A group working to convince former Gov. Terry Branstad he should re-enter politics and run for a fifth term in 2010 announced Monday that they would air a statewide radio ad.

The ad, which will run throughout the week, focuses on the governor’s record, saying he “cut taxes and balanced the budget,” “helped make Iowa education among the world’s best” and “guided Iowa through the farm crisis of the 1980s.”

The Draft Branstad PAC, which is paying for the ads, was organized earlier this month by former Republican state Rep. Sandy Greiner of Washington.

Greiner also serves as president of the American Future Fund, a politically active conservative nonprofit who last week launched ads attacking health care reform legislation in the districts of conservative Democratic members of congress around the country.

The group launched the ads one week after Des Moines Register columnist Marc Hansen wrote about the reasons he feels it is a mistake for Branstad to jump into the gubernatorial campaign, pointing to polls back in 1997 that showed 55 percent of Iowans did not want him to run for another term in office. He also pointed to the 1994 GOP gubernatorial primary, where Branstad was almost defeated by U.S. Rep. Fred Grandy. That raced focused on the state budget, with Grandy calling Branstad the “MasterCard governor” because of allegations of fiscal mismanagement in his administration.

Here is the Draft Branstad PAC radio ad: