Democratic Senate candidate Roxanne Conlin ran off a list of disagreements between her position and Sen. Charles Grassley’s at the Harkin Steak Fry on Sunday, from the Bush-era tax cuts to Social Security, while mentioning the Republican Senator has been in public office since before Hawaii and Alaska were named states.

She brought up the joint appearance on Iowa Public Television two days prior with Grassley (R-Iowa) and asked how many of the Steak Fry attendees saw it.

“Well, I’m glad you saw because as far as I know he’s not coming out of his house again,” Conlin told the crowd. “He owes the people of Iowa a defense of his record.”

Friday, Conlin appeared with Grassley on IPTV’s “Iowa Press” for what may be the closest she gets to having a debate with the incumbent Senator. Conlin brought up the issue early on in the show, to which Grassley responded, “What are we doing here?” One Associated Press interviewer said it was not a debate, it was an appearance.

“Oh, a forum,” Grassley responded on the show. “She wants forums. Whatever you want to call them.”

He then said a race was about issues and he’s happy to talk to the press about them at any time.

Are the 2010 elections a referendum?

Conlin said on the show the 2010 elections were not a referendum on President Barack Obama’s policies.

“I think the 2010 election is a choice between the failed policies of the past that drove our economy off a cliff and that left us with a huge gap between the very rich and the very poor, in part because of the policies of the finance committee that Sen. Grassley chaired for six of those years, and I don’t think people want to go back to those policies,” Conlin said.

Grassley said it was a referendum on Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Obama, and Conlin would provide more of the same policies of the past two years.

“I’m not Reed, I’m not Pelosi, I’m not Obama – I am my own person,” Conlin shot back. “I will be a fiercely independent citizen legislator.”

Adding jobs to the economy

“Sen. Grassley has voted five times to give tax breaks to companies that send our jobs overseas. This whole idea of tax cuts for the wealthy being the key to economic vibrancy is just plain wrong,” Conlin said.

Conlin revisited that issue in a news conference Monday morning at Brody Middle School in Des Moines, where she declared she would end tax breaks for companies who ship jobs overseas.

“This business about sending jobs overseas,” Grassley said on IPTV, “I am the author of the 2004 jobs bill that created a 9-percent tax credit for manufacturing in the United States so we didn’t send jobs overseas.”

Conlin often tells crowds and media she grew up in a large family struggling with money and at times her parents lost their jobs leading to hard times as a child. She proposes a plan to provide tax relief by allowing middle-class individuals and families to defer for five years up to $5,000 in income taxes they owe and pay them back at a reasonable rate. She also said Congress would require every level of government to “Buy American.”

On IPTV Conlin charged Grassley, who now said the individual mandate of the health reform bill is unconstitutional, once put his name on a bill in 1993 that would require it.

Grassley pushed back on Conlin over once saying she supported lowering the retirement age for Social Security during a meeting with the Des Moines Register in April, but Conlin now says she wants to keep the age at 67, where it’s currently set.

Conlin reminded reporters Monday that Tom Vilsack was down 25 percent at the same time in September 1998 before going on to win the Iowa gubernatorial race.

“50 days in politics is a long time,” Conlin said, insisting there is plenty of time for herself and other Democrats like Gov. Chet Culver to gain voter support.