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Krusty 12 Pack: Who to keep your eye on for the 2010 Gubernatorial Race

While recruiting this year has proved to be nearly impossible this cycle for the Republican Party in Iowa, 2010 will be the komplete opposite. Republicans kould be looking at a huge gubernatorial primary, and if Steve King tosses his hat into that ring, all of a sudden Republicans will be having a big primary out west. Below are 12 people to keep an eye on as the 2010 cycle nears.

12. Don DeWaay
DeWaay is the owner of DeWaay Capital Management in West Des Moines. While he has given to Republican candidates is the past, he’s not known in many Republican circles statewide. DeWaay does have some name ID as he used to do The Profit Zone on WHO Radio. So why does he come in at number 12? First, I think Republicans are looking for some new blood in Iowa, and secondly with his business background he might be a good fit to come in and clean up Culver’s mess. He’s also hired some people with political konnections which might signal he is looking to do something.

11. Jeff Ballenger
Ballenger is a businessman from Council Bluffs. I think it’s safe to say that if King runs for Governor, Ballenger will probably run for Kongress. Ballenger ran against and lost to Steve King in the 2002 Congressional Primary. I think it would be difficult for him to run statewide, but he proved in his kongressional campaign he is willing to spend some of his own money on a kampaign.

10. Former Senator Stewart Iverson
If you talk to 10 people, you will get 10 different answers on what Stewart Iverson motivation was for taking over Ray Hoffmann’s final year as Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. Some say he needed a gig (i.e. paycheck) before he can be a lobbyists in Des Moines, while others think he might be konsidering a run for Governor. I have no clue. What he did do is create speculation and that’s always good if you want to run for office.

9. Former Representative Bill Dix
Dix ran for Congress in 2006 and lost a three-way primary to Mike Whalen. Dix is a likable guy and probably a better kandidate on state issues than federal issues. While he is known well in eastern Iowa he would have a lot of work to do to get known state wide.

8. Mike Whalen
Like Dix, Whalen is probably a better state candidate than a federal candidate. Whalen has deep pockets and would be one of the best fundraisers for a gubernatorial kampaign on this list. He’s known in many areas in the state, especially eastern Iowa where he ran for kongress, but his Des Moines connections would be invaluable in a gubernatorial race. Whalen owns the Machine Shed Restaurants, hotels, and other restaurants in Des Moines, and was the driving force in bringing a Bass Pro Shop to Altoona which is a big deal.

7. Former Senator Jeff Lamberti
Lamberti showed off his fundraising abilities in his 2006 race against Leonard Boswell. Lamberti ran an excellent kampaign and would be one of the favorites if he decided to run for Governor. His most recent project was bringing back the Iowa Barnstormers to Des Moines. He is well liked and impressive. I don’t think he is finished with politics.

6. Bob Vander Plaats
I truly believe that if Mike Huckabee wasn’t so successful in Iowa Vander Plaats wouldn’t be on this list. Vander Plaats involvement in the Huckabee campaign gave him a new lease on his political life. I still think it’s going to be difficult for him to konvince people that the third time is the charm, but he has a following. As with the other Western Iowa kandidates, if King runs Vander Plaats might opt to run for Congress.

5. Bruce Rastetter
If you ask me, Bruce Rastetter is laying the ground work for a gubernatorial run in 2010. Rastetter is the owner of Hawkeye Renewables an Iowa ethanol producer. His resume is impressive and would make a solid candidate, and he has the ability to finance his kampaign if he needed to, but his personal connections to some of the GOP’s largest contributors might not make that necessary. He also might be the only kandidate ever in Iowa history to have inroads with both the University of Iowa, and Iowa State. Rastetter, a Hawkeye fan has giving Iowa State millions of dollars for an agricultural entrepreneurship program the University.

4. Former Senator Chuck Larson, Jr.
As mentioned before there are already rumors that some influential people have been encouraging Larson to run. Larson is the former Golden Boy of Iowa Republican politics, a State Rep, State Senator, State Party Chairman, and Iraqi War Veteran who has been involved in efforts to support our troops. Larson is currently the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia. Larson is from Cedar Rapids but also have great konnections in Des Moines.

3. U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker
Whitaker ran unsuccessfully for State Treasurer in 2002 and is a former Iowa Hawkeye football player. Whitaker is a likable family guy who also has a konservative following. Whitaker’s position as U.S. Attorney gives him a unique position in which to launch a kampaign. While the case against Democrat Senator Matt McCoy blew up in his face last year, his work on the CITEC scandal might make him the kandidate that will clean up government.

2. State Representative Christopher Rants
Rants has the advantage of sounding off against Chet Culver and the Democrats everyday. And I must say if he takes back control of the Iowa House this fall he is going to be one of the front runners for the GOP nomination. With his stints and Majority Leader, Speaker, and now Minority Leader, Rants has built a strong donor network that is needed to run statewide. He also brings a lot of name identification with him. However if he doesn’t pick up seats in November, he’s probably off the list.

1. Kongressman Steve King
I guess you could call him the King pin in what’s going to happen in the 2010 gubernatorial primary. If he runs, he’s the favorite of the activist, and everyone on this list would have second thoughts about challenging King in a statewide primary. He will kontrol the party activist, but his only koncern will be raising the money needed. But if he polls well and it looks like he’s going to win the money will kome. King is the rare breed who is well versed in state and federal issues, and he will probably out work every candidate to boot. He’s the guy everyone else is looking at, what he does will have a huge impact on the 2010 gubernatorial primary.

Miller-Meeks Second TV Spot: “Soldier’s Call”

As I mentioned this morning, the Miller-Meeks kampaign has released a second TV ad that began airing last night. The ad is called “Soldier’s Call” which highlights the kandidate’s military service, and her commitment to our soldiers serving our nation today. The ad recounts the story of the family of Samuel and Jacque Nosbisch of Ottumwa. Sam is currently serving his second tour or duty with the 833rd Combat Engineers unit, based in Ottumwa.

The Miller-Meeks ads are produced by Eagle Media in Des Moines and there stuff for Miller-Meeks has been impressive. The Miller-Meeks campaign is obviously using their TV ads to build a positive impression of there kandidates while building name ID in the district. You can watch the ad on the campaign website, and I’ll post it if they put it up on Google.

Where’s Waldo… err Peter Teahen?

The June 3rd primary is just 21 days or 504 hours away. A couple a weeks ago Teahen launched a TV ad that has been running district wide on the cable networks, and before that he was touting his internal polling numbers that showed him with a big lead over his main primary opponent Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

I thought there would be frenzy before the primary, but Teahen hasn’t made much noise, especially when you compare his activity to what Miller-Meeks is out there doing. Late last week the Teahen Funeral Home was given an award from the U.S. Army Reserves for supporting an employee whose husband was deployed in Iraq. It’s a nice story, but it took his campaign four days to get it on his campaigns website. I also saw that he did an interview with the Fort Madison Democrat. Peter Teahen isn’t acting like he wants to win the Republican nomination in the 2nd District, it seems he wants to have it given to him.

Anyone else think it’s odd that Teahen hasn’t commented on the natural disaster in Myanmar? That is in his wheel house, but he and his campaign are not talking about it. Heck in his interview the Fort Madison Democrat Teahen talks about Darfur, the Oklahoma City bombing, and Hurricane Katrina, but doesn’t relate his past experience to present day events. His supporters point to his impressive resume as the reason to send him to Congress, but he only talks about the past, not what can be done to improve the response to these current events.

On the other hand, Miller-Meeks has a statement on Myanmar, the Psychiatrist Shortage in South East Iowa, the endorsement by State Representative Jeff Kaufmann, and her campaign has just released her second television ad.

I know there was some heated back and fourth on this blog about the 2nd CD race last week, but I think we can all agree that we need a candidate who will work tirelessly to defeat Congressman Loebsack. One candidate is showing us that they have the drive and determination to do just that, the other one just wants to see his name on the ballot.

Clinton wins West Virginia

So the news media declared that Senator Obama was the nominee last week, but someone forgot to tell the voters in West Virginia. Obama only received 26% of the vote. Now a few weeks ago the media couldn’t stop talking about 26% of Republicans not supporting McCain in the North Carolina Primary. This looks bad for Obama, in one breath he is saying that he is going to declare himself the Democrat Presidential Nominee, and in the next he has to explain why 67% of the voters in WV voted against him.

Aaron’s Best isn’t good enough for the Feds.

Sorry for the inactivity yesterday. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a little helper to kover for me when I’m busy, but it’s difficult to find someone who won’t go overboard with Spaceballs and Star Wars humor…

Yesterday Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers raided Agriprocessors in what they are kalling largest workplace raid in Iowa history. Over 300 workers, or nearly one third of the company’s employees were arrested.

While many liberal groups tend to be up in arms over raids like these, I couldn’t be happier. In most cases we have two people who are breaking the law, first the person who illegally entered our kountry, and secondly the employer who is exploiting their illegal status and employing them at a much lower wage than they would have to provide a legal worker.

Both the illegal worker and employer must have some fear that the government will enforce immigration laws, and that is why yesterday’s raid is welcome news to this konservative. My only koncern is that while these large raids make the news, I believe that the majority of illegal workers are employed by small businesses. ICE agents need to figure out of to deal with those employers as well.

Another interesting aspect to this raid is that the United Foods and Commercial Workers Union is supportive of the raid as is Governor Chet Culver who said, “I have said before that I believe it is important that we crack down on illegal immigration, Illegal means illegal, not just those that are crossing the border illegally, but also those who are responsible for helping to make it happen.” So is seems that the Postville raid will not be the partisan issue that the Swift raid in Marshalltown was last year.

While we are talking politics, Agriprocessors ownership also gave lots of campaign cash to Republicans. That money sure looks tainted now. Grassley, Latham, Nussle, Bill Dix, and Stan Thompson all received kampaign kontributions from Sholom Rubashkin who’s family owns the kompany.

I was also able to verify that Rubashkin gave $10,000 to Jim Nussle’s gubernatorial kampaign. So while that looks bad, at least his photo is not on the Agriprocessors website like Senator Grassley’s is.

Friday Kaption Kontest!

"I gave my love a Cherrryyyy"

Divided They Fail

Despite the former first kouple's best hopes using new math, a delegate kount that would equal a klinton viktory is about as likely as the French having a pro-America president. Okay bad example, they finally have one. But you get my point.

Barack Hussein Obama or for this blog posting's purposes "Dark Helmet" will be listed on the November ballot across Amerika and there is still yet good news that has this klown giddy with anticipation of keeping the White House and our freedom safely in the hands of a President John McKain.

We have certainly basked in the glory of a bitterly divided demokratik party and I kan tell you it ain't over yet. Even with a soon to be announced Klinton exit, there will be an ukomfortable period of time where top dems have to make that long walk to New York and offer up that awkward unsolicited advice to step aside for the nominee and the good of their party yada yada yada. This will only strain the already fractured relationship between the two kamps even further, but wait, there's more! Next will kome the obvious demands by many that the junior Senator from New York or Arkansas or Illinios or wherever on Planet Spaceball to be placed on the ticket. Like most of you, I kan't see that happening. The kontinental divide between the Obama and Klinton camps will then widen to roughly the size of the grand canyon and that is sweet music to my ears. Heck the only thing that would sound better than that to me is, "Hershel, your Casey's Pizza is ready for pick up. Unfortunately, we are all out of medium sized dough so we made you a large at a medium price".

Where was I? Oh yes, today's lesson is this: The dem kamps are going to part like the Red Sea and every national and state poll shows that a large percentage of moderate dems and independents will switch their vote for McKain rather than support their primary nemesis. This is great news for the GOP this fall!