Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has traveled to Washington state today in hopes of rekindling Microsoft’s interest in developing a $500 million data center in West Des Moines.  While giving kudos to Culver for going the extra mile, Rich Miller, a data center analyst and blogger, said the trip is unlikely to change the company’s decision to halt construction.

Will Culver’s visit change Microsoft’s plans? That’s not likely. Microsoft’s decision was part of a much broader cost-cutting initiative in which several thousand jobs were eliminated. The company presumably still has plenty of capacity in its San Antonio data center, which opened last fall.

Culver probably knows this. But the trip is a political no-brainer for the governor, who will be seen as going the extra mile to advocate for the local project and the jobs it would create.

If plans had gone forward, the data center planned just off I-35 would have created between 50 to 75 high-paying jobs. The Iowa Department of Transporation had approved a state grant of $4.3 million to cover a portion of the costs for local road improvements, and West Des Moines was also on board with matching funds.

Microsoft formally announced in January, after months of speculation, that it was postponing construction on the Iowa facility.