IowaPolitics.com BlogWatch

Isaiah McGee is a former Waukee City Councilman and Mayoral candidate.
I got to know Isaiah when we were colleagues on the Republican State
Central Committee. I have a great deal of respect for Isaiah. He is
young, articulate and intelligent. He is an asset to the SCC. Isaiah,
is a standup guy, he is one of the good guys. ... The link is to a
Branstad press release announcing that McGee will serve as Branstad's
Young Professional's chair. McGee is a good pickup for Branstad, he is
charismatic and will be able to reach the targeted demographic. I have
gotten some emails and messages from people asking about whether I
thought Isaiah should resign from the SCC. ... I made this promise to
my district when they elected me and I kept this promise when I
resigned in order to support my friend Christian Fong. I criticized my
successor on the SCC because because she (and the other two candidates
for the position) promised to remain neutral and she also made an
endorsement in the gubernatorial primary. So, why am I not calling for
Isaiah's resignation? Because he made no such promise.

Labels: RPI

Joni Scotter of Marion is a member of the Iowa Republican Party's
State Central Committee. She has recently come under attack for
choosing to be a member of Terry Branstad's corridor campaign
committee. The by-laws of the Party do not say anything about members
working or volunteering for campaigns. Much like anything else, there
are those unwritten rules. It sounds like this might be one of them.
Personally, it doesn't make any difference to me. The people who
usually get elected to committees like the State Central Committee are
activists to start with. How is one expected to just sit and fold
their hands when an important race is going on. More of an issue of
Joni working to support a Republican is the fact that one of her
loudest complainers was just paid thousands of dollars to help elect a
Democrat! Who is really failing this litmus test?

Labels: RPI

The members of the State Central Committee voted today to accept the
recommendation of Chairman Strawn's selection of Jim Anderson to serve
as the new Executive Director for the Republican Party of Iowa. After
the vote this afternoon, Strawn had the following press release: "Iowa
Republicans are poised for sweeping gains in 2010 from Terrace Hill to
local offices. We are fortunate to have someone of Jim's talents
joining our effort to bring competent and principled government to the
people of Iowa." Anderson also had remarks at the ready.

Labels: RPI

Politics is a small, strange world. Politics is also a relationship business. It's not what you know, it's who you know. Sure, there are other professions in which that is the case, but politics is the ultimate networking game. How else can you explain that the guy rumored to be the next Executive Director of the Republican Party of Iowa was recently fired from the Republican National Committee for sticking his nose where it didn't belong? Well, if the chatter coming from a few members of the State Central Committee is correct, then the former Deputy Political Director at the RNC, Jim Anderson, is about to take over the reins at the Republican Party of Iowa. As Deputy Political Director at the RNC, Anderson served under Gentry Collins who is the RNC's Political Director. Collins, who worked for Romney before becoming a Regional Campaign Manager for McCain's general election campaign, hired Anderson to run the Victory program here in Iowa.

Labels: RPI

Two-term State Representative McKinley Bailey, an Iraq War veteran,
may face a tough Republican challenger next year in Iowa House
district 9. The Des Moines Register reports that Stew Iverson, former
Iowa Senate majority leader and Iowa GOP chairman, is thinking about
running against Bailey. Iverson told the Register that he'll make a
decision "sometime after the first of the year" ... Bailey defeated
Republican incumbent George Eichhorn with nearly 55 percent of the
vote in 2006. He was re-elected with just over 55 percent of the vote
in 2008, even though his district was one of Iowa Republicans' top
targets. Corporate-funded conservative interest groups ran ads against
Bailey and other first-term House Democrats in early 2008 as well as
shortly before the November election. House district 9 includes all of
Wright County, parts of Webster and Hamilton counties, and a tiny
slice of Franklin County.

Labels: RPI, state House

Back in the early days of teh interwebs, various versions of "the Purity Test" floated about. It was scored like golf; the lower the score, the less "pure" you were and vice versa. Some of the questions on the deluxe 500 question version wend beyond funny into the zone of the disturbing, but it was all meant in good clean (well, dirty) fun. Of course, the modern GOP would have no part of such a purity test, at least outside the Minneapolis airport bathroom. But a number of members of the Republican National Committee, including Iowa's own Steve Scheffler, are backing a ten question Purity test with a real cost: get more than three wrong and they cut off the $. Apparantly the lessons of New York 23 are not yet learned. Here's the test.

Labels: RPI

About a week ago, CQ Politics downgraded its rating for Iowa's third
congressional district race from Likely Democratic to Safe Democratic.
The reason for the switch in the rating is because CQ Politics
believes Iowa Republicans have failed to put forth a strong opponent
against Democrat incumbent Leonard Boswell. "The Republicans would
have a good shot at defeating seven-term Rep. Boswell if they fielded
a strong candidate. They last did that in 2006, a generally terrible
year for the GOP nationally, when state Sen. Jeff Lamberti held
Boswell to 52 percent, his lowest re-election vote share ever. But in
2008, against a little-known and underfunded Republican, Boswell won
more convincingly. His 56 percent wasn't exactly a landslide, but it
wasn't bad for a traditional swing district -- which includes
Democratic-leaning Des Moines along with more conservative rural areas
-- where the congressman outran presidential nominee Barack Obama by 2
points."

Labels: Leonard_Boswell, RPI

With Jeff Boeyink's departure as the Executive Director of the
Republican Party of Iowa, RPI Chairman Matt Strawn now has a difficult
task in finding a replacement with just a little over a year to until
Election Day. To date, the hiring of Boeyink has been one of Strawn's
best accomplishments. Having run the day-to-day operations of Iowans
for Tax Relief before joining RPI, Boeyink brought extensive knowledge
about how a political institution should run. While working for a
state political party is often thankless work, Strawn and Boeyink were
able to make a number of significant organizational changes in the
seven months they worked side-by-side. Their biggest accomplishment
was breaking ties with a third party vendor who handled all of the
state party's accounting services. Bringing the accounting
responsibilities in-house was long overdue.

Labels: RPI

State Representative Kent Sorenson has decided to give up the seat he
won in the Iowa House of Representatives last year and will instead
look to knock off another Democrat incumbent, Staci Appel. Sorenson's
decision to run for the Senate seat 37 sets up an intriguing matchup
which is likely to garner state-wide attention. In 2008, Sorenson
defeated State Representative Mark Davitt by 163 votes. Sorenson's
victory surprised many Republican insiders that year. Since his
campaign wasn't on their radar as a potential pick-up, Sorenson was
left to himself to orchestrate a winning campaign. With the help of a
dedicated volunteer base, Sorenson pulled off the upset of the night
when he sent Rep. Davitt home after serving three terms in the Iowa
House.

Labels: RPI, state Senate

...I guess that means Sorenson isn't going to primary Chuck Grassley.
Yep, Sorenson is that breed of Republican, a "Chuck Grassley's too
liberal" type. So he'll no doubt be running against Justice Appel as
much as Senator Appel. (And as we saw in House 90, people have lots of
stuff other than gay marriage on their minds.) This could also mean a
comeback attempt by Democrat Mark Davitt, who Sorenson knocked off in
a 2008 upset. ... Recall that in 2008 the Iowa GOP scuttled a lot of
other efforts at end game and concentrated on the House, the only
thing the felt they had a shot at winning. In the early stages of
2010, it looks like they're throwing everything they have at the
governor instead.

Labels: RPI, state Senate

Will he or won't he? The constant speculation over Terry Branstad coming out of retirement and running for a fifth term as Iowa governor continues. However, in my mind the speculation has been over for weeks now, because he's running and the signs saying so are obvious, not the least of which is the fact either he or his people have contacted and/or met with nearly every Republican constituency group of consequence in the last few weeks. So assuming he is already in and we're just waiting for him to make it official, the discussion now turns to what must he do to unify a very fractured Republican Party and do something a lot of Iowans in recent polling data would like to see done -- defeat Lt. Governor Debt Culver.

Labels: RPI, Terry_Branstad

Doug Gross' recent poll demonstrates the distinction between a boxer and a puncher. The whole premise of the poll assumes that we Republicans are a one punch palooka whose only chance is the haymaker from Hell. Given the economic collapse our nation faces, and Iowa's role as arguably the worst business climate in the nation, there really cannot be any argument that the economy is our best punch. To require polling data to confirm the foregoing tautology bespeaks a level of either or both political or ideological insecurity that is almost in itself disqualifying from leadership. This insecurity has caused us defeat, followed by even greater defeat because it has afflicted so much of our Republican leadership. So, like a smart boxer, let us lead with our best punch. The next question is to decide on precisely what is that punch.

Labels: Iowa GOP, RPI

We should have known that it was only a matter of time before the
cultural and ideological tug-of-war within the Republican Party would
resurface. Truth be told, ideological debates are prevalent in both
political parties. It just seems that Iowa Republicans do a poor job
in keeping their turf battles in-house. Former GOP gubernatorial
nominee Doug Gross penned an op-ed for the Des Moines Register
yesterday, and it is likely to become another distraction which the
traditional media will have a hay-day covering. Gross' message to the
GOP is the same one he has been preaching since the conclusion of the
2008 Iowa Caucuses.

Labels: RPI

Top officials at Iowa's Democratic and Republican parties are
responding to two instances of political speech in remarkably similar
ways -- threatening litigation, government investigations and other
intimidation tactics. The first case involves a flyer critical of
former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, a rumored potential candidate
for governor in 2010. Jeff Boeyink, the Republican Party of Iowa's
executive director, told state media he plans to ask the Iowa Ethics
and Campaign Disclosure Board to investigate the organization
supposedly behind the flyer. Iowa has relatively strict independent
expenditure filing guidelines, requiring groups to submit to
government regulation -- which usually requires retaining a lawyer --
if they spend over $100 on a direct mailing, brochure or ad.

Labels: IDP, RPI

The Republican Party of Iowa Executive Director Jeff Boeyink told me
that on Monday he plans to ask the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure
Board to check out the mysterious group behind some fliers harshly
criticizing former Governor Terry Branstad. Boeyink told me he has
never heard of the group, Iowans for Truth and Honest Government. The
group urges Branstad not to run again with unflattering words and
phrases about his days in Terrace Hill. Boeyink told me, "The governor
is not even a declared candidate." He added, "It shows a lot of people
are concerned about his potential candidacy." What do you think of the
flier? Is all fair in "life, love and politics"? Or does this go too
far?

Labels: RPI, Terry_Branstad

If U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) continues to work with Democrats
on health care reform legislation and energy policy, he will face a
primary in 2010, conservative activist Bill Salier predicted during an
interview on WHO-AM. Speaking with controversial radio host Steve
Deace about a recent letter criticizing Grassley penned by GOP state
Rep. Kent Sorenson of Indianola, Salier said it is not surprising
political observers believed it was the first shot of a coming primary
challenge. "If this were 8 to 10 years ago, then yes, I would have
been surprised by that reaction because Grassley was the dominant
force in Iowa politics, in both parties," he said. "Grassley was the
dominant force and had an enormous amount of loyalty."

Labels: Charles_Grassley, RPI

There is still a lot of political chatter out there following
TheIowaRepublican.com gubernatorial poll. This is especially true in
regard to how former Governor Terry Branstad did in a head-to-head
match-up against current Iowa Governor Chet Culver. Branstad crushed
Culver by 16 points. Since the polling results were announced, Iowa
Republicans have been contemplating two questions. The first question
- is will Branstad actually run? Only Branstad can answer that
question. Thus far, the former governor has side-stepped the question
by saying that he is focused on Des Moines University, but then he
says he would never rule anything out. Until Branstad gives a solid
yes or no answer, the chatter about a potential reemergence into
politics will remain.

Labels: RPI

The drive to Des Moines was as typical as any summer afternoon in Iowa
I can remember, with warm temperatures, cumulus clouds against an
azure sky, vast stands of field corn in tassel and patches of Queen
Anne's Lace, purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, daisies, horsemint
and cattails everywhere in the spaces between row crops and Interstate
80 leading to the IowaPolitics.com GOP Gubernatorial Debate on July 22
at Drake University. As a progressive Democrat, I have been following
the re-organization of the Iowa Republican Party and was curious to
see their direction as evidenced by the gubernatorial candidate
debate. When Kim Lehman, President of the Iowa Right to Life
Organization, was elected to represent Iowa on the Republican National
Committee last summer, she said, "I think that this is an opportunity
for the Republican Party to rebuild."

Labels: RPI

Party of Five - Five Republican gubernatorial candidates/near-hopefuls/explorers met in a forum sponsored by Iowa Politics.com. ... There were gobs of agreement between Bob Vander Plaats, Chris Rants, Rod Roberts, Jerry Behn and Christian Fong. Another possible possibility, Paul McKinley, had a conflict and couldn't make it. They're not crazy about the smoking ban, but nobody showed much interest in relighting that coffin nail. ... Speaking of nostalgia, the candidates were asked whether they'd welcome former Gov. Terry Branstad in the race. Polls show the old guy is still fly with folks who still use the term "fly." Here is the candidates' composite answer, "I'd welcome such a fine statesman's ideas. But, please, don't dilly dally. Oh, and I'd just like to say future, future, future, future, future and, in conclusion, future."

Labels: RPI

All those worries yesterday about the Big Lug's re-election prospects
are tempered somewhat by this Iowa Republican poll: Republican Primary
Voters Bob Vander Plaats: 46%, Don't Know: 27%, Chris Rants: 14% ... We
won't even need my convention scenario; they're ready to nominate
Vander Plaats outright. He's near 50% and the Not Vander Plaats vote
is splintered. All Gay Marriage All The Time will turn off moderates
and Culver wins comfortably. If the GOP unites, quickly, behind one
non-BVP candidate, that candidate might pull it off, but do they even
want to? A GOP They say they're polling general election races
tomorrow, but my guess is they're push-polling those instead. Given
IR's question wording I'm skeptical of anything beyond a Republican
primary poll.

Labels: Bob Vander Plaats, polling, RPI

The chatter surrounding Christian Fong running for governor continues.
What disturbs me regarding this matter isn't Fong as a potential
candidate for some office, but the complete lack of a foundation for
him to mount a gubernatorial campaign. I know a lot of people seem
impressed that Fong is the chair of the Generation Iowa Commission, a
program of the Iowa Department of Economic Development that tries to
keep young Iowans from leaving the state after college to look for
career opportunities. I'm glad that people like Fong and Waukee's
Isaiah McGee serve on this commission. But does service on this
committee really prepare a 32 year old man to serve as this state's
governor?

Labels: Christian_Fong, RPI

Iowa Republicans are bashing Governor Chet Culver for appointing Kate Gronstal to the I-JOBS board, which will decide how to spend $118.5 million of the $830 million in I-JOBS money. Kate Gronstal is the daughter of Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal. Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn slammed what he called "political nepotism" ... Since Culver "declined to respond" to Strawn's allegation, I want to lay out the case for putting Kate Gronstal on this board. 1. She is qualified for the position as a professionally trained structural engineer. It's not as if the governor put a well-connected person with no relevant experience on the board. 2. By all accounts she is smart and highly capable. People born into political families have certain doors opened for them. I'm sure Marcus Branstad had a leg up on the competition when he was starting his career in Iowa Republican circles. Who cares as long as he is good at what he does? 3. Kate Gronstal's presence on the board will subject its award process to a higher level of scrutiny. That's good.

Labels: Chet_Culver, Mike Gronstal, RPI

The Iowa Republican has learned that Mississippi Governor Haley
Barbour is coming to Des Moines to headline an event for the
Republican Party of Iowa. The Republican Party has yet to release the
details of this event, but it is expected to be held on Thursday, June
25th. Just yesterday, Congressional Quarterly had an article saying
that Barbour will not rule out a 2012 presidential run. Barbour was
elected to a second term in 2007. Because of term limits, Barbour
cannot seek a third term as governor. Barbour was the Chairman of the
Republican National Committee in 1994 when Republicans captured
control of both the United States Senate and House of Representatives.

Labels: RPI

Did I get your attention? What two words came to your mind? Let's see
if you can guess what I am thinking. Iowa is being crisscrossed daily
by several Republican men on a mission. They want to be the next
Governor of Iowa. ... I am sure there are others, but if you've seen one
white male rich republican, you've seen a bunch. Bunches and bunches
and bunches. Ok, now I will tell you two words you will never hear any
Republicans be responsible for if we continue to be "bass ackward".
Madam Governor. What is the problem with this Party? Not even one
woman is being considered or whispered about?

Labels: RPI

Now that some time has passed since the legislative session has
adjourned and the Republican gubernatorial primary has started to take
shape, it's time to start looking at legislative races in which
Republicans could pick up seats in both chambers in the 2010
elections. Today we delve into the State Senate. Currently,
Republicans hold 18 of the 50 seats in the State Senate. While only
half of those seats are up for election in 2010, 19 of those 25 seats
are currently held by Democrats. On one hand, it shows just how
lopsided the Democrat majority is in the Senate, but on the other
hand, it provides Iowa Republicans plenty of opportunity to pick up
seats in this chamber in the next election.

Labels: RPI, state Senate

Many people are trying to figure out what Doug Gross is up to.
Starting this past Thursday, Gross held a series of private meetings
to go over the results of his new poll. I don't know if we should
really call it a new poll since the results from it are more than a
month old, and as we have discussed before, the political landscape in
Iowa has changed dramatically since then. Gross met with party and
legislative leaders to go over the results of his poll on Thursday
morning. I'm told that House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen, Senate
Minority Leader Paul McKinley, and RPI Executive Director Jeff
Boeyink, and party chairman Matt Strawn all attended a morning meeting
with Gross.

Labels: RPI

I wrote an earlier post criticizing Matt Strawn and the RPI's lack of
action in regards to the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling on the Defense of
Marriage Act. It seemed to me that this issue exploded the grassroots
and the activists while bringing out warriors in the Republican
political class. Instead of capitalizing on this renewed enthusiasm
of the people and highlighting the politicians who were taking a
principled stance, we heard crickets chirping from the RPI. In fact,
in the last two Chairman Reports Mr. Strawn did not even mention the
fight for traditional marriage which happens to be one the top planks
in the Republican Party Platform. As you know, IDA has something
called the Wall of Shame and we were wondering if we should place Matt
Strawn on this wall for his lack of conviction on the marriage
subject.

Labels: marriage, RPI

Here's some good political advice which will no doubt go unheeded:
Steve Scheffler and Kim Lehman need to stop giving interviews to
reporters talking about other Republicans. In fact, why stop there?
How about the SCC passing a gag order so those two can't give ANY
interviews using their party by-lines. Here's how it could be worded:
Whereas: The Republican Party of Iowa is an organization committed to
advancing the Republican agenda by supporting our Republican
candidates for office, and Whereas: Our national committeeman and
national committeewoman spend more time advancing the agenda of the
Iowa Christian Alliance and the Iowa Right to Life Committee so that
they can raise money to pay their own salaries, and Whereas: Neither
Lehman nor Scheffler spend time appropriately contrasting Republican
views with Democratic views but rather focus on attacking Republicans
that aren't Christian or right-wing enough for their own narrow
tastes...

Labels: RPI

I think that this is an exciting new day at RPI. This is a leadership team that I believe we can unite around. Matt has shown his willingness to listen to Republicans all over the state in his Pizza and politics tour. While I do not personally know Jim Kutenbach, I have heard great things about him from many of my friends and colleagues. Matt is an up and coming leader in this party, a young businessman who will do a great job as RPI treasurer. Bill is a dedicated hard worker and he will be an excellent secretary.

Labels: RPI

It seems that some people are a little miffed that a "Dark Horse" candidate emerged in the race for Co-Chair and also won. Most people like an unobstructed view of the road ahead of them, but the world of politics is the last place one could look for such a situation. The election of Jim Kurtenbach caught many off guard, outside of a few anonymous dissenters it will be difficult to find people who are upset with his new position at RPI. ... As a Strawn Administration takes shape there are a couple of things that I think are critical for him to accomplish early on. The first is reaching out to those who supported Danny Carroll. Danny had some passionate people on his side and we can't afford to lose them.

Labels: RPI

... Republicans should be asking themselves why young voters are rejecting their candidates in such large numbers. Strawn's answer is that the GOP's failure to fully exploit new technology is "sending a terrible message" to young voters. I sincerely hope that Republicans continue to believe that their recent election losses are rooted in communication problems. I think the Republicans' ideology is what turns off young voters. The tendency for Republicans to campaign on "culture war" issues exacerbates this problem, highlighting the topics that make the party seem out of touch to younger voters. ... Republican campaign rhetoric in the 1980s tended not to emphasize abortion, the so-called "homosexual agenda" and other polarizing social issues. Will Iowa Republicans be ready to nominate more pro-choice moderates, or at least not demonize slightly less extreme anti-choice candidates, in 2010? Given how many party activists and State Central Committee members are also involved with anti-choice groups, I am skeptical.

Labels: RPI

... The co-chair race has not gotten any attention but it could get interesting. An anonymous commenter over at Krusty has suggested that there may be a dark horse emerging in this race. Current co-chair, Leon Mosely has declared his candidacy and in today's Cedar Rapids Gazette, Paul Pate indicated his willingness to serve as co-chair, should he not be elected chair.

Labels: RPI

My experience in professional sports has taught me that success does not come by the work of one, but many, working together as a team. I want to be your Chairman so I can lead and inspire our Republican team and get us back in the business of winning elections -- and winning those elections without betraying our conservative principles. To my many supporters, I cannot thank you enough for your confidence. To our state central committee members and Republicans across Iowa, I'm not just asking for your support on Saturday ... I'm asking for your trust ... your trust that I can provide the leadership to return conservative and principled government back to the people of Iowa.

Labels: RPI

Here's five things we suggest for the new RPI Chairman. 1. Hire a good, professional E.D. Someone who will be loyal to the party as a whole, and who has the executive skills to manage a complicated enterprise like a state Republican party. It's a far more technical job than most people understand, akin to running a medium-sized small business. ... 2. Get the technology right. ... By getting the technology right, we mean the following: expanded party presence across the web with targeted online advertising in an effort to attract like-minded Internet users to a fresh, engaging suite of web properties with dynamic, changing content that is useful. ... 3. Develop some policy chops. This might not be the best thing to handle from inside the party, but don't you think that Iowa could use a major upgrade in center/right policy analysis? ... 4. Recruit great candidates. ... 5. Fix early/absentee voting. We'll probably touch off a debate here among a couple of points of view. One view is that early/absentee voting is simply spending extra money to get votes that you'll already get. The other view is that we're getting our asses kicked by the Democrats. Our view is the latter. You can't get away from the facts.

Labels: RPI

Today... we endorse. I've really never sat down and done one of these
endorsements here. So it will be completely random (as you expect).
While this will be no surprise to anyone, QCI is endorsing Matt Strawn
to be our next Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. "Whoah G$,
this is earth shattering!" Yea, yea... keep it coming. "Real good Grant,
endorse your boss." That's all you got? ... Since I have been in
involved for the past 10 or so years... I have had a ton of mutual
friends who knew Matt. I had heard about him... knew he was a rising
star... but I didn't meet him until final push in 2004... in Iowa. I had
Central Iowa for BC '04... and had to drop off more materials in Jasper
County.

Labels: RPI

Are you watching this, Central Committee members? In a bizarre rant
during a fit of absolute rage, Gopal Krishna is setting fire to all
things G-O-P. McCroskey told you yesterday about Krishna's letter to
Steve Deace, but now in an interview with the Iowa Independent, he
pulls no punches. Let's see what our illustrious treasurer had to
say: 1. The party has yet to hit bottom - Well, maybe he would think
that since he wasn't at the meeting on Saturday, but I think the 100
people crammed into that room would beg to differ. 2. He is not and
has never been a candidate for chairman - Whatever. Buy that one and
I've got a bridge to sell you. Just because John McCain didn't have
the votes doesn't mean he wasn't a candidate for president.

Labels: RPI

I am ready for the race for RPI chair to be over. I think we have a
great set of candidates and the party is well positioned to prepare
for 2010 and beyond. There are two updates today. First Gopal. I and
others on the State Central Committee were lobbied to support a
Gopal/Sporer ticket for chair/co-chair. In my previous post, I
declared that the Gopal/Sporer ticket was a non-starter. It is now
official, right from the elephant's mouth. In a letter published on
Steve Deace's blog, Gopal wrote: "Having not received any formal
training on how to bring order to a kindergarten class and having
realized that the Republican State Central Committee lacks maturity of
mind and strength in spine, I decided not to seek the position of the
Party Chair." ... I guess Gopal was never in the race in the first
place. So the race is down one but in order to maintain equilibrium in
the cosmos, there is a new candidate in the race.

Labels: RPI

... I would estimate 150 in attendance. Conspicuous in the room were the large number of Danny Carroll supporters wearing white t-shirts with DANNY written across the front. ... There were 12 voting SCC members present along with party co-chair Leon Mosely. Stryker over at Flyover Country is critical of those members who were absent. I would remind my readers that the meeting was called with only a few days notice during a busy vacation travel season. ... Two candidates stick out for their absence: First, Polk County GOP Chairman Ted Sporer. ... Ted was the first to publish a plan for what he would do if elected chair. He probably set the bar for the other candidates who have now all published their own plans. Ted was the first. More recently G$ over at Questions Comments and Insults broke the news of Sporer joining Gopal as co-chair on a combined ticket. Ted has been absent from his blog for a while and is apparently absent from the chairman's race as well. Second, Gopal. The top of the Krishna/Sporer ticket was also absent from the forum. ... At this point, the Krishna/Sporer ticket is a non-starter -- you heard it here first. ... As I talked to SCC members and guests, there seemed to be a lot of support for both Matt Strawn and Danny Carroll.

Labels: RPI

The fact that so many showed up early on a weekend is a good sign. Nobody was there to spur division, rather everyone was unified for a common cause. Huh. Could use more of that these days and it warms our hearts. The biggest news is that fraud Gopal wouldn't show his snake, fink, coward face at the meeting. We are very pleased with this development. He has no business being there. ... Everyone there seemed to deliver a good performance. Strawn stressed fundraising, which is vitally important since we're broke. Pate stressed winning elections, which is vitally important since we haven't. Carroll stressed governing which is vitally important since we can't. Because we lose. Which is Danny's biggest problem as well. He has a great site at http://dannycarroll.com/ but the problem is, it's still his site from when he ran twice unsuccessfully for the Statehouse. Not smart, and we're not sure why he thinks this is OK.

Labels: RPI

... I spent some time this weekend reading the reaction and commentary of the candidate forum on various blogs and newspapers. ... If Gopal Krishna's absence from the forum means he is not running for chair, then there are three candidates in play, Danny Carroll, Matt Randall, and Matt Strawn. Now I know there are some who mock me for still mentioning Gopal as a serious candidate. I do so not because I'm naive, I do so because unlike Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney who refused to kill off John McCain when he was down, I want to see my prey mounted in my trophy room, not stealing a victory. ... I'm disappointed in the lack of vision the candidates offered. It seemed to me the debate was centered on the party platform, internal communication between the state party and county organizations/activists, and the use of new technologies. Those issues have been debated continuously in blogs, but I was disappointed that the issues debated ended there because even if executed perfectly, I doubt they make a major impact on outcome of the general election. Missing was any substantive discussion of fundraising. Sure every candidate says it's important and claim that they can raise significant amounts of cash, but to effectively raise money you have to give the donor a reason to give.

Labels: RPI

The Republican Party of Iowa Central Committee and a forum of 75 activists and officeholder from around the state have been listening to some ideas from six contenders that would like to succeed Stew Iverson as GOP state chair. If one were to wish that the party continues its march into oblivion, best hope that they will be swayed by the absolutely neat on-message idea suggested by contender Paul Pate, a former Secretary of State and past mayor of Cedar Rapids. As Pate sees it, the debacle suffered in the last election can be attributed to nothing more than a failure in trash talk. Pate told the assembled faithful that "People are getting desensitized to it (the old Democrat tax and spend message) ... What we have to do as a party is come up with that sound byte. That's what it comes down to: What is the sound byte for '09 and 2010?" ... If Republicans cannot get past their favorite mantras and self-centered outlook, like other parties that got hung up on themselves, the GOP will fade into oblivion.

Labels: RPI

On Saturday the Des Moines Register did a story about Chairman's race.
It's just another story that paints the Republican Party of Iowa in a
poor light if you ask me. The article states that we are looking for
"stability." Again, I couldn't disagree more. We need a new approach,
a new vision, and better results. With Christmas just a few days away,
and a public chair forum the following weekend, the race for chairman
is deadlocked and little will change until 2009 rolls around. If I was
a SCC member, the mere fact that nobody is able to get close to the
required nine votes for a victory would make look outside of the
current list candidates, rather than compromise my vote just so
someone can win. Let's look at what votes are locked up (for now).
Gopal Krishna is the frontrunner. Don't let anyone tell you
differently.

Labels: RPI

1. RPI chair with a spine of steel, mind of Gingrich, speaking ability of Reagan, principles of King, alliances of Latham, success of Grassley, and Teflon coating. 2. RPI staff installed by said chair who know Iowa has 99 counties, 99 county organizations doing grassroots heavy lifting, where the R votes are, how to communicate, and frequently travel beyond the Polk County border to see the real world. ... 5. Courage and commitment for the activists who feel beat down, let down, and double down after Obama carried Iowa, Loebsack and Boswell were re-elected despite their vulnerability.

Labels: RPI

Your captains In Flyover Country have been closely monitoring the race for chairman over at RPI. While our air controller picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue, we're hoping for a soft landing on this one. Congrats to those wanting the job - we respect your willingness to share your vision for this party, and for stepping up to lead. There has been a dearth of leadership lately, and we're glad to see that turning around. Here is the ranking as we see it, as of today: 1. Dark Horse - Krusty provided a great post and ominous picture with his take on this. Currently, with nobody attaining the requisite nine votes to be chairman, something is going to have to break open. We just don't believe there should be this many undecided SCC members at this point. All the men running are known quantities to the members, so clearly they are hoping for someone to break out.

Labels: RPI

There is no doubt in my mind that the Republican Party in Iowa needs
to do a better job in communicating its message to voters, and
communicating with its county organizations and activists. Last week
it seemed to me that many of my colleagues in the Iowa Blogosphere
went a little overboard on the importance of New Media. Yes it's free
and we should be using it, but it's really a small piece of the
puzzle. Last week technology buzz was largely created by Matt Strawn's
chairman announcement which was made done on YouTube which was
followed up with a blog and email communication. Krusty Kudos to
Strawn for doing using these mediums, I think it was a very wise move
on his part. As for the technology debate, I think these conversations
are more pertinent in the discussion of what type of person the party
should hire to be its communications director.

Labels: RPI

I know it is tradition in Iowa political circles to have one's supporters create a seemingly organic and neutral blog that over time becomes all but a mouthpiece for a particular campaign. Well, that's not my style as I have always been a "cards on the table" kind of guy. That is the spirit in which I am waging my campaign for Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. In football terms, I've always believed that you play how you practice. The race for Chairman is no different. I will conduct my race for Chairman with the type of accountability, transparency and leadership that will define my service as Chairman.

Labels: RPI

By now you have probably figured out that I don't think Gopal Krishna should be elected to be the Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. How this liar is still even an option is beyond me. So with that out of the way I want to assess the field of candidates and look at the other candidates weaknesses. ... In an effort of full disclosure I'm a long way from throwing my support behind any candidate. While many people want to know who it's going to be sooner rather than later, these kinds of elections are very fluid. ... As a reminder at this time in 2006 Ray Hoffmann wasn't even an option, yet he won in a convincing manner when the vote was taken.

Labels: RPI

Last week we all took a little time to look back at Gopal Krishna's
first go around with the Republican Party of Iowa. If you weren't
around then or didn't read my posts on the subject you just have to
know it wasn't what some would call constructive, and Krishna
ultimately faced removal from his post as Co-Chair and resigned from
the Party. I'm told that Mr. Krishna was angered with my posts on his
time at the party and told people it was a bunch of lies. ... I was a
little surprised to see Krishna tell the Iowa Independent that there
was never a Krishna/Sporer slate, and he's not even decided that he's
running for chair. These are bold faced lies. Let's look at the time
line of events last week.

Labels: RPI

You'll have to wait a month to find out who the next Iowa Republican
Party chairman will be. Looked at another way, the GOP guys who want
to be the next chair have some more time to make their case with the
members of the state central committee. We know Stewart Iverson won't
be back, we just don't know who the successor will be, but the answer
will come on Jan. 10. Polk County GOP Chairman Ted Sporer was the
first person publicly to announce he wants the chairmanship. Five
other names are in the mix, according to state central committee
member Bill Anderson of Pierson, and he said he's hearing Sporer now
isn't interested in the top spot. Anderson said he has been asked for
his support by five people...

Labels: RPI

... In the weeks leading up to the meeting, several county central committees from the Second Congressional District had passed resolutions calling for Lehman's censure, removal or resignation. ... So, it was no surprise when several people showed up at the meeting to air their views on Lehman. RPI Chairman Stewart Iverson told visitors that they could address the committee around 1 pm. I did not keep track of who spoke but all the speakers urged the SCC to act and/or Lehman to resign. Iverson did a good job of allowing people to speak without letting things get out of hand. Well done Stewart. ... While I informed other members that a censure motion would be introduced, I did not lobby any members to support it. During the debate, Kim expressed regrets over her actions and stated that she was stepping down from her position as president of IRLC and that should prevent any further conflicts of interest. She said that there would be a transition and a new IRLC president would likely be introduce at their Spring event. Ultimately the censure motion passed 8-7.

Labels: RPI

The Republican State Central Committee censured National Committeewoman Kim Lehman at this weekend meeting. To read the censure click here. The motion passed by an 8-7 vote. I think this was the correct action to take against Lehman since she was clearly in the wrong. However I think the censure motion is poorly written. The issue at hand was not that Iowa Right to Life "attacked and distorted" Miller-Meeks the pro-life position, it was that our National Committeewoman sent out the email containing these comments and she did nothing to show her support of our Republican nominee for Congress in the 2nd District.

Labels: RPI

If only I could have been a fly on the wall. It's nothing official yet but Kim was attacked by the people of Iowa's second district today. They just can't seem to understand and accept the fact that we VOTED her into her position. What is it with those people in Linn County? Reports are coming to me of screaming and yelling and other unprofessional behavior. It seems they all told Kim that if she did not resign as National Committee Woman they would not let her play in their sand box any longer and she would not be invited to any more birthday parties, and furthermore she should ride naked through town with a red scarlet M on her. Ok, I added the last part.

Labels: RPI

As I toured the various Iowa conservative blogs today one the thing becomes very evident, the base of the party is not happy. As we know an alliance of sorts has been forged between Gopal Krishna and Ted Sporer. I would naturally assume that they hoped to keep this newfound alliance quiet until it sprang into action during the vote for RPI Chair, this however is not the case. ... Now I would like to address the members of our party's State Central Committee. By now you know that cat is out of the bag. Those of you that have jumped on board with this alliance must have your reasons. I surely hope that you are not simply taking orders from some ringleader. Because that would imply that you are corrupt and I am not ready to make that accusation without any proof. Instead I believe that you are simply misguided. I feel it is my duty and obligation to inform you that your constituents are not happy.

Labels: RPI

I'll be posting a series of things about Gopal Krishna who seems to have the inside track to be the next Chair of the Republican Party of Iowa. The intended purpose of the following posts are to educate current SCC members and County activists about what lead Krishna to resign from the party in 2000. The following is a letter to all Republican District Caucus Delegates and Alternates from April 24, 2000. The Letter is signed by Leon Mosley, the National Committeeman and Committee woman, and 11 SCC members. Including current members of the committee like John Hulsizer and Steve Scheffler. I think Mosley, Hulsizer and Scheffler should inform us how Mr. Krishna changed since April 24, 2000 that would warrant a complete 180 from removing his as Co-Chair to now possibly electing him Chairman of the Party.

Labels: RPI

Iowa Republicans are going through some soul-searching the the wake of last month's defeats, and the in-fight action is playing itself out in the Iowa rightosphere. Republican National Committee member Kim Lehman, who also heads Iowa Right To Life (sic), is under attack from 2nd District GOP leaders for an IRTL newsletter that called congressional candidate Mariannette Miller-Meeks a "great pretender" on the issue and said, "Miller-Meeks is pro-abortion." ... True, MMM has a good backstory, and she did well in the district's southwest tier. But Miller-Meeks kept pointing out how often Loebsack voted with Democratic leadership as if that were a bad thing. I think that just reinforced Loebsack's bona fides in a Democratic district. ... The GOP can't retroactively change the national climate or MMM's campaign tactics. But they can punish those in their own midst. Lehman says she was not reponsible for the newsletter, but a group of county chairs is calling for Lehman's removal from the RNC.

Labels: Dave Loebsack, RPI

...In the short time I have before I need to run out I want to discuss
the other hot button topic that will be discussed on Saturday, the Kim
Lehman fiasco. Now most of you know I advocated for Sandy Greiner
before the convention, and called out Lehman for her actions in
opposition to Miller-Meeks. I still think what Lehman did was wrong
and stupid, and all she ended up doing is widening the divide that
currently exists in our Party while confirming the argument used
against her at the state convention, that she's incapable of wearing
the hats of IRTL, and National Committeewoman for the Republican Party
of Iowa. So by now we all know that a throng of people from the 2nd CD
will attend the State Central Committee to demand her removal or
encourage her to resign her position with the Party.

Labels: RPI

...Breaking late yesterday, I got some scoop on the top story of the
Right of Center blogs... the race for the new Chairman of the Republican
Party of Iowa. Here's what's out there... The candidates -- Here's the
names being talked about: Danny Carroll, Matt Strawn, Matt Randall,
Paul Pate, Gopal Krishna and Ted Sporer. Another meeting? I hope
things were more calm than some others that have been held in the
past... sure enough it was. So... a meeting of State Central Committee
members was assembled last week to discuss a new State Chairman.
According to some people close to the situation, some SCC members were
invited... and some were not. We can only speculate that the ones not
invited were votes they couldn't count on... but that's just us
thinkin'.

Labels: RPI

Last night, Deace had several guests who represent GOP county leadership from Polk's surrounding counties. They had a roundtable discussion about several issues facing the Republican Party and what direction the party should go. The part of the conversation I found most interesting was when Deace asked each of the four panel members if they had any ideas for who should be the next state party chair. While one or two of them listed more than one name, all of them mentioned Danny Carroll as being a good choice. As you may know, Danny Carroll is a former state legislator from Grinnell who was targeted by out-of-state gay activist Tim Gill, likely because of Danny's role in supporting and pushing the marriage amendment through the Iowa House a few years back.

Labels: RPI

Kim Lehman has been under fire by several central committees. Once again, the Republicans are eating our own. I've heard many complaining, Senator Hahn and Representative Kauffman. Why not Marianette Miller-Meeks? Did it matter to her? If it did why hasn't she spoken up? Kim, please do not resign. You were fairly elected and the disgruntled members of the party should not be allowed to harrass you into resigning. I wonder what they will do when we have a gay man or lesbian that is a candidate for our party here in Iowa. It's rather certain the same members yelping about Kim not agreeing with a candidate will be the first ones opposing a homosexual candidate. Stupidity like this is one reason we have never broken the glass ceiling in Iowa.

Labels: RPI

Stop. Don't throw anything; I'm not talking about another McCain
campaign for president. I'm talking about the internal struggle for
control of the Republican Party here in Iowa. Let's take a quick look
at the political landscape. First we have Doug Gross (former Romney
Chair) who has been adamant that the Republican Party should moderate
its message to win elections. On the other hand we have the Christian
Right (Huckabee) who want to make sure the Republican Party remains
committed to the pro-life and pro-family cause. Both agree that we
should use pocketbook issues to build a big tent. Just like in the
caucuses, all the attention is focused on these two factions of the
party, and while they bloody each other up, someone (McCain) lurks in
the shadows (New Hampshire). Get it?

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney, RPI

Now that I have had the time to ponder Grant Young's post from Friday
over at QCI I felt I should offer up some of my own advice for the
Republican Party of Iowa. The rebuilding effort is underway and all
hands are needed to make it a success. Whether you are just someone
that sits back and reads the blogs or are someone that is intimately
involved in the operations at RPI, your opinions and advice should
matter. Voice your opinion and ideas, there is always the chance that
someone from leadership will read your words. First and foremost, the
message of the Republican Party of Iowa is just fine. You hear this
Mr. Gross. There is not a thing wrong with the message of the
Republican Party. The problem is the messenger. What the party needs
is a leader that can effectively and enthusiastically promote the
message.

Labels: RPI

Two years ago, before I was on the SCC, this blog was anonymous. At that time I expressed my frustration at the SCC when they re-elected Ray Hoffman as party chairman. To make matters worse, rather than report the vote, they kept the vote secret and declared that the election was unanimous. I was so angry, I could not talk to anyone on the SCC for weeks. This time, I am on the SCC and in January we will vote on a new chairman for the party. ... when it comes time to choose a party chair, I am more interested in their plan to rebuild the party than their ideology. I want to hear about candidate recruitment, fund-raising, absentee and early voting programs, and communications with county and grassroots organizations. We have dug a deep hole and we all need to work together to get out of it. As I have promised before, this time, the results of the vote will not be a secret. I will report the results on this blog.

Labels: RPI

After taking some advice from emails and comments on this blog, I'm jumping headfirst into the RPI positions. I believe the chair's job is to raise money, communicate with the county chairs, and advance the platform of the Iowa Republican Party (no matter what it says). They should also have an eye on strategy but for the most part the chair's job is to raise money. The executive director should take care of strategy. ... Instead of discussing who I think should be chair, I'm skipping right to the Executive Director position. Per capita we have more political experts in Iowa than any other state. Almost all of us have a close friend or family member that has worked on a campaign in Iowa and many have worked the statewide races. We are lucky to have so many bright minds to choose from. The biggest hurdle is actually getting them to accept the position.

Labels: RPI

... I know that Polk County Chair Ted Sporer wants the job. I cannot deny that under normal circumstances I think that he would excel as Chair of RPI. Ted is solid on all the issues that represent the Republican Party here in Iowa. He most definitely is outspoken and has great ideas. At this point in time, Ted may not be the right person for the job. Far too many people across the state Ted is a symbol of the Polk County political machine and they resent that. ... Unfortunately good leadership is a tad bit hard to find right now. I think that perhaps 2nd District State Central Committee member David Chung could quite possibly be person that we need running the party. He is a man of integrity that Republicans of all type respect and admire. Or perhaps it is SCC member Wes Enos. Enos is another young man that believes in the party platform wholeheartedly. He has proven that he can be a leader in that he helped lead the Huckabee campaign to a win in the Iowa Caucus with a shoestring budget. Whether you love Huck or hate him, you have to admit that the caucus upset was an impressive feat and Wes Enos was the architect of that event.

Labels: RPI

Well, I suppose since I started this whole mess, it's time for me to
chime in again. It seems this whole Kim Lehman thing just keeps
escalating. Since I first wrote about this situation almost two weeks
ago, the proverbial doo-doo has hit the fan. People, including the 2nd
congressional district's state central committee members, have called
for Lehman to apologize or step down from her position as national
committee woman, and now it seems they are calling for both. There
have also now been others in the blogosphere, our friends at the Iowa
Defense Alliance, who are calling those who no longer support Lehman
as national committee woman hypocrites because, they say, there was no
similar action for the removal of Gwen Eilers, the Clayton County GOP
chairperson who recently encouraged people to write in Steve Rathje in
the race against Tom Harkin, rather than support our party nominee,
Christopher Reed.

Labels: RPI

We In Flyover Country have learned that a county central committee is
demanding the immediate removal of Kim Lehman as National Committee
Woman. The committee, in an email statewide, cites her role in sending
a district-wide mailer that inaccurately portrayed congressional
candidate Marrianette Miller-Mikes as a "Great Pretender" on the life
issue - despite countless news articles, interviews and speeches to
the contrary! Ethical questions swirl, and vendettas abound as this
story unfolds. ... DEVELOPING ... Check back to In Flyover Country for
further developments later today.

Labels: RPI

I know that you have all heard by now about the Iowa GOP's lack of
support for US Senate Candidate Christopher Reed. If you don't know
who Chris is, then the Republican Party of Iowa has done an adequate
job of snuffing out a 100% conservative candidate. And by the way, he
is challenging the ultra liberal, sell-out, kind of lives in Iowa man
by the name of Tom Harkin. Caleb Hunter of the RPI even went as far as
telling supporters not to support Reed, but to instead support the
more winnable races. The Iowa GOP fought back by saying money is tight
and that they don't have much wealth to spread around so they are
focusing on key Iowa House candidates. Okay, I can understand that.
We need to take our government back from the grips of Mike Gronstal
someday, so lets start building.

Labels: Christopher_Reed, RPI

For those of you that read this blog regularly, you know that the
pro-life issue is one that I am very passionate about.I had a really
interesting email forwarded to me the other day. It was from the Iowa
Right to Life Committee contained a link to their pre-election
newsletter. Keep in mind that IRLC is led by Kim Lehman, the recently
elected GOP national committeewoman. For the first page of the
newsletter, it was pretty much what I expected... John McCain is super
great on the life issue (which we all know isn't a totally honest
portrayal), and Barack Obama is Satan incarnate (which may be true,
but I digress). Then I got to the second page, and I was sickened. You
see, after extolling the virtues of John McCain, the second page of
the news letter contained an article, reading: "The Great Pretender
Award: Mariannette Miller-Meeks."

Labels: 2nd CD, RPI

It was the ticking time bomb that many people, including myself, had
hoped would detonate after the November 4th elections, not with three
weeks yet to go. Last week we saw our US Senate Candidate claim that
the Republican Party of Iowa is actively working against him, then on
Saturday David Hartsuch sent out a press release stating he was told
by the McCain campaign that he could not speak at Saturday's rally
because of some comments he made two years ago in support of
traditional marriage. I'll be honest with you, this is not a subject
that I enjoy writing about, but with the growing attention this story
is getting I guess I might as well jump in and give my take. Before we
delve into the latest saga concerning the Iowa GOP, I first want to
get a few things out of the way.

Labels: Iowa GOP, RPI

To snub… to treat with scorn or disdain. Sounds like here in Iowa,
there is more than enough snubbing to go around! First Christopher
Reed and David Hartsuch and now other candidates. Listening to David
Hartsuch (Rep. Candidate for US House of Representatives, District 1)
on Jan Mickelson this A.M. really got me going on the 'snubbing' part
of politics. A Google search of "McCain snubs" revealed 250,000, so I
tried "Obama snubs" - 313,000, and finally "Iowa GOP snubs" ... 15, 700. I
was starting to get the picture. Then I happened upon the article that
I am sharing about Kathy Potts and her snubbing experience. My
inclination to believe that there is snubbing going on in the Iowa GOP
has been confirmed.

Labels: Christopher_Reed, RPI

... GOP U.S. Senate candidate Christopher Reed went on Steve Deace's show yesterday and unloaded on the Republican Party of Iowa for "not supporting" his campaign. The fireworks were hard to hear over the sound of the black helicopters. Let's look at some things. 1) The party has tens of thousands of absentee ballots in, as well as satellite voters that they recruited - all Republicans. 2) They have more field offices and staff in the state than they've ever had - all getting votes for Reed. 3) Reed says 35,000 voted for him in the primary, yet he can't even raise ONE DOLLAR for every vote he got - newsflash, YOU have to do that, the party never has. 4) If you use all your money to purchase suits for yourself, you're not going to have a very sympathetic audience. Sorry fella.

Labels: Christopher_Reed, RPI

At least three Cedar Rapids-area Republican candidates for state
office have been snubbed by GOP leadership in an opportunity to share
the stage with Arizona Sen. John McCain Thursday, according to one of
the candidates. Kathy Potts, Republican candidate in Iowa House
District 33, said she has been excluded from the event. She said Emma
Nemecek, Republican candidate in House District 29, and Joe Childers,
who is running in Senate District 18, had also been told that they
would not get to appear with McCain. "Christopher [Rants] and Kraig
[Paulsen] are in charge of the event tomorrow with McCain," said
Potts. "They do not want me on stage. They said that I and Emma
Nemecek and Joe Childers are losers and that they only want Renee
[Schulte] and Nick [Wagner] on stage."

Labels: John_McCain, RPI, state House

Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton visited the Iowa
delegation this morning to make a foreign policy case for John McCain
over Barack Obama. He said McCain proved more able when responding to
Russia's invasion of Georgia. "I think I can sum this up quite simply.
John McCain is ready to be president, Barack Obama is not," Bolton
said to a roomful of cheering Republicans. Bolton also praised
McCain's pick for vice president, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. He said she
is qualified to not only be on the ticket, but to step into the Oval
Office. Critics have raised questions about Palin's qualifications.
She was elected governor in 2006 and before that she was the mayor of
a town of 8,500 people.

Labels: John_McCain, RPI, Sarah_Palin

A 2012 nomination calendar that could help keep Iowa first in the
nation was one of the few items that quietly passed during Monday's
abbreviated session of the Republican National Convention. Iowa's role
is not directly addressed under the Republican rules adopted Monday,
since the caucuses are a non-binding straw poll. Like the Democrats,
Republicans appointed a commission to study calendar reform. This is
the first time Republicans have deferred final calendar decisions to a
post-convention body. The big difference is that the GOP has required
its commission to keep New Hampshire and South Carolina first in the
primary calendar. The Democrats have given their commission a clean
slate.

Labels: caucus, caucus dates, RPI

Members of Iowa's delegation to the Republican National Convention
received an email from the delegation chair and co-chair Friday.
Constitution Daily was forwarded the email and here it is for you to
read. "We have vacancies in our delegation. Rule No. 17 of the
Republican Party (as adopted by the 2004 Republican National
Convention)for the 2008 Republican National Convention permits the
delegates to fill the vacancies. We propose the following names to
fill vacancies." ... Immediately alarm bells began going off across the
state, emails began flying, and dust we hoped was settled is stirred
as though a cyclone struck. And we have to ask, what was Scheffler
thinking? First of all, you need a flowchart and PhD in organizational
communications to unravel the delegate and alternate swapping outlined
in the email.

Labels: RPI

First, there was a fire yesterday in the dumpster outside the
Republican Party of Iowa's headquarters. Incendiary memos? Improperly
discarded smoking materials? A prankster? Second, Republican Party of
Iowa chairman Stewart Iverson is a former legislator and earlier this
week it was announced he would be accepting another job, as a staff
person in the office of Senate Republican Leader Ron Wieck. For those
of you who've been around Iowa politics, you know that Iverson held
the job of Senate Republican Leader until he was oustead in the fall
of 2006. Iverson then chose not to seek reelection.

Labels: RPI

I was looking at the calendar today, and today's date, August 11,
jumped out at me as being significant, though I couldn't quite put my
finger on why it was. Then, it dawned on me - one year ago today was
the Iowa Straw Poll, the Mardi Gras of the Republican Party of Iowa.
It's hard to think back at how much the GOP political landscape has
changed within a year's time. Last year, John McCain essentially had
thrown in the proverbial towel in this state, looking instead at other
early states such as New Hampshire that he actually had a chance of
winning. Rudy Giuliani saw the same writing on the wall and followed
McCain's strategy albeit with much different results. A year ago
today, Mitt Romney was spending like a fiend while Mike Huckabee
pinched his pennies so tight that Ebenezer Scrooge would consider him
cheap.

Labels: RPI, straw_poll

In what can best be described as a highly unusual move, current RPI
Chairman, and former Senate Majority Leader, Stewart Iverson has taken
a position with the Senate campaign staff. Chairman Iverson will fill
the opening created by Brent Oleson's decision to campaign for
Supervisor in Linn County. The move was announced earlier tonight at a
Buena Vista County event by a member of our Senate caucus. Sources
inform us that Iverson intends to retain his Party office as well.

Labels: RPI

Ex-chairman Ray Hoffmann yesterday once again reminded Iowa
Republicans of the real source of the current revolution amongst Iowa
Republicans. Hoffmann has spent his entire political career presenting
himself as a pro-life social conservative. Hoffmann's remarks during
the five years of my personal experience serving with Hoffmann on the
State Central Committee indicated that he strongly opposed homosexual
marriage rights. Yet Hoffmann now publicly attacks the newly elected
RNC members as overly emphasizing just those issues. The Iowa
Republican Platform has been both pro-life and opposed to homosexual
marriage rights since at least 2002.

Labels: RPI

When I read Beaumont's piece in the Register yesterday, I knew it
would stir the already festering pot. ... Here's the thing people need
to remember, especially the moderates who focus on fiscal issues
rather than social ones. The election of Scheffler and Lehman as our
national committee-people really isn't that big of a deal. Sure, it's
a moral victory for the social conservative grassroots, but there's
only so much national-committee people do. Scheffler and Lehman are
far more dangerous to these moderates in their roles as activists. As
activists, they can cajole legislators and perhaps even change some
hearts and minds.

Labels: RPI

I'll be the first to admit, the internal struggles within the
Republican Party is frustrating, and something that I don't enjoy
writing about. So today we are going to address this topic in a
different way, putting your money where your mouth is. Yesterday, I
received a press release noting that the Iowa House Republicans hold a
slim lead in cash-on-hand over their Democrat opponents. "During the
reporting period, ending on July 14th, Republicans running for the
Iowa House had $1,177,107 cash on hand compared to the Democrat
candidates having banked $1,164,602. Republicans in leadership
positions out raised the Democrat leaders by nearly two to one and
reported twice as much cash on hand."

Labels: campaign finance, RPI

As all of our regular readers know, there has been a lot of Internet
and real chatter and conflict about the proper purpose, function and
authority of our state conventions committees. What all the conflict
demonstrates with greatest clarity is the need to reform and improve
our convention process. TRS submits the following starting point for
that reform. District Conventions. Our existing five, and probably
four in the future, Congressional District Executive Committees are
grossly underutilized. Any real hope for party reform begins with
reactivating the District Committees. One crucial function of such
committees is running their share of the caucus to convention process.
The district committees can easily be given a schedule and a budget by
the SCC and otherwise be left entirely to their own devices as to how
each district runs its convention.

Labels: RPI

I am happy to report that this weekend's Republican State Central
Committee went off without the predicted fireworks. As I predicted in
my preview, none of the rumored actions took place. First, there was
no attempt to remove Stewart Iverson as party chairman. There were no
outbursts or challenges to Stewart's leadership. He did a great job
and his experience added important historical perspective to our
deliberations. Gopal. Many of the rumors and controversies surrounding
the SCC swirl around SCC treasurer Gopal Krishna. Rumors ranged from a
SCC sponsored motion to remove Gopal to Clinton County chair Nicole
Baker coming in-person to bring petitions calling for Krishna's
ouster.

Labels: RPI

Coronation or Convention? If you think I'm referring to the victories
of the social conservatives at the state convention you are mistaken.
I'm referring to the fact that King was everywhere doing everything.
We all know that Congressman King would never miss a convention. While
some people think it's something to show your face at and escape, King
was camped out there morning, noon, and night which is nothing new for
our favorite congressman. King hosted a pancake breakfast before the
convention started on Saturday morning at Hy-Vee Hall, addressed the
crowed early in the morning, introduced 2nd CD candidate Mariannette
Miller-Meeks, spoke at the lunch, and was involved with every aspect
of the convention, even the junior delegates.

Labels: RPI

There has been a lot of buzz about a loyalty oath in the platform
passed at this weekend's State GOP Convention. At issue is the plank
7.9 which reads: "We believe candidates running as Republicans for any
local or state office should be required to complete and return to the
Republican Party of Iowa a signed questionnaire indicating whether the
candidate agrees, disagrees or is undecided about each plank of the
current party platform." This plank absolutely calls for a loyalty
oath. On the other hand neither RPI nor the State Central Committee
will consider such a thing. Having served on countless platform
committees, I can tell you that planks of this nature arise from a
frustration among the grassroots Republicans who create the platform.

Labels: RPI

Things got off to a slow start. A gentleman strolled up to the
microphone to announce the following shortly after nine o'clock this
morning: "Who's ever in charge of seating arrangements, there are no
seats for Audubon County." (The chairs on the floor of Hy-Vee Hall --
the site of today's convention -- are arranged in rows, by county. A
few moments later, the same man made another announcement: "There are
no seats for Winnebago County either," he said, adding with a bit of
sarcasm: "This is the party of inclusion!" Some in the crowd clapped;
others laughed. A barbershop quartet sang the National Anthem,
followed by an attempt to get all the "junior delegates" to the
convention on stage so they could lead the Pledge.

Labels: RPI

For whatever strange reason, our state organizes most of its party
leadership during election years. Our leadership positions are now
resolved so let's focus on the winners. First, although Steve Roberts
wasn't reelected to the RNC, Steve Roberts is one of the great
Republicans of the last half-century. No one should minimize the
quality of his service or the value of his wisdom. Steve Scheffler has
the largest of any shoes we have had to fill since Terry Branstad left
Terrace Hill. Monster congratulations to my good friend Steve
Scheffler. It takes a lot to unseat a legend and Scheffy showed he has
it with convincing clarity. The win may very well define a new era.

Labels: RPI

I had been planning a preview of the State Convention for today all
week, but after listening to Steve Deace's radio program yesterday I
had to throw away what I had prepared and start over. Yesterday Deace
spent two hours with State Party Chair Stewart Iverson, Polk County
Chair Ted Sporer, Iowa Right to Life Leader and Candidate for National
Committeewoman Kim Lehman, and Iowa Christian Alliance President and
Candidate for National Committeeman Steve Scheffler. All I can say
it's a good thing WHO's radio studios are nice and spacious because
that a lot of people with big egos in the same room at the same time.

Labels: RPI

The Republican Party of Iowa will hold its state convention Friday and
Saturday, and with Iowa considered a battleground for both national
and state races, all eyes turn to Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines to see how
strong the state's minority party truly is. Republican officials are
outwardly optimistic about their chances this November to deliver the
state to GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and pick up seats
in the state Legislature. But they readily admit their party faces an
uphill struggle due in part to a large deficit in paid staff on the
ground around the state. According to reports filed the Federal
Election Commission on June 20, the Republican Party of Iowa had only
seven salaried employees on staff, compared to 28 for the state
Democrats (however, many of those employees were reassigned to work
strictly for the Obama campaign).

Labels: Iowa GOP, RPI

One of the things I'm looking forward to at this weekend's Republican
Convention is the race for National Committeeman. As I wrote before,
my pick for the National Committeewoman is State Representative Sandy
Greiner. Many people thought that Steve Roberts, the current
Committeeman was going to be unopposed, but the rescheduling of the
convention due to the floods exposed Steve Scheffler's stealth
campaign for the spot. The race between Scheffler and Roberts
represents the classic battle between Conservative Activism
(Scheffler) vs. Moderate Establishment (Roberts). Both men have been
involved in Republican politics in Iowa for decades. Robert's cut his
teeth with Governor Ray, Scheffler made his mark as a conservative
activist with Pat Robertson.

Labels: Iowa GOP, RPI

This blog correctly predicted that Ed Fallon was going to lose in his
attempt to wrestle the Democratic nomination away from Leonard
Boswell. Funny how you don't hear any Democrats waxing on about how
being against the war is a political advantage. After all, Fallon is
against all wars and Boswell voted for the war in Iraq. Now, it seems,
Fallon is begging other Democrats to bail him out of $35,000 worth of
campaign debt. I don't know why the Republican Party of Iowa doesn't
approach Fallon and promise to pay off his debt in exchange for
running as a hardcore, anti-war, left-wing independent candidate
against Democrat Tom Harkin in November. That might look a little
weird, seeing how the RPI has to throw money at yet another lousy
Senate candidate (some loser name Christopher Reed).

Labels: Christopher_Reed, Ed_Fallon, RPI

The Iowa Democratic and Republican party conventions are Saturday, and
draft copies of the party platforms offer a glimpse of just how
different the rival parties view the role of government. Work on the
platform drafts has been going on since the precinct caucuses in
January. The process will finish this weekend at the state
conventions, where the platforms will be debated, possibly rewritten
and eventually ratified. Observers are quick to point out that the
platforms are drafted by party activists and not elected officials, so
they usually represent views that are more extreme than those of the
majority of the party. For example, in education, the GOP draft favors
teacher- or student-led prayer in public schools, as well as the use
of the Bible as a textbook.

Labels: IDP, RPI

Are you going to call for a recount or not? Yesterday after the
kanvass Christopher Reed, had 24,916 votes, Eichhorn had 24,392 votes
and marathon kampaigner Steve Rathje of finished with 21,106 votes.
The question now is will Eichhorn call for a recount and prevent Reed
from using the State Convention this Saturday to rally support for his
campaign. Also of note I have received a handful of emails claiming
that Christopher Reed is not on the agenda to speak at the state
convention, I'm sure it's a typo, especially if Eichhorn doesn't ask
for a recount. While I respect that Eichhorn has every right to ask
for the recount the best outcome that he kould get would be for it to
go to konvention, another battle that he would lose.

Labels: Christopher_Reed, RPI

I always enjoy the State Convention. The State Convention is an
opportunity to see many of my political friends and make new ones. We
get to hear our candidates and elected officials and their vision for
our party, our state and our nation. It is a great way to get fired up
for the election season. This year's convention should be an
interesting one. First, there remains the possibility that the
convention will select a candidate for US Senate. The vote canvass
should be going on right now but an interesting wrinkle is that
flooding may have an effect on the canvass. As one example, the Floyd
County courthouse (Charles City) is underwater.

Labels: RPI

Earlier today we received information that Republican Party of Iowa
Chairman Stew Iverson is calling around to members of the Republican
Central Committee urging them to have the State Party pay for the
recount of the U.S. Senate primary vote. That information is was
incorrect. I apologize for putting fourth any misinformation, but I
believed my source was credible and went with it. I still believe
however that the State Party and Iverson would be wise to stay as far
away as possible from the recount situation. Any involvement, even
with the best intentions will cause massive distrust between current
and future candidates running for office under the Republican brand.

Labels: RPI, U.S. Senate

Iowa GOP Chairman Stew Iverson revealed Monday two of the big draws
for the Republican state convention in Des Moines on June 14. Former
presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who is now rumored to be a
leading VP contender, will make an appearance. Also in attendance will
be former House speaker Newt Gingrich. It looks like the jockeying in
Iowa for 2012 might already be beginning...

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Newt_Gingrich, RPI

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Stewart Iverson today praised the
Republican National Committee's rules committee for passing what's
called the "Ohio Plan," which would keep Iowa first in the
presidential nominating process. The plan, passed this morning in
Albuquerque at a meeting of the Republican Rules Committee, would
retain the lead-off roles for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and
Nevada, and rotate remaining states on a quadrennial basis. Iverson
says this is the first significant step for Iowa's effort to keep its
first-in-the-nation role in the presidential nominating process.

Labels: caucus, caucus dates, RPI

Floor debate in the Iowa House had an interesting turn this week, when
House Democrats admitted that without a tax increase on Iowa
businesses, they will be unable to balance the state budget this
session. Prompting the comment was an amendment put forth by House
Republicans that would have mirrored the federal economic stimulus
package by allowing an accelerated write-off for businesses for
certain assets they own, called bonus depreciation. The Democrats
defeated this amendment on a partisan vote, 53 to 47, with every
single Democrat casting a vote against the bill. This was a great
opportunity to stand up for hometown Iowa businesses, who will be hit
with a tax increase of up to $30 million.

Labels: RPI

The reworked Republican Party of Iowa is getting up to speed. On the
heels of the (encouraged?) departure of Sioux Cityan Ray Hoffmann from
the chairmanship and former key Congressman Steve King strategist
Chuck Laudner from the executive director post, the new state
leadership team is taking shape. Former state senator Stewart Iverson
now is the chairman and yesterday Iverson announced that Caleb Hunter,
28, is the new executive director. The chairman generally picks the
director. And today we get word that Ida Grove native Tim Albrecht
will be the RPI spokesman, er, communications director for the 2008
election cycle.

Labels: RPI

It didn't take GOP operative Tim Albrecht (known as "Timmy" among
members of the press corps) to find work after Mitt Romney's
presidential campaign came to an end. The Republican Party of Iowa on
Wednesday named the eternally cheerful Albrecht its new communications
director. He replaces Mary Tiffany, who served as the party's
spokesperson during the caucus campaign. Albrecht, 30, is an Ida Grove
native. He most recently served as the Iowa spokesman for Romney's
campaign and stayed on past the caucuses as the national media
coordinator. Before that, he served as a press aide for Christopher
Rants.

Labels: RPI