I was taking my morning walk along Grand Avenue last week and thinking about the nice job Ned Chiodo is doing with the fairway on Waveland’s third hole when I saw a familiar figure approaching. 

Without looking up, my friend K.C. started talking when he was still a good 10 yards away.  

“Explain to me why Iowa Democrats have a death wish, he said. 

“That’s a little harsh,” I responded. “What are you talking about?”

“Look at the U.S. Senate race,” he said. “Democrats had the best chance ever of defeating Chuck Grassley, and they’re already peeing down their leg, just like they always do.”

“That’s not true,” I said. “The Democrats have a strong field of candidates, and I’m sure any one of them will give Grassley a decent run.” 

“But they’ll lose, like they always do,” K.C. said. 

“Maybe,” I said. “But what are they supposed to do? Grassley is such an institution. He’s our favorite uncle, an aw-shucks kind of guy.” 

“He’s been in Congress longer than dirt,” K.C. said, “and the only thing he ever did was call out the military back in the 1980s when they were buying $640 toilet seats and $400 hammers.”  

“If you mean that Grassley was never a player like Neal Smith,” I said, “you’re right. Neal knew how to bring home the bacon. He got a lot of things done. He worked both sides of the aisle and brought a lot of federal money back to Central Iowa.”

“Grassley was against pork before it was a dirty word in Congress,” K.C. said. 

“Normally that would help him,” he said. “But it might not be enough this year. Donald Trump changes everything. He scares the bejeebers out of real Republicans.

“Plus, Grassley made the mistake of digging his heels in on Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court. There’s no percentage in that. I still can’t figure that out,” he said. “Grassley’s political antenna is usually better than that.”

“Those are two big strikes against him,” K.C. continued. “If the Democrats had a real candidate, they might just win the ballgame this year.

“The sad thing,” he added, “is that it looked for a while like the Democrats might actually nominate someone new who could appeal to younger voters. 

“But then the DNC stepped in and started whispering sweet nothings in Patty Judge’s ear and got her to run. Why the Democratic National Committee thought she would be a good candidate against Grassley is way beyond me,” he said.

“They said it was because she has name recognition and can get the farm vote,” I said.

“Not against Grassley, she won’t,” K.C. said. “Anyone who thinks Patty Judge can out-farmer Chuck Grassley is smoking something that’s probably illegal. 

“And how’s this for name recognition: The last time Patty Judge was on a statewide ballot, she got beat by Kim Reynolds.”

“That’s not fair,” I said. 

“Nothing in politics is,” he said.

“If the Democrats are ever going to beat Grassley or Terry Branstad, they need young blood, new faces.”

“What about Rob Hogg?” I said. “He’s 49. That’s only two years older than Grassley when he was first elected to the Senate in 1980. Hogg has been positioning himself for this race for more than two years.

“He’s been out front on issues that younger voters care about, like climate change and water quality. He even wrote a book called ‘America’s Climate Century.’ ”

“Yeah,” K.C. admitted. “Hogg was looking pretty good until the DNC decided it knew more than Iowans and handpicked Patty Judge as their candidate.

“Good luck trying to sell her to the voters in the fall,” he said as he walked away.