Jennifer Jacobs

jejacobs@dmreg.com

Democrats are circulating a video in which Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst says Congress shouldn't be passing laws "that the states would even consider nullifying."

Ernst backers say the state senator doesn't support the concept of nullification, and her comments on it were about encouraging Iowans to send her to Washington to pass good laws.

The battle for Iowa's first open U.S. Senate seat in 40 years, a race that will likely help determine which party controls the powerful chamber, is so close that it's considered a coin flip. Ernst and Democratic U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley are seeking to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat.

Braley's backers' central tactic for defeating Ernst is to try to portray her as "too extreme for Iowa." The concept of nullification, which sometimes pops up in tea party conversations and constitutional conservatives' circles, relates to basic ideas about federal and state relations, or federalism.

"An easy way to think about nullification is to relate it to states' rights," said Christopher Larimer, who teaches political science at the University of Northern Iowa. "Those in favor of nullification view states as sovereign units; that they can ignore federal laws if they so choose."

Courts have consistently ruled against nullification.

"Bruce Braley is so desperate that he's once again waging a dirty and false campaign," Ernst campaign spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said in a statement. "Joni has not and does not endorse or support nullification."

The Iowa Democratic Party on Tuesday circulated a story posted Monday by the Daily Beast that features a one-minute video of Ernst speaking at a September 2013 forum. It doesn't show what the questioner asked, but shows Ernst's answer: "... So, bottom line, no, we should not be passing laws as federal legislators, as senators or congressmen, that the states would even consider nullifying. Bottom line."

Ernst's backers say the concept is not something she would pursue, and it's not something that Iowa voters care about or even recognize as an issue.

Legislative records show Ernst co-sponsored resolutions that relate to states rights -- SCR 3, in January 2011, which claimed Iowa's sovereignty over federal laws that "are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment," and SR 7, "urging the nullification" of certain rules adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.