IA-04
From dKosopedia
Category: Iowa Congressional districts
Iowa's Fourth District is an oddly shaped, geographically sprawling artifact of Iowa's redistricting regime; while most certainly not a gerrrymander, it is nonetheless quite difficult for challengers. It's really an Interstate 35 district, but excludes Des Moines, and has a difficult eastern extension along the northern tier of counties all the way to the Mississippi River. Winterset, Indianola and Ames have little in common with Decorah, Waukon and Lansing. What's worse, it's at the periphery of three television markets (Des Moines, Waterloo and Cedar Rapids), with no TV station covering its center; this makes TV time prohibitively non-cost-effective; it's all direct mail and barnstorming.
It does however, have a wealth of colleges and Universities in its confines: Simson College in Indianola, Iowa State University in Ames and Luther College in Decorah, all fine sources for liberal activist student volunteers.
The district is currently represented in Congress by Tom Latham (R - Alexander). He formerly represented the north-central and western parts of the state.
Congressional Election Results
- 2006 - Tom Latham (R) defeated Selden E. Spencer (D) 57- 43%.
- 2004 - Tom Latham (R) defeated Paul Johnson (D) 61%-39%.
- 2002 - Tom Latham (R) defeated John Norris (D) 55%-43%.
Fourth district newspapers
- Note: Unless otherwise noted, these are weeklies.