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Terry Branstad was elected Governor of Iowa 27 years ago. Iowans who are now 44 years old weren’t even old enough to vote in that election. But, even though he is a candidate of 1980’s, that is less important than Branstad’s record while in office. As Governor, Branstad raised the sales tax twice (by 67%!), raised the gas tax, and still left Iowa $400 million in debt.
At first glance, Christian Fong stands out from the pack because he was just four years old when Terry Branstad was first elected. However, he’s marching lockstep with other Republicans in opposing I-JOBS and supporting arbitrary budget cuts. As one of his first decisions he made as a candidate for Governor, Fong launched false and deeply misleading radio ads to attack Governor Culver.
As the Republican leader in the Iowa Senate, Paul McKinley has demonstrated time and again that he is more interested in saying “no” than in trying to help Iowans and create jobs. He simply can’t hide his negative vision with rhetoric: he says no to I-JOBS, but claimed in the same breath that he would “offer a positive vision.”
Christopher Rants was a leader in the Republican Party for over a decade. However, he was removed from his leadership position after losing the majority in the Iowa House. Later, it was revealed that Rants left the campaign committee he was in charge of deeply in debt. Even as conservative blogs compare his campaign to Richard Nixon’s, he is trying to revive his political career by any means necessary. That includes attacking fellow Republicans Bob Vander Plaats and Rod Roberts.
State Representative Rod Roberts joined the crowded field of Republican candidates for Governor in July. However, his announcement was just more of the same. Claiming to be a “fresh face,” the five term politician announced his campaign with the same “ideas” as his fellow Republican candidates. The focus of his “solutions” is opposing I-JOBS and Governor Chet Culver.
Bob Vander Plaats has been a candidate for Governor for nearly a decade. However, this time he’s the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. He is a staunch conservative who declared that moderates and liberals “need not apply” for the position as his running mate. It’s not clear whether any would be willing to join him after he opened his campaign for Governor from the gutter by saying: “Barack Obama has been really, really good for two industries — guns and ammunition.”
In August, State Senator Jerry Behn announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for Governor. With his announcement and record in the Iowa Senate, Behn will fit in well with his other Republican candidates. On the day he announced, he was saying NO so much he even advocated leaving Iowa with a multi-billion dollar hole in the budget.
February 3, 2010
Terry Branstad doesn’t respect Iowa’s working families.February 1, 2010
Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Michael Kiernan accused Taxin’ Terry Branstad of playing politics with job creation numbers in an effort to mislead Iowans as he campaigns around the state.February 1, 2010
Last week we described the GOP primary for governor as a bumper car match.
Thanks to two right wing pundits, it's turning into a public boxing match.
The Iowa Independent reported an e-mail exchange between blogger Craig Robinson and radio host Steve Deace. The exchange was posted on Robinson's website "The Iowa Republican."
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