The Eye

The former state Republican Party chairman suggested that family considerations had deterred him from again pursuing a seat in Congress since his try in 1996. But with his youngest son now going into his junior year in college, Mahaffey -- a lawyer in the small city of Montezuma and part-time Poweshiek County attorney -- said he is "seriously considering" challenging Boswell again.

He also noted that the momentous debates and decisions being made these days, following the 2008 election of Democrat Barack Obama as president, have piqued his interest in rejoining the political fray. "The thought of being part of that process has made me think about it again," Mahaffey said.

Mahaffey and Boswell faced off in 1996 for the seat left open by Republican incumbent Jim Ross Lightfoot, who that year staged an unsuccessful challenge to Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin. Boswell prevailed by just less than a 2 percentage-point margin, 49.3 percent to 47.6 percent, in what remains the closest of his seven House victories.

Boswell, who turned 75 in January, has since faced down other serious challengers, including former state Senate Republican leader Jeff Lamberti, who held him to a 5 percentage-point margin in 2006. But Boswell won much more comfortably in 2008, by 56 percent to 42 percent, over Republican Kim Schmett, a lawyer and former House aide.

At the top of the ticket that year, Obama defied the image of Iowa's 3rd as an evenly divided swing district by winning there by 54 percent to 45 percent over Republican John McCain. Just four years early, President George W. Bush carried the 3rd District vote for the Republicans by a razor-thin margin over Democrat John Kerry.

A Boswell-Mahaffey rematch after a 14-year hiatus would also take place on quite different turf from their first race. The 3rd District in 1996 was located mainly in southern Iowa and was heavily rural; Boswell was aided in that race by the fact that he had spent his life outside of politics in farming. But redistricting, performed in a non-partisan procedure in Iowa, move the district's boundaries north and east to take in the state capital of Des Moines, to which Boswell relocated from his rural hometown.

Boswell has a head start in funding for the 2010 campaign, reporting nearly $200,000 in his House account as of March 31. Both he and his party's strategists are prepared for the possibility of a tough Republican challenge in 2010: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrats' political arm, designated Boswell in its initial group of 40 potentially vulnerable incumbents who will receive additional campaign support through its "Frontline Democrats" program.

-- Anne L. Kim