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I stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol along with 367 other Republican candidates for Congress. It was Sept. 27, 1994, and I was the GOP nominee for Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District. We gave speeches, waved flags and signed the Contract With America. It was a big media event because no one had done it before. It was a gamble.
The Contract With America nationalized that year’s midterm elections, which went against former Speaker Tip O’Neil’s canard that all politics is local. My polling showed I was ahead of my opponent, a 36-year incumbent who could only attack me personally as a rich plastic surgeon. I was new to politics and had no voting record. I batted away his ad hominem attacks with testimonials from patients, such as the farmer who lost his thumb in a farm accident. I made him a new one by transplanting his big toe.
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