I stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol together with 367 different Republican candidates for Congress. It was Sept. 27, 1994, and I used to be the GOP nominee for Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District. We gave speeches, waved flags and signed the Contract With America. It was a giant media occasion as a result of nobody had achieved it earlier than. It was of venture.
The Contract With America nationalized that yr’s midterm elections, which went towards former Speaker Tip O’Neil’s canard that each one politics is native. My polling confirmed I used to be forward of my opponent, a 36-year incumbent who might solely assault me personally as a wealthy plastic surgeon. I used to be new to politics and had no voting report. I batted away his advert hominem assaults with testimonials from sufferers, such because the farmer who misplaced his thumb in a farm accident. I made him a brand new one by transplanting his huge toe.
