Sorry I that I’m a little late posting about Rep. Rod Roberts running for Governor. It seems with each new day or week another Iowa Republican lets it be known that they are interested in running for Governor in 2010.
A week or so ago Bob Vander Plaats entered the race. To date he’s the most “official” candidate out there, but he even stated that this is an exploratory committee, not an all out campaign yet. Quickly joining him were the following: Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, State Auditor Dave Vaudt, Businessman Bruce Rastetter, syndicated blogger Krusty Konservative, and now State Rep. Rod Roberts.
Robert’s is soft-spoken, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a single person under that dome that has any sort of beef with him. Everyone really likes and respects Rod, and when he speaks into the microphone, his voice is quaint but his presence looms large. He is a staunch opponent of gambling, which endears him to the right. However, he voted for the dreaded Dream Act, which has left more than a few political careers in its wake.
He is largely unknown, which is a problem for him. While he has great things to tout - anti-gambling, elected in a strong Democratic seat, evangelical conservative pastor, assistant House majority leader - he has two big things against him, namely that he has not demonstrated that he can raise any appreciable sum of money and his legislative resume is thin in terms of policy that's been enacted with his name on it. If Robert’s is serious we will probably see him flexing some legislative muscle by floor managing some serious Republican amendments.
In terms of what this means politically, it’s more bad news for Bob Vander Plaats. Bob’s announcement created very little buzz around the state and smoked out more potential candidates that I ever expected to see. Again, I think it will be difficult for Vander Plaats to gain traction with so many potential candidates lurking. I really think he would have been better off saying that he’s “all in” rather than saying it’s an exploratory campaign.
Additionally, Robert’s poses an interesting dilemma for Vander Plaats. Both are from Western Iowa, and both should play well with the social conservatives in the state. I think Vander Plaats is going to find it much more difficult to campaign against people like Roberts, Northey, or Vaudt.
Speaking of Vaudt, I wonder if he has let the Rebuild Iowa Office that he’s going to stop by for a little audit. Now that would be interesting.
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Krusty is wrong. Roberts' seat is not some "strong Democrat" seat.
ReplyDeleteThe only time Roberts has EVER had an opponent was his first race in 2000.
Crazy ideas you have sometimes Herschel.
Whoever put Robert's up to this farce should be ashamed of themselves. I don't even meet the Constitutional requirements to serve as governor and I still wouldn't be scared of losing to Rod Roberts.
ReplyDeleteHmm...lets see here..people were saying the same thing about Tom Vilsack when he ran for Gov the first time....
ReplyDeleteCheck the registration numbers in that district, 3:13. NOT a good Republican district. Just because he hasn't had a race doesn't mean it's a good district. That just means Rod is a good campaigner.
ReplyDeleteis this rants replacement for RatsTETTER? Someone who no one has ever had a beef with, and voted for the DREAM act?
ReplyDeletegee Krusty - you sound in love. Just what we need. Someone who has made no impression on anyone but being a good tea party guest.
We already know you have a financial interest in the gross candidate.
I think someone is making Rod run to squish Vander Plaats support. They both get out in the primary and that is the plan. Sounds like our good 'ol Iowa "aghh, we can't have so-cons in power" party.
ReplyDeleteTim Moran is going to lead Rod Roberts Campaign. Roberts is being pushed by Steve King so that BVP doesn't become the nominee.
ReplyDelete8:56 "sounds like" a good plan
ReplyDelete4:57...trust me...if the seat was a strong Democrat seat as Krusty notes or is not that strong of a Republican seat as you note...I could 100 percent gaurantee you that McCarthy and Murphy would have found an opponent for a good ol' Christian pastor from Carroll.
ReplyDeleteThat is one of many 5th district seats that is safe.
Rod is a fantastic guy - but he's going to get hammered by the other GOPers in the race...
"Hey Rod...you haven't faced an opponent in almost ten years...how can GOP voters know that you are tested when Chester and his union thugs come charging?"
Is Krusty blind? The Vander Plaats announcement was all over last week. I guess being a bloger dosent necessarily mean that you pay attention to the world around you. The sound proof echo chamber is probably a much safer place for the Klown.
ReplyDeleteThe only reports of Vanderplatts' candidacy were by people making fun of it. Krusty is right as usual.
ReplyDelete8:37, I think you have the buzz surrounding Vaner Plaats confused with the "buzz" around Rants and Rastetter. Try googleing the Vander Plaats announcement. I found around 30 hits from the Des Moines register, Waterloo courier, Cedar Rapids gazette, Quad City times, Sioux City journal, ap, various radio stations and every TV station in the state.
ReplyDeleteDo the same thing with Rants and Rastetter and all you find is a bunch of blog posts from wannabe staffers and no serious media coverage. All of the serious candidates like Vander Plaats, Vaudt and Northey have received about equal coverage from everyone that isn’t a blog. I’m sorry to burst your bubble 8:37, but Krusty clearly has a bias on this issue. And that’s fine. He’s entitled to his opinion, but he isn’t the real news. He’s an outlet for rival factions in the party to have a pissing contest.
Some former key Vanderplats supporter have broken ranks and are actively suppoting other candidates. Vanderplats came out extremely weak saying that he was going to raise 250 k in five weeks---hell any good candidate could do that. Because Vanderplats was weak you are seein a whole bunch of people seriously looking at this race.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note I recieved Vanderplats fundraising letter and it is a complete rehash of 2006 --- I think he even printed 2010 over 2006 it looks horrible! If it was Ron Paul he could have gotten by but this guy has run campaigns before we expect a little bit of know-how. It is almost like he has brought in some chimpmonks to run his campaign. Yeah he is swooning over the huckebee campaign and the caucuses but c'mon!
I don’t know, I also got the letter from Vander Plaats. It looked like a pretty typical initial fundraising letter to me. I don’t see any difference between that one and the letter I got from Northey asking for money to run for Secretary of Agriculture again. I’m really not sure that’s something to criticize a candidate for because I’m sure any Vaudt letter will say the same thing he always says. A fundraising letter is just a fundraising letter, I’m curious to know what more 12:36 wants out of the letter?
ReplyDeleteI look at the $250,000 as an arbitrary number that he knew he could reach, or that he already had so he could constantly show improvement in fundraising. I wouldn’t say it’s a weak statement at all. We will find out in January of 2010 if Vander Plaats is for real or not. He needs to prove that he can raise $1 million in a non eletion year. And saying he wants to raise $250,000 in 5 weeks may be his way of leaveing the door open to set a higher goal for the next 5 weeks.
Vanderplats to be even somewhat credibly needs to raise 2-4 million by January 2010. He is an experienced campaigner and has a track record and should be able to raise money if he is credible. He will also need to bring on a staff of 10-15 key people and begin basic voter outreach this year.
ReplyDeleteIt would also be great if he started a voter registration effort to grow the party to win a general. Hence the party is essentially the leading candidate. Vanderplats is clearly the front runner of any who enters the race. He has been campaigning longer and may have the best network.
HA! $2 to 4 million by January? Obviously you don’t know your electoral history. No one can raise that kind of money before a primary. Nussle was probably the best fundraiser the party has ever run for Governor and he only raised $2.5 million in 2005 and that was when Nussle had the backing of the White House, was one of the most powerful members of Congress from either party, Terrace Hill was open and the economy didn’t suck.
ReplyDeleteYou are dreaming if you think anyone can raise that much money as a Republican in 2009. There isn’t a favorite for the 2010 election so you also aren’t likely to even see the RGA get involved until after the primary … And even then, they wont get in unless the poll numbers show the race to be competitive.
I know your goal is undermine Vander Plaats because you know he cant get to a number like that but be careful that you don’t cut off your nose to spite your face 4:35. No matter who your candidate is, I guarantee you they cant raise that kind of money so all you are doing by suggesting expectations like that is destroying any hope of Culver receiving anything other than a “safe” rating.
I do agree that in order to compete with Culver, our candidate needs to be able to raise at least $5 million between today and October of 2010, but you wont see anyone with that kind of money until the June 2010 reporting period at the absolute earliest.
Anon 5:04
ReplyDeleteHenceforth he can't compete We need candidate that can do what has not been done before. We are running not only against Culver but also Obama and the entire democrat machine.
Vanderplats with his experience should raise 2-4 million by January if he is going try and win, if not he is wasting our time!
Other than reading blogs and blowing expectations up to totally unrealistic proportions 5:23 do you know anything about politics? You do realize that Culver only raised $624,000 in 2005 compared to Nussle’s $2.5 million in 2005? If you really think that a Republican can out raise Culver in 2010 you seem to be completely divorced from reality.
ReplyDeleteThusly, it would seem to me that the only one wasting anyone’s time here is you with your ill-informed drivel which will no doubt cripple our eventual nominee. I don’t have a horse in this primary yet, but I do want our eventual candidate to be competitive and with comments like yours you blow up the expectations game to a point that no one can compete. Not Vander Plaats, not Northey, not Vaudt, not Roberts, not anyone. Get some perspective please.
Dude, you said thusly.
ReplyDeleteI want to know who all the "key former Vander Plaats supporter(s)" are. Everyone says people are jumping ship like rats, but who are they? If you're in the know, please, by all means, let us know. If you can't I'll continue to assume you're simply spreading vitriol.
ReplyDeleteI'm fairly certain Vander Plaats' initial fundraising totals will surprise many. Maybe not $2-4M by next January, but impressive numbers nonetheless. Dude's got a heckuva network laid out around the state ... and I don't think his critics are willing to accept that reality. Of course many of his critics are the same fools who thought their gazillionaire presidential candidate would walk away with the Iowa Caucuses, only to watch him get thumped by VP's guy. Lots of money did "the glove" a lot of good, didn't it?
ReplyDeleteRod Roberts is a good man, a fair man and polite - people are tired of over the top partisanship - we want government that works - Rod understands that government needs to spend money - just don't spend every dime that you can think of a program to promote. Borrow and spend Culver is sinking this state like so many other Democratic controlled states. It is time to watch the tide turn.
ReplyDeleteRod Roberts is a wonderful man! He is open minded and open to Dialog! I had privilege to get to know this great person and I don't have any doubt that he will be a wonderful Governor for Iowa! A fair, very polite, balanced, respectful to EVERYONE with all-faith (or without any faith) groups! I am a registered Democrat and will be very happy to vote for Rod Roberts as our next governor.
ReplyDelete