Alison Lundergan Grimes, Democrats’ candidate in Kentucky’s Senate race, is trying to dent Minority Leader Mitch McConnell over the farm bill — but she’s running into problems since the Republican leader helped end a two-year standoff and pass the bill earlier this year.
It is a far cry from 2012 when lack of a farm bill became a winning issue for Democrats, who fended off challenges in several states by blaming Republicans for leaving farmers and ranchers in financial limbo.
“The farm bill is a decennial ’seasonal’ political event,” said Steffen W. Schmidt, political science professor at Iowa State University. “Like the coming of locusts it appears, is loud and seems hugely important and then subsides and vanishes.”
The politics of the farm bill are heavily regional. For urban states it’s irrelevant, but for states with large farm economies, the bill can be a make-or-break for politicians.
In Kentucky, Ms. Grimes argues voters should punish Mr. McConnell because the bill was held up for several years, chiefly because of a protest by conservative House Republicans who balked at the size of farm subsidies and the food stamp program, which is part of the package.
But Congress finally cleared the bill in February, leaving less daylight between Ms. Grimes, who supported the legislation, and Mr. McConnell, who voted for it.
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In Iowa, a state that is defined by its farm economy, the Democrat and Republican running for retiring Sen. Tom Harkin’s seat are split on the issue.
Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley voted for it, and Republican state Sen. Joni Ernst has come out against it — though Mr. Schmidt said the bill likely won’t have a major impact come Election Day.
“In Iowa we are very interested in agriculture and farmers all year round. But the farm bill as such is not part of the 2014 campaigns,” Mr. Schmidt said in an email. “Issues such as renewable energy — bio renewables, ethanol, wind, cellulosic ethanol — versus ’big oil’ are very prominent especially in the all important Senate race. But, the farm bill is not. Once buried no one in either party wants to go down to the graveyard of political issues and dig up that corpse again.”
Some Republicans, meanwhile, running in other competitive Senate races — including Reps. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana and Cory Gardner in Colorado — also joined Mr. McConnell in supporting the final bill.
But others did not.
In Arkansas, Rep. Tom Cotton, a Republican who is challenging Sen. Mark Pryor, the incumbent Democrat, voted against the farm bill, and has taken to the airwaves to defend his stance, voicing opposition to the fact that 80 percent of spending in the farm bill is devoted to food stamps and nutrition programs.
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“When President Obama hijacked the farm bill and turned it into a food stamp bill with billions more in spending, I voted no,” Mr. Cotton says in the ad, which is running statewide. “Career politicians love attaching bad ideas to good ones. Then the bad ideas become law, and you pay for it.”
Independent fact checkers have pointed out that food stamps have been part of the farm bill since 1973, and Mr. Pryor’s campaign argues Mr. Cotton is trying to obfuscate his vote.
“He voted again the best interest of our state,” Jeff Weaver, Mr. Pryor’s campaign manager, said in a conference call with reporters on Thursday. “Now he wants to pull the wool over Arkansas eyes.”
The Pryor campaign marched out farmers from some of the state’s agricultural industry and one of them, Abraham Carpenter, described Mr. Cotton’s vote amounted to “a slap in the face to farmers.”
Mr. Cotton voted for an early version of the farm bill that would have decoupled the agricultural elements of the bill from food stamps.
It passed the House, but was never taken up by the Senate, which resulted in the years-long gridlock.
David Ray, a spokesman for Mr. Cotton, said they believe their ad is succeeding in winning the issue.
“In fact, the response has been so positive that we are increasing the size of our TV buy,” he said. “Arkansas farmers know that Tom Cotton supported extending our farm programs, but wouldn’t allow President Obama to load down the farm bill with hundreds of billions of dollars in new food stamp spending.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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