Reporter Dan Hirschhorn writes that the race between Boswell (D-Des Moines) and Latham (R-Ames) could be one of the most expensive in 2012.

“In one of the most closely watched member vs. member races, Latham and Boswell both need to have loads of cash at the ready. Advertising rates in Iowa will go sky-high late next year because of the competitive presidential race.

Both are strong campaigners and fundraisers. Latham, in particular, can count on backup from his colleagues — he’s a top Appropriations Committee member and close ally of House Speaker John Boehner.

And he’s already filling up the coffers. He raised $337,000 in the third quarter and has $1.7 million in the bank.

Boswell had a weaker quarter, raising $142,000 and finishing with about $376,000 on hand.”

Latham raised $337,025 in the third quarter, including $215,900 from political committees and $121,125 from individuals. Boswell took in $142,192 in that same period, including $95,750 from political committees and $46,336 from individuals.

Latham spent $90,650 and had $1.72 million on hand at the end of the period, while Boswell spent $54,226 and had $375,966 on hand at the end of the period.

National political observers are watching the race for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District closely, according to a recent article from Politico. Some think whoever wins in the newly-drawn district could be a bellwether for which party will control Congress.

Politico also identified the fundraising race in Iowa’s 3rd CD as one of 10 FEC reports to watch.

Boswell has served in Congress since 1997, and Latham since 1995. Latham moved south to challenge Boswell rather than battle U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Kiron) in the newly-drawn 4th Congressional District.

Former Iowa First Lady and 4th Congressional District candidate Christie Vilsack is among a handful of House and Senate candidates who “are distinguishing themselves as breakout fundraising stars in the still-developing 2012 campaign season,” Politico reports.

Reporter Alex Isenstadt writes:

Vilsack has quickly established herself as one of the most formidable Democratic fundraisers, raking in more than $750,000 in her first six months of campaigning. Vilsack, the wife of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and a former Iowa first lady who was an influential player in the state’s political circles, is tapping a nationwide fundraising base — holding fundraisers in New York City and Northern California. GOP Rep. Steve King, Vilsack’s opponent, had raised a little more than $200,000 through June — and another subpar haul should set off alarms in Republican circles.

Last week Politico identified Vilsack and King’s fundraising in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District race as among “10 FEC reports to watch.”

“They have some rules of engagement that include a national poll that has you at 4 percent or higher,” explained Roemer, who added that he has a different campaign approach by only accepting small donations, has only been actively campaigning for a month and only recently began appearing in national polls.

“We’ve tried to get in every debate,” he added, but the way the policies governing the debates are decided is “purposefully vague” and it has been difficult to determine who sets the rules and who can change them.

“It’s a process that makes no sense,” Roemer said of the debate qualifiers that seem to exclude certain candidates while favoring others.

While Roemer may be the most gentle in his criticism of eligibility requirements for the 2012 GOP presidential debates, he’s hardly the first of the candidates to level such complaints.

The presidential campaign of former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson has offered to bring its own microphone if funds prevent more from being added to the stage at the Reagan Library Wednesday night. U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter mused that he, a Republican at age 21, was being excluded from the debate at the Reagan facility while two other candidates who weren’t even members of the GOP at the time of Reagan will appear on stage. Likewise, political consultant Fred Karger, a former member of the Reagan administration, is being excluded — as he has in previous debates.

Candidates appearing on stage will be former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Atlanta businessman Herman Cain, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

While not all of the candidates are currently at the 4 percent national polling threshold, they can all point to a poll — some months in the past — where they garnered the necessary support to qualify.

Roemer, noting that he is the only GOP presidential candidate who has both executive and legislative experience, agreed with Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart Tuesday night that there is an over-riding sickness within American electoral system. That sickness, according to Roemer, is the influence of money in politics.

“You can’t tackled the jobs problem, the budget problem, the tax problem or American rising without tackling the first problem — money in politics,” Roemer said. “It is corrupt. It is institutionally corrupt. They spend their time getting big checks from big special interests. It’s the special interests that write the tax code. … And nobody does anything. You know why? Corporations have never made any more money than they are right now.

“They wrote the tax code and they really don’t give a damn about the rest of America.”

Corporate or big money influence in politics is a key focus of Roemer’s campaign, which, as The Iowa Independent previously reported, has a self-imposed ban on special interest money. His campaign will only accept individual contributions of $100 or less.

“Electability should not be discussed in terms of who can raise the most money, but rather who has the best ideas to raise America,” Roemer said previously.

The Jon Stewart clip featuring Roemer is embedded below:

“The great irony at work — especially with the Reagan Library debate — is going to be the fact that two frontrunners weren’t even Republicans during the Reagan administration, whereas people like myself at the age of 21 were,” McCotter said during an appearance on Fox Business.

The Simi Valley, Calif. debate is slated for Sept. 7 and is being co-sponsored by NBC News and The Politico, which have established rules that only candidates who have received “at least four percent support as the preferred nominee among Republicans in a methodologically sound and recognized national poll conducted by one of the following survey organization since the November 2010 elections: Gallop, Bloomberg, NBC/WSJ, ABC/Washington Post, CBS/The New York Times, CNN, Fox and Associated Press.”

Inclusion is open, organizers say, to “all Republicans who have a reasonable prospect of becoming the GOP nominee and who have demonstrated that they are in a credible position to be a principal competitor in the early stages of the nominating contest.”

Using such a standard, it’s clear that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Atlanta businessman Herman Cain make the cut, and they are all expected to participate.

Also expected to be on the stage, however, are former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum — candidates who, according to the latest Gallup poll, do not break 4 percent. But because the organizers did not stipulate that the polling must be recent, nor that the poll had to include the existing field or be exclusive to candidates who have actually committed to be in the race.

That means some candidates can pull polls from months ago — prior to Perry’s announcement — or polls that spread the already congested field by including non-committed candidates like Donald Trump, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin or former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Those who don’t make the cut include McCotter, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and political strategist Fred Karger.

“It’s especially disheartening when you know that people who are on that stage are either tied with me in the polls, as a ‘tertiary candidate,’‟ and have been running and spending millions of dollars, or are within very close proximity to us in the polls,” McCotter said.

“As a Detroiter, you put your nose to the grindstone; you work hard, and try to make things happen.”

On Thursday the Johnson campaign also questioned the rules being used to invite some and exclude others from the debate process.

Clips of McCotter’s appearance on Fox Business are embedded below:

“If the Reagan Library doesn’t have room for Gary Johnson at next week’s debate, maybe they need a bigger stage,” said Ron Nielson, senior advisor for Johnson’s campaign.

Nielson cites the Aug. 29 CNN/ORC Poll (PDF) that places Johnson at 2 percent — a percentage above former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, both of whom are expected to participate. In addition, Atlanta businessman Herman Cain also drew 2 percent in the poll, and he has also been invited to participate.

Also of note is the fact that the three invited participants have historically performed better in the same poll. For instance, Cain has gone from 6 percent in July and 4 percent in early August to his present 2 percent. Santorum previously garnered 2 percent, but has fallen to 1 percent. Of the four, Johnson, who did not garner 1 percent in earlier polling, the the only one trending upward.

“If Governor Johnson’s exclusion is because there isn’t enough room or not enough microphones, just let us know and we will be happy to bring our own,” Nielson said. “Even if the national elite media doesn’t want to hear his ideas for balancing the budget now, cutting defense spending, or keeping the government out of so-called social issues, just tell us. But, do not try to justify his exclusion by saying he should have registered at 4 percent in a poll several months ago instead of 3 percent. That excuse just doesn’t fly, especially when the result is to muzzle a successful two-term governor who is doing just as well in recent polls as others who are invited.

“Our supporters, numerous commentators, even Neil Cavuto on Fox Business, are all questioning Governor Johnson’s exclusion, and for good reason. In fact, one commentator is even referring to a ‘Gary Johnson Rule,’ meaning criteria that seems designed to keep Gary Johnson off the Presidential debate stage.”

The debate, which is being co-sponsored by NBC News and The Politico, will take place in Simi Valley, Calif. In addition to the three candidates mentioned above, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich are expected to participate.

In conjunction with the release of 2010 financial disclosure statements for members of Congress, the Washington Post published a story highlighting seven freshmen lawmakers with credit debt exceeding $15,000. That included Farenthold, who, according to the Post, “has pressed for major action to control the national debt. Earlier this year, Farenthold issued a statement rejecting any increase in the debt limit without major spending cuts.”

The forms show Farenthold has outstanding credit card debt of $45,000 to $150,000. A spokesperson didn’t give a comment to the Post before the story ran.

In early March, Farenthold (the grandson of legendary Texas Democrat Sissy Farenthold) figured in a Politico story on the “millionaires club” that is the freshman class of U.S. lawmakers. According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, Farenthold was among the wealthiest of the new congressmen, holding more than $20 million in assets ($35.8 million to be precise).

According to the Post at the time, Farenthold’s office sent out a statement saying the rumors of his wealth were “grossly exaggerated” — attributing the skewed data to the fact that Farenthold only partially owns many of the listed assets, together with family members.

“I wish I were worth as much as the reports imply, I could use a new car!” Farenthold said in a statement to the Post.

Following up with aides, the Post reported that Farenthold’s true wealth is somewhere in the $5 million to $7 million range. The Post’s response: “Still enough for a new car, congressman.”

According to his disclosure statements, Farenthold incurred the credit card debt (spread out among three cards) in December 2010. The debt is classified as being held jointly between Farenthold and his spouse.

Since Farenthold claimed he still needed a new car, what did he use those credit cards to purchase? Perhaps it was to help secure his new job.

Farenthold loaned his campaign about $138,000 in all, according reports from theFederal Election Commission. About $6,500 of that was in the form of unpaid credit card expenses by Farenthold for his campaign. His campaign had about $163,500 in the bank as of April 15, still owing more than $125,000 in debts and obligations — nearly all of it to Farenthold himself.

Kobach envisions bills similar to Alabama’s spreading across the country, and was profiled in a Politico article Monday saying as much: “It’s likely that Missouri will raise its standard up to the Arizona or Alabama level… and there’s a good shot that something might pass in Pennsylvania. It’s hard to predict too far out in the future, but those are probably the two best bets.”

The headline of the Politico article is “Swing states face immigration fight,” but the author, Reid J. Epstein, offers no corroboration for Kobach’s claims, instead merely quoting national-level opponents and proponents of the “attrition through enforcement” laws already in existence.

Carlos Gomez, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City, told TAI that a Missouri version of the immigration law in next year’s legislative session is possible but, “it just depends on the community and how they’re going to react.” He points out that Kobach’s ideas met with strong opposition when they were proposed in Kansas and ultimately failed in this year’s legislative session.

Mike Hethmon, a colleague of Kobach’s at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, mentions Florida and Texas (only one of which is a swing state) as states where “you tend to see fairly high-profile… media efforts but [you] haven’t seen the appearance of a legislator who is both willing to focus on the technical issues and keep pushing the issue through multiple sessions.”

But it’s hard to see how Kobach’s claim that his laws will be spreading to swing states is any more substantial than the unfocused efforts of media-focused politicians that his colleague criticizes.

Politico reported Monday on a conflict between U.S. Reps. Lamar Smith (R-San Antonio) and Joe Barton (R-Ennis) over how many of Texas’ four new congressional districts should be drawn to favor Republicans, and how many should favor Democrats. Texas’ population gain in the past decade has been heavily driven by growth in the number of Hispanic residents, who tend to vote Democratic. Meanwhile, the GOP tsunami last fall swept Republicans Ciro Rodriguez (R-San Antonio) and Blake Farenthold (R-Corpus Christi) into districts that would probably require some tinkering in order to be considered ‘safe’ for the incumbents in more typical election years.

According to Politico, Smith is taking a more pragmatic approach to map-drawing, attempting to make deals to create two GOP-leaning districts and two Democratic-leaning districts. On the other hand, Barton is pushing for either three or four of the new districts to favor Republicans.

An anonymous “Republican insider” told Politico that Texas Republicans are taking Smith’s side of the argument — though anonymous Democratic sources said Barton is getting support from Gov. Rick Perry.

The Democrats also said, according to the story: “Perry has also considered the idea of skipping Justice Department review of the new congressional map and going directly to federal court for approval, Democrats added. Nearly all Voting Rights Act-mandated reviews are first conducted by the Justice Department, although Perry wants to avoid that step with the [Barack] Obama administration.”

If that is indeed Perry’s plan, it might not work. An expert on Voting Rights Act preclearance told the Texas Independent in late March that the state would probably not find any extra sympathy in front of a three-judge D.C. panel than it would from Department of Justice staffers.

“Even if they go to federal court, they would have to face off with DOJ,” said election law attorney J. Gerald Hebert, who is executive director of the Campaign Legal Center.

“The legal standard used by the federal court is identical to the legal standard used by the DOJ,” he said.

Additionally, “the D.C. court is very deferential to the Justice Department, by and large,” Hebert said. “Because the DOJ reviews about 20,000 voting changes a year, and the D.C. court gets very few a year, they rely very heavily on the expertise of the DOJ.”

“I’ve often found that when a challenge is in the D.C. court, the court looks to the Justice Department for a great deal of guidance,” he said.

Today, the Rio Grande Guardian reported that the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) is suing Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Gov. Rick Perry in a South Texas court, alleging “that the population numbers being used for the State’s 2011 redistricting process “severely undercounts Latinos.””

According to MALC’s petition, posted by the Guardian, “The creation of redistricting plans for Texas election districts using the defective 2010 census data discriminates against Latino voters and is not legally enforceable.”

MALC’s attorney Jose Garza told the Guardian, “There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps, tens of thousands for sure, of individuals who were simply not counted. The Legislature is making no accommodation for that. They are using 2010 Census as if it were perfect.”

As the Texas Tribune notes, attorney Mike Hull – whose clients include the conservative Texans for Lawsuit Reform — filed a suit earlier this year in a North Texas court, “saying in that filing that non-citizens shouldn’t be counted in drawing political districts and saying that their inclusion dilutes the relative voting strength of some citizens.”

According to the Tribune, “The suits, at this point, are mainly about where the inevitable redistricting lawsuits will be heard. MALC’s going for South Texas. Hull, who hasn’t named his actual clients, is going for North.”

Politico highlights two members of Iowa’s delegation who have received the most attention to date: Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Steve King. Both Iowans told the publication that they intend to endorse a candidate sometime next year.

“I’m not going to do anything until I see how much time they’re going to put in Iowa because that’s what the people of Iowa demand,” Grassley told POLITICO. “The second [consideration] is whether or not when they’re done with Iowa, they got money to go on. Because I can back the very best candidate and they can win Iowa, with or without Chuck Grassley. But if they can’t compete in New Hampshire, what good does it do?”

Grassley and King represent diverging strains of the Republican Party, with Grassley coming from the more traditional, moderate wing and King as a standard bearer for the far-right, tea-party attitude that defined the GOP in the last election. But both have received visits in Washington by former Sen. Rick Santorum, who traveled frequently to the first-in-the-nation state in 2010.