
State Senator Joni Ernst has emerged as the solid front-runner in the crowded Republican primary race for the U.S. Senate. A new Des Moines Register Iowa Poll out Saturday night shows Ernst with a double-digit lead over her closest competitor, Mark Jacobs, the retired business executive.
Channel 13 News talked with Ernst and one of her V.I.P. backers, two-time presidential candidate Mitt Romney, following their campaign rally Friday afternoon in Davenport.
--Ernst discussed what's next following the scandal with the nation's veterans health system.
--Romney addressed talk he should take over the system.
--They both discounted a difference in beliefs they have with each other.
--And Ernst talked about what she said was a slip of the tongue during a debate on a mass killing in California and pushed back against Democrats who have attacked her for it.