee chosen at a statewide convention. Ms. Ernst's primary opponents include Mark Jacobs, a former energy executive who moved back to Iowa from Houston to run (and whose business background has drawn comparisons with Mr. Romney's) and Sam Clovis, a conservative talk-radio host.

Ms. Ernst has brought together an unlikely coalition of supporters. Besides Mr. Romney and Ms. Palin, the more moderate and business-minded U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the hard-right Senate Conservatives Fund have endorsed her.

In an election year in which competing interests and lessons learned from previous cycles have blurred the lines between the Tea Party and the Republican establishment, the Iowa Senate race represents ground zero for the breakdown in ideologies.

'The Tea Party movement and the people who support the Tea Party are probably a lot more careful about the candidates that they put their names behind,' said Chris LaCivita, a consultant who served as the National Republican Senatorial Committee's political director in 2010. 'And on the establishment side, it's an acknowledgment that you have to talk about issues that the grass-roots and Tea Party people care about.'

Mr. Romney told reporters that while the Republican Party might be divided in their tactics, they were united behind taking back control of the Senate in November and attacking 'the fortress in Washington.'

'Some want to go through the front door, some want to go over the wall, some want to go through the windows, and so we have different approaches,' he said. 'But we're all battling against the establishment of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.'

In a year when Mr. Obama has become a liability for many Democratic candidates, Mr. Romney has emerged as a coveted asset. And so far, his track record is good: Among other endorsements, Mr. Romney appeared in an ad for Representative Mike Simpson, Republican of Idaho, which helped Mr. Simpson vanquish his Tea Party-backed opponent in the primary, and Mr. Romney was an early supporter of Monica Wehby, a pediatric neurosurgeon who defeated a more conservative rival for the Republican Senate nomination in Oregon this month.

Mr. Romney's efforts on behalf of Republican candidates have helped him stay relevant and in the public discourse; he is hosting his annual donor retreat in Park City, Utah, in June, and rumors of a Draft Romney 2016 movement still pop up.

For Ms. Ernst, his endorsement confers a sheen of mainstream credibility, as well as of business community support - which her résumé, which includes service as a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard and as a state senator, lacks. Mr. Romney has sent a fund-raising appeal on her behalf to his extensive list in Iowa. And her campaign is hoping that his appearance at rallies will help push her over the 35 percent mark.

'He's been around the block in Iowa,' Derek Flowers, Ms. Ernst's campaign manager, said of Mr. Romney. 'He knows a lot of people here and is known by a lot of people here, and we're excited to have him here for Joni Ernst.'

The winner in November will succeed the retiring Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat.

Friday's events were something of a role reversal for Mr. Romney, who instead of being introduced as a candidate found himself warming up for one. After praising Ms. Ernst as 'a mom, a farmer, a soldier and, of course, a public servant,' Mr. Romney stood off to the side.

But it was clear that he was happy to be back in Iowa on Friday. Mr. Romney - who once expressed delight over the height of Michigan's trees - had similarly positive things to say about the natural scenery here.

'I have warm feelings for not just the river but the people,' he said.