The D Moines Register

In a less than stunning development the Ragister endorses the Dummycrat woman (Becky Greenwald) for CONgress running against a long term incumbent (Tom Latham), but supports a first term Dummycrat CONgressman (Dave Loebsack) against a Republican woman (Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks).

This is what they said about the woman they didn't support...

Like most campaign newcomers, including Loebsack two years ago, her knowledge of many issues is shallow. But her background indicates she'd come up to speed quickly.

This is what they said about the woman they did...

When asked about a number of subjects, she in essence described the positions of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama: health care (expand access to coverage and let consumers buy into government insurance plans), Social Security (tax income beyond current levels to shore up the system's finances), and withdrawal of troops from Iraq (do so as quickly as safely possible).

Those are good approaches to those issues, and they generally differ from Latham's, but she showed little evidence of having considered alternative approaches, an exception being her support for more domestic oil drilling.

Greenwald also didn't seem to understand the complexities of the looming financial shortfall in Medicare, perhaps the biggest fiscal issue facing the country.

It's expected that a challenger will have less knowledge about many issues than a longtime incumbent. But Greenwald failed to show she had boned up significantly on the issues since the editorial board first met with her in May before the primary.

They chose the dope (Greenwald) over hope (Miller-Meeks) and the scientific community is united in that fact.