King Touts Roots, Vilsack Uses Farm Bill in House Debate

By Ben Terris  //  September 28, 2012 | 7:32 a.m.

ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- It's hard to imagine that when it's all said and done are going to be seven debates between Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa and state's former first lady, Democratic challenger Christie Vilsack.

Here we have two candidates so entirely different that it certainly won't take all seven of them for voters to know their differences. So it wasn't a surprise Thursday night in Orange City that the two candidates sounded a bit repetitive to anyone who has listened to the previous three rounds between them.

The debate happened in the heart of King country -- Orange City is the seat of Sioux County, the most conservative county in the state. Speaking at the Christ Chapel at the Northwestern College, a private Christian school, King made his case as a God-fearing man whose family has lived in the area for generations. Speaking about his three sons who live in the area, King said: "Their roots go deep, they've only known one mother, one father, one church, one house, one school."

"I live here, my roots are here, and I'm going to stay here no matter what happens in November," he went on to say, making a less-than-subtle dig at his opponent, who moved to Ames to run in the 4th Congressional District.

While King aimed to get points with his local-boy reputation and his anti-abortion, pro-gun stances, Vilsack made the stalled Farm Bill a central part of the debate. In her opening statement, Vilsack discussed the importance of the legislation that helps give farmers a safety net and fund the food stamps program, and she returned to the subject many times during the one hour debate. Vilsack cited the fact that King was the only member of the Iowa delegation not to sign a discharge petition, which would force a vote on the House floor if it was signed by a majority of the House of Representatives. "I think there are $136,000 reasons why he didn't do that and those are the dollars that he is receiving from the Club for Growth," Vilsack said. King responded that he was fighting hard to get a farm bill passed, and that he had assurances from House Speaker John Boehner that it would be brought up in the lame duck. "I'm sitting in a position where I expect to be on the conference committee and we'll have a voice of Iowa there when we hammer the last bill out," King said. The next debate is scheduled for October 9th in Sioux City. Expect something similar.

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