IOWA CITY (AP) — As a first term congressman, Democratic U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley can’t run on experience.

But as his first re-election bid approaches — typically the race when incumbents are most vulnerable — Braley can point to several legislative credits and strong financial backing.

It makes for a tough race for his Republican opponent, state Sen. David Hartsuch, a former emergency-room doctor from Bettendorf.

As with most races featuring a freshman incumbent, the District 1 election has become largely a referendum on Braley’s first term, said Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University.

Goldford said Braley has benefited from a push by House Democrats to place freshman representatives in committee seats to strengthen their positions.

“The Democrats have put him in all sorts of committees and positions to maximize their re-electability,” Goldford said. “There’s certainly been an eye toward the sophomore re-election with the way the House has positioned their various freshman representatives.”

Goldford said Hartsuch also must overcome what’s expected to be a difficult year for the GOP, especially in a district where Democrats have a significant edge in party registration.

Hartsuch said his campaign rests on a platform of limited government, lower taxes and conservative social policies. He also wants to win over the majority of voters not registered in either party by stressing his support for domestic oil drilling and a continuation of President Bush’s tax cuts.

When Braley won a hotly contested race for an open seat in 2006, he gave Democrats control in the district for the first time since 1992.

Since then, he’s maintained a high profile for a freshman lawmaker, including an appearance in a House subcommittee hearing on steroid use in Major League Baseball, an outspoken role questioning the conduct of Agriprocessors managers after a raid at a Postville meatpacking plant in May and his success in getting a bill signed into law that requires the use of “plain language” in public government documents.

Hartsuch acknowledged Braley’s successes, but said he can connect with voters by running a campaign that is both fiscally and socially conservative. He said it is irresponsible to claim to be fiscally conservative but socially moderate.

“I think those individuals don’t understand the interplay between the two,” Hartsuch said. “Liberal social policies yield a great negative impact on our fiscal policy.”

Hartsuch’s conservative credentials may have cost him a chance to speak at a rally for Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Saturday in Davenport. Hartsuch said he was asked to stand on stage, but was told he couldn’t give a speech because of comments made to a local newspaper two years ago when he said the gay community called the heterosexual community “breeders.”

Hartsuch said he stands by the comment, and referred to the term as a “colloquial expression” among the gay community in Minneapolis, where he spent 15 years.

Hartsuch also questioned Braley’s promise in his first campaign to force accountability from the White House, particularly for its conduct of the Iraq war.

Braley responded that he’s devoted time to that promise as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He noted his early call for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

“If anybody has followed my career in Washington the last two years, they can see multiple examples of me holding this president accountable,” Braley said.

According to the Federal Elections Commission, Braley has far more cash on hand than his opponent. Hartsuch also hasn’t received financial backing from the powerful National Republican Congressional Committee.

During the last reporting period that ended June 30, the Braley campaign had amassed more than $750,000 and had about $400,000 of that in the bank.

Hartsuch, by contrast, had raised about $16,000 with more than $12,000 on hand.

The campaigns declined to provide specifics about their current fundraising and spending, and said they would comment after the quarterly reporting period later this week.

“Hartsuch may be hoping that lightning will strike,” Goldford said, but in a tough fundraising year for Republicans, “he’s got a big mountain to climb.”