Fong drops out of Governors’ race, now GOP candidates are ALL from the past
December 2, 2009
When Christian Fong dropped out of the Governor’s race yesterday, he explained that he couldn’t raise money. It looks like the GOP donors aren’t interested in Fong’s campaign when they have the fight between Terry Branstad and Bob Vander Plaats, but it solidified one fact in the GOP field of candidates: they are from the Past.
Whether it is an ousted former legislative leader, a candidate who has been running for Governor (and losing) for a decade, or a former governor from the 1980s -- the Republican field is firmly rooted in old ideas and the politics of the past that Iowans have already rejected time and time again.
Christian Fong tried to stay positive toward other Republicans in his campaign, but his campaign didn’t draw the kind of right-wing support that front-runners got with their negative agendas. We may never know how he could have affected the field, but we can just look at the numbers:
1978 – The year Christian Fong turned one, and the year that Terry Branstad ran statewide for the first time.
36 – The number of campaigns the rest of Republican candidates have run in their careers. They know how to use a negative agenda to get the attention of Republican donors.
20 – Is the average number of years between the rest of the Republican field and Christian Fong.
18 – The average number of years that the rest of the Republican candidates have been running for office.
9 – The number years Branstad was running for office before Fong was even born.
5.6 – The average number of times the Republican candidates have run for office, and completed their campaigns.
0 – The number of times Fong could have voted for Branstad before he dropped out of the race. Branstad has been out of office longer than Fong could vote.