Roxanne Conlin (Roxanne Conlin & Associates)

Roxanne Conlin (D), who served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa from 1977 to 1981, on Thursday said she may run for the Democratic nomination to challenge Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for his Senate seat next year, The Des Moines Register reported. Conlin has been in private practice since 1983. In 1982 she was the Democratic nominee for Iowa governor. Before serving as a U.S. Attorney, Conlin was an assistant attorney general in Iowa in the civil rights division from 1969 to 1976.

Conlin said her said is considering the run because of disappointment with Grassley and a desire to rejoin the public sector, The Register reported. “I never thought I’d run again,” Conlin told The Register, adding, “But in my lifetime, I don’t ever want to say, ‘If only I had followed my dream or followed my heart.’”

She told The Register, “It’s not the life I expected to have,” adding, “I expected to be in public office. I expected to run the state of Iowa. That is always what I thought would happen. Conlin continued, “So I kind of had to think through: What is my calling now? And so I feel like I’ve been able to make a contribution, not only to the lives of individuals that I represented, but to the people of Iowa in a number of ways.”

Conlin told The Register,”What has changed for me is Grassley.” She cited Grassley’s tone at last summer’s town hall meetings on health care and his criticism of against “Obama-care” in a fundraising brochure. “That’s not the Chuck Grassley I thought this state elected, and it really was a watershed moment for me,” she told The Register.

The candidates who have officially entered the race include three Democrats: former state Sen. Tom Fiegen, former state Rep. Bob Krause and frequent candidate Sal Mohamed.

According to The Register, a Conlin run could bring a fundraising challenge to Grassley, as she is well known and likely would receive significant financial support. In addition, Conlin could finance the campaign herself, as she received a considerable portion of $75 million in legal fees earned as one of the lead lawyers in a 2007 class-action lawsuit against Microsoft.

Nick Klinefeldt (Ahlers & Cooney)

Nicholas Klinefeldt (University of Iowa, University of Iowa College of Law) has been nominated to replace Matthew G. Whitaker as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa.

His vitals:

• Born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1974.
• Attended Des Moines Area Community College and Drake University.
• Has been an associate at Ahlers & Cooney, P .C. since March 2006.
• Served as counsel for the Iowa Democratic Party in Des Moines from fall 2006 to March 2009.
• Worked as state counsel to the 2008 Obama presidential campaign in Des Moines, from August 2008 to November 2008.
• Was an associate at Kelly, Libby & Hoopes, P.C. in Boston, Mass., from September 2003 to February 2006.
• Clerked in the Massachusetts Court of Appeals from September 2002 to August 2003.
• Worked as a law clerk for Judge Robert W. Pratt in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa from August 2000 to August 2002.
• Clerked for Tindal, Erdahl, Goddard & Nestor, P.C. in Iowa City, Iowa, from fall 1998 to spring 1999 and from fall 1999 to summer 2000.
• Was a law clerk for Federal Public Defender in Des Moines during the summer of 1999.
• Worked as a summer counselor at Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa, during the summer of 1998.
• Was a staff assistant to the legislative director for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) from February 1997 to August 1997.
• Was a field organizer/regional field organizer on Harkin’s campaign from January 1996 to November 1996.
• Has tried one federal criminal case to verdict at a jury trial as sole counsel, approximately three to five to judgment in front of a magistrate in small claims court as sole counsel and one attorney disciplinary matter to final decision in front of a three-attorney panel as associate counsel.

Click here for his full Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.

UPDATE: On his Senate Judiciary financial disclosure Klinefeldt reported assets of $296,300 (mostly from his personal residence valued at $242,000). However, Klinefeldt still owes $218,400 on the property, owes $61,800 in student loans and has credit card debt. In total, Klinefeldt has liabilities of $289,100, resulting in a net worth of $7,200.

From his current job as an associate with the law firm Ahlers & Cooney PC in Des Moines, Iowa, Klinefeldt receives a salary of $156,221.76, according to his Office of Government Ethics disclosure. He also hold various investment accounts, valued at between $37,009 and $205,000. He does not report owning any property. Klinefeldt’s debt includes two loans at between $65,002 and $150,000

President Obama nominated U.S. Attorneys for Missouri, Montana and Iowa today.

They are:

Richard Callahan (Gov)

-Richard G. Callahan (Eastern District of Missouri): The Cole County, Mo., Circuit Court judge would replace Michael Reap, who has been acting U.S. Attorney since Catherine Hanaway resigned in April to join former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s law firm.

-Michael W. Cotter (Montana): The Helena, Mont. lawyer would succeed controversial Bush holdover Bill Mercer, who has been U.S. Attorney since 2001. Mercer was criticized for being the Justice Department’s Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General and Associate Attorney General in Washington, D.C., for almost two years, while simultaneously serving as Montana U.S. Attorney. He has also come under fire for his role in the politicized firings of U.S. Attorneys in 2006.

Nick Klinefeldt (Ahlers & Cooney)

-Nick Klinefeldt (Southern District of Iowa): The Des Moines, Iowa lawyer would replace Matthew G. Whitaker, who has served as U.S. Attorney since 2004. We reported earlier this month that the lawyer has been able to rise above the past of his father, Michael Arthur Klinefeldt, who is serving a 10-year sentence on a methamphetamine conviction.

Stephanie Rose

-Stephanie Rose (Northern District of Iowa): The Northern District of Iowa Assistant U.S. Attorney would succeed Matt Dummermuth, a Bush U.S. Attorney who never won Senate confirmation. Immigration lawyers and immigrant rights advocates have questioned Rose’s role in a controversial round-up of 300 undocumented immigrants working at a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa last year. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said in May that Rose didn’t take part in the decision to prosecute the immigrant workers.

Read more about the nominees here.

Obama has now made a total of 27 U.S. Attorney nominations. The full Senate has considered 11 of those nominees and they were all confirmed by unanimous consent.

The Midwest has been hit hard by meth. Law enforcement devotes significant resources to combatting the illegal drug. All of which puts Des Moines lawyer Nick Klinefeldt, who is Sen. Tom Harkin’s choice for Iowa Southern District U.S. Attorney, in an unusual position.

Klinefeldt’s father, Michael Arthur Klinefeldt, is serving a 10-year sentence on a methamphetamine conviction, according to court records. Nick Klinefeldt declined to comment. A spokesman for Harkin said the candidate’s father’s conviction isn’t an issue.  ”It is Nick, not his father, who is up for consideration,” Bergen Kenny wrote in an e-mail. ”Senator Harkin believes that Nick will fully and fairly enforce the law and should be considered for U.S. Attorney based on his credentials.”

The elder Klinefeldt is slated to be released from federal prison in 2012.

Klinefeldt is a former aide to Harkin. He also served as general counsel for the Iowa Democratic party until earlier this year and as a lawyer for the Obama for President campaign in Iowa, according to the Iowa Independent, which reported in March that Harkin had recommended him for the U.S. Attorney post.

Nick Klinefeldt (Ahlers & Cooney)

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa regularly oversees prosecutions of methamphetamine manufacturers and users. The office announced 14 successful meth-related prosecutions this year, including four convictions last month.

The elder Klinefeldt was nabbed in a 2002 incident, according to court documents. On an October evening seven years ago, Michael Arthur Klinefeldt and another man, identified as William Jon DeMoss Jr., were riding in a minivan that contained a meth lab. (Read the criminal complaint here and other court documents here.) Acting on a tip, a deputy in the Polk County Sherriff’s Office stopped the van.

The police officer reported the van smelled of ether and ammonia — substances used to manufacture meth. A analysis showed the lab produced more than 5 grams of meth and had the materials necessary to make more of the drug.

A camouflage fanny pack with a loaded .22 caliber revolver in it was also discovered in the vehicle. Klinefeldt told the police officer that DeMoss wore the fanny pack when they were making the meth in a Des Moines forest, records show.

A federal judge sentenced Klinefeldt to prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. This was his second meth-related conviction. Klinefeldt was also convicted in 1993 for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.

Tom Harkin (Gov)

Harkin recommended Nick Klinefeldt to replace the current U.S. Attorney, Matthew G. Whitaker, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2004.

Klinefeldt, 35, works in the general litigation department of Des Moines law firm Ahlers & Cooney. He is not a partner at his firm. He previously practiced complex civil and criminal litigation in Boston.

The U.S. Attorney candidate clerked for U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa Judge Robert W. Pratt from 2000 to 2002 and Massachusetts Appeals Court Chief Justice Christopher J. Armstrong and Justice Benjamin Kaplan from 2002 to 2003.

He also has strong ties to Harkin, having worked for the senator’s 1996 reelection campaign and on his Senate staff before attending law school at the University of Iowa, according to the Radio Iowa blog. In 2008, he donated $500 to Harkin’s campaign and $500 to the Obama presidential campaign, records show. He also gave $1000 to the Iowa Democratic Party between 2007 and 2008.

Stephanie Rose — Sen. Tom Harkin’s (D-Iowa) choice for Iowa Northern District U.S. Attorney — is proceeding on course through the vetting process despite continued protests from immigrant rights groups, a person with knowledge of the nomination process told Main Justice today.

Stephanie Rose

The deputy chief of the office’s criminal division was recommended to President Obama in March. Immigration lawyers and immigrant rights advocates have since questioned Rose’s role in a controversial round-up of 300 undocumented immigrants working at a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa last year.

American Immigration Lawyers Association Vice President David Leopold has said the prosecutions from the raid weren’t fair because there weren’t enough lawyers to represent the workers. There is also a petition with more than 300 signatures that asks the Justice Department to investigate the Postville raid and questions Rose’s role in the prosecutions.

Harkin in May said Rose didn’t take part in the decision to prosecute the immigrant workers. The raid was conducted during the term of U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth, a Bush appointee who never won Senate confirmation. Read our previous post here.

The persona familiar with the nomination told Main Justice that the questions surrounding Rose’s role in the raids aren’t an issue for the administration. The person said Rose hasn’t been formally nominated yet, because the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has all U.S. Attorney candidates on the back burner.

Obama also hasn’t nominated a U.S. Attorney for the Iowa Southern District. Harkin recommended Nick Klinefeldt for the post in March.