Re-electing Gov. Chet Culver will be the main focus of the 2010 campaign, but to do so will require a strong party apparatus at all levels, Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Michael Kiernan said.

IDP Chairman Michael Kiernan speaks at the annual Democratic Hall of Fame event in Des Moines.

IDP Chairman Michael Kiernan speaks at the annual Democratic Hall of Fame event in Des Moines (photo courtesy of the Iowa Democratic Party).

“It is no secret that I’ve been personal friends with the governor for a long time,” Kiernan said in an interview with the Iowa Independent. “I consider him one of my closest friends. For me, personally, there is going to be a huge focus on the governor’s race next year.”

But even with a spotlight at the top of the ticket, Kiernan said the state party cannot and will not ignore other races.

“One strength of the Democratic Party is that we believe that from the city council to the statehouse, the more strong candidates you have in those races, the better the top of the ticket is going to do,” he said. “We believe in building from the ground up, not from the top down. We have worked overtime to make sure this is about everybody in the party. This is about a team effort, and that is how we are approaching it. “

Kiernan was chosen by Culver to head the IDP in January. He managed Culver’s 1998 campaign for Iowa secretary of state and served for a short while as Lt. Gov. Patty Judge’s communications director when she was secretary of agriculture, so his selection to head the party going into a gubernatorial election year surprised few.

But he is no newcomer to Iowa politics. He grew up on a farm in Madison County, where his father served on the Board of Supervisors during the farm crisis. His mother once worked as a secretary for the Iowa Democratic Party.

“I was born and raised on the campaign trail,” Kiernan said. “Most kids were at daycare. I was at the Iowa Democratic Party.”

When he took over as chair, Kiernan said one of his priorities was to get the party outside of Des Moines and engage people around the state.

“I’m a rural kid, so I wanted to get back to my roots, I guess,” he said. “We’ve taken our State Central Committee meetings around the state and hit the road. That’s the first time in memory that the party has done that. We really believe it is important in building the grassroots network, and we put our money where our mouth is.”

In recent years, the party has built a substantial voter registration edge, totaling a more than 100,000 advantage at last count. Maintaining that lead and keeping new registrants involved will be a challenge going into 2010, but one Kiernan said can be accomplished.

“We’re here to build on the successes of the past few years,” Kiernan said. “Keeping the momentum, I believe, is all about communication.”

And the best weapon the party has is its leader, Kiernan said.

“I can tell you, based on my time traveling with him during his campaign for secretary of state, there is nobody better at connecting with voters than Chet Culver,” he said.

Maintaining (not expanding) legislative majorities

Even if the gubernatorial contest is the focus, the battle for control of the legislature won’t get overlooked, Kiernan said.

In 2006, Democrats took control of both legislative chambers and the governor’s mansion for the first time in decades. In 2008, the Democratic majorities expanded. Currently, Democrats have a 32-18 lead in the Senate and a 56-44 lead in the House.

While he believes the party can gain even more seats in both chambers and expand their majorities, Kiernan said that isn’t his main goal.

“Expansion of majorities isn’t my focus,” he said. “My focus is maintaining the levels of support for the Democratic Party that currently exist and keeping those new registrants that have come to the party in recent years active and involved.”

To do that, the party will work to field a candidate in every legislative race, including traditionally Republican districts.

“The goal is to have a candidate everywhere we can,” he said. “We believe we don’t have to give up any ground. There is nowhere in the state where I think we can’t win if we work hard enough.”

Some observers have criticized the party in the past for not competing in every district. The criticism reached new levels in 2008, when shortly before the legislative elections it was discovered that Republican state Sen. James Seymour of Woodbine pleaded guilty in 2002 to solicitation after responding to an ad for a prostitute in Des Moines.

Seymour was running unopposed, and thus was re-elected.

“We’re building an aggressive, grassroots field operation all across the state,” Kiernan said. “That’s how you win elections.”

Keeping Terrace Hill

With six men actively seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination, there are a lot of attacks being thrown at Gov. Culver, Kiernan said.

“The governor is going to wait until someone emerges next year from the primary before he gets into responding to attacks,” Kiernan said. “I see part of my job being to monitor what the Republican candidates are saying and make sure it is factual. It’s our job to be a watchdog. I don’t want the public to be mislead.”

Each time a new candidate has entered the GOP gubernatorial field, Kiernan has been there with a response, usually referring to them as a “party of no” contender. Most recently, he referred to the group as “one short of the seven dwarfs.”

“Every day, we continue to come to the table with solutions to the problems facing the state. In contrast, the Republican Party and their candidates have offered no solutions,” he said. “We’re a big tent party, and the Republicans continually show that their tent has gotten smaller and smaller.”

None of the candidates who are currently seeking the nomination worries him going into 2010, he said, because none of them have anything new to offer voters.

“Look at the flood recovery,” Kiernan said. “The governor fought hard to pass the I-JOBS program because he knew how important it was for the victims of one of the worst natural disasters in our state’s history. Those most affected by the floods saw the Republican Party say ‘no’ to that and fight it. Yet they offered no solutions as to how they are going to rebuild the state and how to rebuild those communities.”

And no matter who ends up winning the right to challenge Culver in the general election, Kiernan said the strategy is the same.

“We weathered the 4th largest disaster in U.S. history,” he said. “Our economy is down but is still in much better shape than almost any other state. I don’t think it is a hard argument to make to re-elect Gov. Culver for another four years.”

Kiernan is has high hopes for 2010. Even during tough economic times, the annual IDP Hall of Fame event managed to raise nearly $200,000, setting a record for the event, Kiernan said.

“The recession is going to make fundraising more difficult,” he said. “I think that means you have to work harder. There is no doubt the economy will have an impact, but so far we certainly haven’t seen it curtail our fundraising totals. During tough times, you have to work twice as hard to get the same results. So, it’s all about the work you put in.”