Let me start out by pushing back on the suggestion that Bruce Braley can be usefully compared to Mitt Romney.  Mitt Romney, whatever his other faults, is personally a fundamentally decent man who you’d absolutely love to have as a next-door neighbor.  Bruce Braley is a former tort lawyer with a galloping sense of entitlement and he lies when it suits him. I’m not saying that people who’d prefer the company of the latter to the former are necessarily bad people – as a partisan hack myself, I recognize the power of solidarity – but you’d have to be a partisan hack to make that call.

None of the above should keep you from smiling at what’s below, mind you.

Walking past livestock barns and fried-food stands at the Iowa State Fair, Iowa’s Democratic Senate nominee, Bruce Braley, happily recounted his favorite memories of state fairs past, recalling the concerts he’s been to spanning decades, and mentioning that his favorite fair food is a “hot beef sundae” (mashed potatoes, beef, gravy, with a cherry tomato on top).

The only problem: He was telling those stories to two D.C. reporters, not to potential Iowa voters. During that entire walk through the fair, Braley spoke almost exclusively to reporters and a small handful of staffers. He rarely stopped to shake hands or meet people.

…No, I don’t know why Braley even bothered to go to the Iowa State Fair then, either.  When it comes right down to it, the comparison that should be made here should be the one between Bruce Braley and then-Senatorial candidate Martha Coakley.  Martha Coakley, the woman who once managed to proclaim that standing outside Fenway Park in the cold to meet and greet voters was beneath her as a candidate.  Braley seems determined to follow her rather foolish example.

Via

“During that… walk through the fair, Braley spoke almost exclusively to reporters and a small handful of staffers.” http://t.co/5t8pG18NV3

— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) August 14, 2014

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Republican candidate Joni Ernst reportedly worked the crowd and met everybody she could. Which is what politicians are supposed to do at these things.