By Lynn Campbell

U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-3rd District, said Monday that the 2012 race between he and U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, R-4th District, will give voters in central and southwest Iowa a choice between two incumbent congressmen with different voting records.

The Boswell-Latham match up was created Friday when Latham announced that he would move south into the 3rd Congressional District under a map of newly drawn congressional districts that will be signed into law Tuesday. The redrawn districts are required to reflect the change in population shown in data collected during the 2010 census.

“What’s going to happen this time, there’s going to be a major realization that we have voted quite differently,” Boswell said in an interview. “The people are going to get the chance to take a look at it and see what they think.”

A key example, Boswell said, is Friday’s U.S. House vote on the budget proposed by Wisconsin Republican U.S. Rep. Paul D. Ryan. Latham voted in favor of the budget, while Boswell voted against it in the 235-193, party-line vote.

“I believe we must reduce this deficit. We’ve got to do it,” Boswell told about 30 seniors Monday at the Polk County Senior Center in West Des Moines. “The attack on Medicare is not the way to go and on the middle class and on children and on education. That’s not the way to go. There’s other ways to do it.”

Boswell, who is back in Iowa for the two-week congressional Easter work period, instead advocated for reducing the debt by getting rid of billions of dollars of subsidies for the oil companies, as well as tax advantages for the very rich.

“There’s ways that we can reduce the costs and not have to take away from folks something that they depend on and have been working for and planning on for years and years of their working life,” he said. “We can do it different. We can do it better.”

In contrast, Latham defended his vote Friday in favor of the Ryan budget, saying that it takes bold action to cut spending and put the federal government on the path to fiscal responsibility. He said the budget proposal proves that the U.S. House is listening to Americans who want a government that spends within its means, and is working to deliver results.

“With passage of this budget, the U.S. House of Representatives has taken an important step toward ending the status quo of outrageous taxing, spending and borrowing,” Latham said. “The debate in Congress has turned an important corner. Just a few months ago, the conversation focused on expanding the role of government, and now we’re talking about cutting spending and halting the trend of spiraling deficits.”

Boswell, 77, has repeatedly been identified by Republicans as vulnerable. He declined to say that his 2012 re-election campaign against Latham would be the biggest challenge he’s faced so far. Instead, he said that he simply represents a swing district.

“I’ve had several very contested races, as you well know,” he said. “I went to Congress on a 48-49 (percentage win). It’s not that I’m not used to it.”

Boswell pointed out that he has represented 70 percent of the new 3rd Congressional District and said he likes his chances of winning in 2012. His district now will include southwest Iowa, which he has represented before.

“Over half of the counties, one way or the other, I’ve served them before,” he said. “We’re kind of looking forward to going out and making new acquaintances, but renewing some of the old acquaintances because there’s a lot of them out there. … We’re kind of excited about kinda going home.”

As for whether he’ll face a primary challenge from former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack, who has expressed an interest in running for Congress, Boswell said: “I refuse to worry about it. What’s the point? This is America. My speculation is, and I want to underline speculation, that that’s not going to happen. But if it does, it does.”

Boswell added that he would not be surprised if Vilsack is on the ballot running for Congress in 2012. But he said he hasn’t spoken with her since January.

The longtime Democratic incumbent who took office in 1997 said regardless of who’s running against him, he’ll be seeking re-election to Congress from Polk County. Active registered Democrats in Polk County outnumbered active registered Republicans 39.5 percent to 29.6 percent as of April 1, according to voter registration numbers from the Iowa secretary of state’s office.

Johnnie Brown, 74, of West Des Moines, said he’s a Democrat and would plan to stick with Boswell in the 2012 election.

“I’ve known so many things about Congressman Latham over the years, and I just never was much into his politics,” Brown said. “I’ve voted for Mr. Boswell for quite a few years. I’m from a small town. I was a farmer; he come up from a farm. Farm people have that good ole’ American quality that we built this country with. I like that about him.”

But Margaret Paul, 88, of Urbandale, said although she too is a Democrat, she’d be open to learning more about Latham and hearing what he had to say.

“I would listen,” Paul said. “I would have to know more about Latham. I have been behind Mr. Boswell for many years. I don’t know whether he has an advantage from having moved (to Ames from Alexander) and been there for a few years. I’d have to know more about Mr. Latham because I haven’t paid a lot of attention.”

Listen to Boswell interview:
http://www.iowapolitics.com/1009/110418Boswell_interview.mp3