It's election day in Iowa, and the Democratic primary between Congressman Leonard Boswell and Ed Fallon is one of the highest-profile races in the state.

Both campaigns have expressed confidence about the outcome--Boswell's because of an internal poll reportedly showing him way ahead, and Fallon's because of direct voter contacts by the candidate, his staff and volunteers.

In this diary I will discuss Boswell's closing argument, as expressed in broadcast media advertisements as well as direct-mail pieces.

I will also go over the main rationale for Fallon's campaign and the key events during the final days before the primary.

Join me after the jump for more.

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A good friend of the campaign here in IL-03 -- Don Reed -- asked me to write up a short piece on stem cell research to circulate among proponents of stem cell research.

He posted it here at DailyKos and asked me to cross post it. I think it does a good job of drawing yet another distinction between myself and Dan Lipinski.

The election is just 32 days away. Please take a minute to read this and keep following our exciting campaign for Congress here and at www.PERA08.com.

Thank you -- Mark

Dear friend of stem cell research,

My name is Mark Pera and I'm a Democratic candidate for Congress in Illinois' 3rd district. I'm writing you today to ask you an important question. Have you, like me, wondered why a Democratically-controlled Congress cannot override President Bush's endless mistakes, including his opposition to stem cell research?

Part of the blame belongs to a handful of Democrats, including Congressman Dan Lipinski, who have consistently voted with Bush on many issues important to Democrats, including the critical issue of stem-cell research.

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Congress' passage of its omnibus budget this week provided Congressman Dan Lipinski with another opportunity to try to have his cake and eat it too.

I think he exceeded everyone's expectations this time around.

He, like many Democrats, voted against the omnibus budget bill. Now take a look at this press release, in which Lipinski takes credit for the federal funding for state, county and local projects included in the bill that he had just voted against.

How can he claim to bring home funds when he voted against the budget bill? This is simply wrong on so many levels, but it's par for the course for Congressman Lipinski. On top of that, we have here the quintessential back-bencher, someone who is widely regarded as among the most ineffectual member of the House, brazenly trying to take credit for the collective efforts of the entire Illinois delegation.

While Lipinski was taking credit for funding initiatives that he voted against, he was also engaged in another shameless act of desperation, one familiar to those of you who have been following our campaign.

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If you - or your friends or family - give to Mark Pera on my Mark Pera fundraiser page by next Saturday, I'll kick in a matching donation of my own.  Check it out.  

(I've done this kind of matching pledge before (including earlier this month for Mark Pera) so take that as assurance that my pledge is for real).

The details:

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I have been watching this Bush Dog campaign with both a sense of amusement and some fear.  I happen to be one who takes a generally anti-primary attitude believing that   except in extreme cases running a primary against a sitting member of Congress is simply bad for any host of reasons.  I am going to however take the leap with you and say Bush Dogs are generally very bad and a lot need to go.   Lets go further and let's say that just as there are Democrats and Republicans, there are also Progressives and Conservatives. We at Openleft chose to ignore the party distinction and focus simply on the distinction between Progressive and Conservatives.  We also  assume that  The Bush Dogs are all Conservatives. So Conservatives hold   241 seats to Progressives 194. Therefore for Progressive to have a majority in Congress, Progressive needs to pick up 24 seats.   This is obviously very simplified but lets start here. You are the Progressive Strategist, where would you put your resources?  Here is the list of seats.

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