Grassley Makes Comment About Female Opponent's Looks

Treacherous territory for an incumbent whose approval rating has been dropping.

Democratic Senate candidate Roxanne Conlin told a Coralville crowd Friday that GOP incumbent Chuck Grassley commented to observers about her appearance after their joint Iowa Press taping earlier in the day.

“It was certainly interesting,” Conlin said of the joint appearance. “The guy couldn’t defend his record, or even look me in the eye. He couldn’t even say my name. He called me ‘her’ or ‘my opponent.’”

Conlin said in conversation after the taping, reporters asked Grassley about his odd body language and failure to look at Conlin. To which, Conlin said, Grassley responded: “She’s a really good looking woman. I don’t have a problem looking at her.”

“Whaaaat?!?” Conlin told the crowd at a fundraiser for Senator Bob Dvorsky. “He really said that.”

Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson, one of the Iowa Press panelists, confirms Conlin’s anecdote.

This is the type of quote that can quickly shake up a race. It's never a good thing for an incumbent to underestimate an opponent, and it's certainly not good politics for a favorite to condescend to an underdog.

The biggest question is whether this exchange was caught on video. If it wasn't, any hit relating to it may not be tremendously efficacious. But as we have seen time and time again, if the exchange was caught on video, it might actually inflict some serious political damage.

There's a real dearth of polling on this race, but the trend estimate from Pollster.com (excluding surveys from Research 2000) suggests an already evident downward trajectory for Chuck Grassley and upward trajectory for Roxanne Conlin. Take a look:




So while this might not be a race just yet, it's definitely a contest to keep an eye on.