Democrat Patty Judge’s campaign to defeat Iowa’s long-time incumbent U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley is built around the slogan that she is “the Judge Grassley can’t ignore.”

It’s a memorable phrase, particularly in light of Grassley’s decision not to hold Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on any of President Obama’s appointments to the Supreme Court this year. But it’s a toothless threat.

I won’t say Grassley is ignoring Judge, because he’s too smart to ignore an opponent. But the media coverage he’s received since the June primary illustrates why the 82-year-old, six-term U.S. Senator is so difficult to defeat. 

From mid-June – after primary and post-primary coverage ended – until mid-August, Grassley had a huge advantage over Judge in terms of news coverage in The Des Moines Register and on statewide Iowa Public Radio. 

Between June 16 and Aug. 17, the Des Moines Public Library’s online index of the Register lists 55 articles in which Grassley’s name was mentioned and 11 that mentioned Judge. Nine additional stories mentioned both Judge and Grassley.

A search of Iowa Public Radio’s website for the same period found 16 stories in which Grassley’s name appeared, compared with four mentions of Judge. 

Of course, not all mentions were positive, but for every negative headline or on-air report about Grassley, there were three or four positive stories. 

Only two of the stories about Judge since the primary were what I consider notable. 

One was about her appearance at the Register’s State Fair Soapbox, where the headline was: “Patty Judge hits rival Grassley for ‘not proposing solutions.’”

But here’s the deal: While Democrats may believe Grassley isn’t doing his job, he can point to a record that shows otherwise.   

During the weeks leading up to the fair, Grassley was quoted talking about solutions for health care problems, ranging from higher drug costs to abuse of nursing home patients. In recent weeks, he’s also spoken out about ways to improve law enforcement and confront terrorists. 

News reports credit Grassley with helping convince Tyson Foods to sell its closed plant in Cherokee, and he has called for closer anti-trust scrutiny of a merger between Dow Chemical and DuPont, which could impact agricultural prices and technology. He has also called for deeper federal looks at potential food security issues when foreign companies buy U.S. businesses.

Most people will characterize those actions as solutions. 

The truth is Grassley is a master of capturing news media attention when he wants it and ducking it when he doesn’t.

Another significant story about Judge appeared in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on Aug. 4. It was an article by Gazette political writer James Lynch about a Linn County fundraiser where Judge criticized Grassley for not distancing himself more from Donald Trump. 

The headline was “Judge plans (to) campaign ‘full throttle’ until Election Day.”  

Somebody needs to tell her that Grassley was already at full throttle two months ago. 

Gannett worries: Financial journalist Vlae Kershner wrote recently that shareholders of Gannett Co. are not well served by efforts to buy Tronc, the company that owns the Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times and nine other daily newspapers.

Gannett, which owns the Des Moines Register, bid $12.25 a share for Tronc in April, $15 in May and reportedly raised the bid again to an amount that was undisclosed as of last week.  

Kershner says Gannett shareholders would be better served by spending some of that money to buyback its own stock, which is down 30 percent from last December. 

I’d say that the thing Gannett needs to do is invest in its core operations, including the Register, instead of repeatedly cutting staff and budgets while paying premiums for new properties.