Branstad candidacy becoming focus of GOP primary speculation

So far, there are five confirmed candidates in the Republican gubernatorial field, but most of the focus is going to a man who is not in the race.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Rod Roberts (left) speaks with former Gov. Terry Branstad at a fundraiser in September.

Will four-term Republican Gov. Terry Branstad come out of political retirement and run for the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nomination? It’s a question making the rounds in Republican circles, and it is apparently starting to have an impact on the fundraising efforts of other candidates up and down the ballot.

Controversial Christian radio host Steve Deace said Wednesday on his blog that multiple sources have confirmed to him that Branstad will indeed come out of retirement and run for a fifth term as governor.

Deace said he expects an announcement shortly after the State Fair concludes on Saturday.

Branstad will have to sell his conservative credentials to a statewide grassroots skeptical of anything attached to Polk County and Doug Gross.  A grassroots that barely remembers his years in office, but do remember his ties to the gambling entities that have dominated our state since he first brought them here, the judges he appointed to the State Supreme Court that recently decreed sodomy marriages (including the one who wrote the actual opinion), and the fact he made one of Planned Parenthood’s chief cheerleaders his Lieutenant Governor—and Joy Corning has been in a bur in the saddle to pro-lifers in Iowa ever since.

Conservative leaders from around the state tell Deace that Branstad entering the GOP primary will result in a “bloodbath,” as so-called Polk County moderates do battle with social conservative activists.

Veteran Iowa journalist Chuck Offenburger, formerly with The Des Moines Register and now managing his own Web site, called on Branstad, whom he describes as someone he has always liked and respected, to stay put as president of Des Moines University and abandoned any potential return to statewide politics.

… Branstad was a perfect match for Iowa at the time he was building his political and governmental career. He was the right person at the right time for Iowa, someone who had wide support across the state and could lead on major initiatives, some of them very controversial – like legalizing gambling and completely overhauling the structure of state government. I’m reasonably confident he is not the right person now. If elected, he’d be dealing with new generations of legislators, state employees and opinion leaders. And you know what? Not all of those people are going to be charmed by the idea of an old political hero trying to re-start his government career. Many will see him as an impediment to their own futures.

I agree with that last thought, by the way. Just the fact that he now says he is considering running for governor is very damaging to our Republican Party. It just stifles the ambitions of a lot of the young up and comers we need so badly in the GOP.

Offenburger called on Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn to reach out to the “legendary Branstad” and ask him not to run.

Even anonymous gossip columnist Civic Skinny weighed in on a potential Branstad run, saying he is getting mixed signals from those close to the former governor about his intentions.

So will he run? A woman who is in the inner councils of Iowa Republican politics bet a friend last week — two meals to one — that Branstad would run. A woman in the inner councils of Democratic politics told the same friend he shouldn’t have taken the bet.

You figure it out.

For his part, Branstad has repeatedly said he has not made a decision about gubernatorial bid and will not until this fall.  But at least one GOP strategist tells the Gazette’s James Lynch that Branstad’s indecision is “freezing donations to gubernatorial candidates as well as down-ballot candidates,” something that could have a negative impact on the party’s eventual nominee.