It isn’t often that Iowa politics make the pages of a national news magazine, but it’s happening this year in the Third District.

State Sen. Larry McKibben’s battle to unseat U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell has been featured in both TIME and U.S. News and World Report, and the Republican from Marshalltown is optimistic about his chances.

“Everybody deems this to be one of the most competitive races in the country,” McKibben said in a phone interview while campaigning in Lee County.

Boswell, a Democrat from Davis City, has not distinguished himself in his first term in the House, McKibben said.

“I don’t have very many people telling me that he has accomplished much in the last two years,” he said. “Most people tell me that Leonard Boswell has been a back-bencher in a minority party.”

McKibben attacked Boswell for opposing fast-track legislation, which would have given the president the authority to negotiate trade bills and send them to Congress for a simple yes/no vote.

Proponents of fast-track say it would speed up the trade process and alleviate the strain put on farmers by low commodity prices.

“That is really turning your back on the Third District of Iowa, which is a heavily agricultural district,” McKibben said.

“I can be a stronger and more effective voice for agriculture and small businesses,” he said. “I’ll be a leader in getting fast-track trade legislation passed.”

He said the need for fast-track was shown recently when Brazil and the European Union signed a soybean contract without talking to the United States.

“We were not even at the table,” McKibben said.

Boswell initially opposed fast-track because the bill did not include provisions against child labor in foreign countries.

When the measure came to the floor this fall, it did include a child-labor clause, and Boswell voted for it.

“It’s nothing but a smokescreen. He was not a leader on that issue at all,” McKibben said, accusing Boswell of allowing trade unions, which oppose fast-track, to dictate his votes.

Another priority for McKibben is tax reform.

“We’re in the middle of a major discussion about how to redo the federal tax code,” he said. “I’ll be a leader in creating a fair and simpler and flatter income tax.”

McKibben would raise the standard deduction to $8,000, the personal exemption to $4,000 and the per-dependent exemption to $6,000. All these now stand at $2,650.

With these cuts, McKibben said, the first $34,000 of the income of a family of five would be tax-free.

“That’s real working-class tax reduction,” he said.