West Des Moines Patch’s 2012 Election Guide

Make West Des Moines Patch your 2012 election headquarters. Here’s a rundown of the races, candidates and issues we’ll be covering:

President Barack Obama: Prognosticators call Iowa a battleground state in the presidential race, and two recent visits by President Obama to the Hawkeye State seem to bear that out. In April, to talk about the need to keep student loan interest rates down, then in May he stumped in Des Moines on the economy, abortion rights, gays in the military and his desire to lead the country forward.

GOP Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney: The former Massachusetts governor has visited the state three times in the past month, usually focusing his comments on the economy. In a May Des Moines appearance, . On June 18 Romney campaigned in Dubuque and Davenport, criticizing President Obama’s policies with dragging down the economy, according to the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald.

Senate District 22: This top local race gained high visibility when Pastor Jeff Mullen launched a to unseat Sen. Pat Ward. Ward, who moved to the new district after redistricting pitted her against popular Democrat Matt McCoy, in the contentious Republican primary. In November, Ward takes on Democrat Desmund Adams of Clive, an underdog in a conservative district where both registered Republicans and no-party voters outnumber Democrats.

Other legislative races we’ll be keeping an eye on include:

• House District 42: Republican Peter Cownie, the incumbent, faces a challenge from Democrat Mike McRae.
• House District 43: Republican Chris Hagenow, the incumbent, faces a challenge from Democrat Susan Judkins.
• House District 44: This is in open race with no incumbent. Democrat Eric Brenneman and Republican Rob Taylor are vying for the seat.

Iowa's 3rd Congressional District: And we’ll be watching a congressional race – one of only two in the country in which redistricting pits a pair of incumbents against one another – for Iowa’s 3rd District. When Iowa lost a district in the 2010 census, 4th District Congressman Tom Latham moved into the new 3rd District to take on Democrat Leonard Boswell in a campaign that political watchers say will be expensive and contentious.

Both have an agriculture background and a long tenure in Congress — Boswell has served for 15 years and Latham has been in the House of Representatives for 17 years.

Iowa Supreme Court judicial retention vote: Two years ago Iowans ousted three members of the Supreme Court for their support of a unanimous ruling that allowed same-sex marriage in the state. This November, another justice who took part in that ruling, David S. Wiggins, is up for retention.

Also up for retention are the three newest justices on the court, who replaced those who lost their seats. The three new justices on the ballot are Thomas D. Waterman, Edward Mansfield and Bruce Zager.