Eyeing another run, Grassley shows Iowans heâs keeping up
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Updated: 2:43 PM CDT Jul 10, 2021
The Associated Press
in this june 30, 2021, photo sen. chuck grassley, r-iowa, speaks during a meeting with employees at professional computer solution, in denison, iowa. (ap photo/charlie neibergall)
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Updated: 2:43 PM CDT Jul 10, 2021
The Associated Press
In dress shirts and pants, Chuck Grassley and Tom Cotton dropped to their knees on stage at a recent Iowa Republican Party fundraiser and began pumping out pushups. The 87-year-old Iowa senatorâs were slow and deliberate while his Arkansas colleagueâs were crisp and level, befitting the 44-year-old former Army captain.The 22 reps were part of a campaign to curb veteran suicides. But for Grassley, a senator considering a bid for an eighth term, it was also a moment to send another message to voters: I can still keep up.After 40 years in the Senate, serving under seven presidents, Grassleyâs resilience isnât just physical. Once proudly bipartisan, Grassley adapted deftly to the new hyperpartisanship of the Trump era. While some of his fellow longtimers in Washington are calling it quits, fed up with the rightward lurch of the GOP or the inertia in Congress, Grassley has set out to show heâs thriving. âHe goes out and talks to Republicans, and sees the party still includes a number of people who are big-time Trump supporters,â said longtime adviser Mike Schreurs. âOne way or another, youâve got to accommodate them. And thatâs Grassleyâs astute politics.âGrassley has said he will announce his plans this fall, later than usual for the senator, who typically has decided to run again immediately after each of his previous reelections.But the senatorâs campaign team is functioning as if heâs running. Grassley and his pollster Brian Tringali met last month with leaders of the National Republican Senatorial Committee at their headquarters in Washington. Other advisers, including Grassleyâs longtime advertising consultant Fred Davis, participated in the meeting via Zoom. They reviewed Grassleyâs polling and fundraising head start, pleased with what they saw.The senator is raising money at a healthy clip. He reported having $2 million in his campaign account at the end of the first quarter. Itâs been enough to scare off any big-name challengers. Two little-known western Iowa prospects have announced their candidacy: Republican state Sen. Jim Carlin and Democratic farmer Dave Muhlbauer.Still, Grassleyâs age â he would be 95 at the end of his term if he won â inevitably raises questions about his future, and the senator isnât shying from them. Advisers say Grassley has said he wants to avoid a situation like the final months in office of Sens. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, and Strom Thurmond, a South Carolina Republican.Byrd was in and out of the hospital before he died in office at age 92 in 2010. Thurmond, frail and guided through the Capitol in a wheelchair before retiring in 2003, died six months later at age 100.Grassley would be the second-oldest member of the Senate and among the 10 oldest senators in history. With his signature gruffness, Grassley acknowledges his age is âone of the reasons that Iâve put off making the decision until later on.ââWho knows? I could die tomorrow,â he told The Associated Press as he visited tiny Ida Grove in northwest Iowa last week. âIf I announce Iâm running, Iâm planning on living to be 95. But I might not live that long.âHis health habits suggest otherwise. The pushups arenât just for show, but part of his daily routine, he says. He also runs 12 miles (19 kilometers) per week, though he chuckles calling it âa shuffle.â He wakes up at 4 a.m. and is in his Washington office by 6 a.m.Despite the pace, and his activity on Twitter, thereâs no hiding Grassley has decades on most of his voters.At events, Grassley references his hearing aid, sometimes as a joke, but he also relies on a staffer to repeat what he misses. He often illustrates his points with creaky references and examples that predate his listeners.Meeting with a group of young professionals in Sioux City last week, Grassley fielded a question about same-sex marriage by noting that it reminded him of some constitutional research he did in college in 1953.When answering a question about the fuel tax and electric cars, he illustrated the improvement in fuel efficiency over time by recalling a billboard from the 1950s advertising a Chevrolet that got up to 15 miles (24 kilometers) per gallon.âHe referenced things long in the past,â said Josiah Paulsrud, 35, of Sioux City, who is a Republican and undecided about Grassley. âWhether it was him trying to educate people or rambling on, I canât say.âFive Senate Republicans, including Richard Shelby of Alabama, who is also 87, are retiring after 2022. In announcing his retirement, two-term Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio expressed frustration with the dysfunction in Washington.Grassley, however, has adapted smoothly to changes in the party. Heâs consistently supported Donald Trumpâs agenda and often his political tactics. At times, heâs even taken a lead role in satisfying the partyâs vocal right wing.Grassley helped spur Trump Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrettâs confirmation days before the 2020 election â even after effectively killing Democratic President Barack Obamaâs nomination of Merrick Garland, saying it came too close to the 2016 election.He partnered with the pro-Trump Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson on a high priority for the far right, investigating Hunter Bidenâs financial dealings last year as his father ran for president.And, having criticized him as president, he has been nearly silent on Trumpâs false claims that he won the 2020 presidential election.When pressed at a recent public meeting to call out Trumpâs falsehood, Grassley declined.Grassley replied curtly to retired anesthesiologist Phil Dokter: âOn December the 12th, after the electoral votes were cast, Biden is the president of the United States.ââThatâs not enough. Youâve used your soapbox over the decades,â said Dokter, an independent who has voted for Grassley in the past. âAnd weâre talking about a big deal here.âGrassley moved on to the next question.But the senator hasnât always been a Trump acolyte. He voted to count Arizonaâs and Pennsylvaniaâs Electoral College votes the day of the deadly Capitol riot in January. He also objected loudly to waivers the Trump administration gave petroleum companies from the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, a goal that helps Iowa farmers.The senator says heâs doesnât consider Trump the de facto leader of the national Republican Party, despite the former presidentâs continued effort to influence Republican primary contests.âRight now, the Republican Party doesnât have a leader. Weâve got people who have great influence within the party like Sen. Cotton, Sen. (Ted) Cruz, Sen. Lindsey Graham. People like that,â he said in the AP interview. âAnd Trump is one of them.âStill, Grassleyâs appeals to the right appear to have hurt his approval in Iowa, once called âstratosphericâ by J. Ann Selzer, director of The Des Moines Registerâs Iowa Poll.In June, the poll showed Grassleyâs approval at 45%, down 30 percentage points from 2009, when he was a key figure in bipartisan negotiations over health care legislation.His approval remains healthy among Republicans, and more Iowans approve than disapprove of his performance. Grassleyâs numbers have dropped sharply among Democrats and fallen among independents, both of whom used to pad his high ratings.âDemocrats are no longer willing to give him the benefit,â Selzer said. âBut it could also be that heâs doing things, more things, that are ticking off Democrats. The two are conjoined.âGrassley wonât need the Democratic support to win. Iowa has drifted decidedly Republican in the past decade, electing and reelecting GOP governors, filling longtime liberal Democratic Sen. Tom Harkinâs seat with conservative Republican Joni Ernst.The state voted twice for Trump, a fact that appeared top of mind as Grassley visited a friendly crowd in Ida Grove. The senator railed against the Biden administrationâs U.S.-Mexico border policy, and when asked his opinion about Trumpâs recent visit to the border, Grassley gave the audience of 50 in the townâs recreation center what they wanted.âNobody can tell him what to do,â he said. âAnd if you did tell him what to do, he wouldnât do it anyway.âThe gym burst into applause and laughter.