Brad Carson

A former congressman from Oklahoma is traveling through western Iowa Friday and Saturday to help Barack Obama.

Brad Carson's schedule includes a 1:30 p.m. stop at the Clay County Fair on Saturday near the Clay County Democrats booth. He plans to to discuss Obama's plans to strengthen rural communities and support rural economic development.

A Rhodes scholar and two-term congressman, Carson won re-election to his House seat in 2002 with 75 percent of the vote. Since leaving Congress in 2005, Carson has taught at Harvard and written for (The New Republic and Democracy: A Journal of Ideas), among other publications.

In addition to the Spencer stop, Carson will hold rural roundtable discussions in Sioux City, Denison, Jefferson, Fort Dodge and Orange City. He will be joined by congressional candidate Rob Hubler in Orange City.