Loebsack Pulls Off Biggest Surprise on Election Night

From Congressional Quarterly...

Biggest surprise: Democrat David Loebsack, a college professor, upset 15-term Republican Rep. Jim Leach in Iowa’s 2nd District and broke the GOP moderate’s hold on a constituency that overall is Iowa’s most Democratic-leaning.

I had written before about Loebsack’s candidacy, the partisan nature of the southeastern Iowa district, and Leach’s aversion to the breakneck fundraising and smash-mouth tactics that many incumbents employ to ward off political opponents. But I just didn’t think that Leach would lose in the end — which he did, by 51 percent to 49 percent.