Though State Rep. Rod Roberts (R-Carroll) has not officially announced his candidacy for governor in 2010, his hometown newsman Douglas Burns provides a glimpse of what his campaign might look like.

It seems that Roberts, who is an ordained minister and works in fundraising for a network of churches, plans to focus more on economic issues and less on divisive social issues.

Roberts is a skilled orator who uses consensus-building language, measured words, not the vitriol of some in his party. His votes may be the same as many hot-blooded conservatives on social issues but Roberts says “some of the hyperbole goes to excess.”

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Roberts has been meeting with potential advisors and supporters from a geographic diverse cross-section of Iowa.

As he’s unannounced a Roberts platform is still very much evolving but he makes it clear economic issues will be primary.

Perhaps Roberts’s religious background will offer him the political cover he needs to talk less about abortion and gay marriage and more about economic issues, since social conservatives may trust that he is already on their side.

Other potential candidates, like former house speaker Christopher Rants (R-Sioux City) or former senate president Jeff Lamberti (R-Ankeny), might not have the same luxury.