Ending months of speculation, former Gov. Terry Branstad filed papers Wednesday morning to form a gubernatorial campaign committee, the first step in a potential run for governor in 2010.

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

GOP gubernatorial candidate Rod Roberts (left) speaks with former Gov. Terry Branstad.

Branstad, who served four terms as Iowa’s governor from 1982 to 1998, is considered by many to be the automatic favorite to win the GOP nomination next year.

“Iowans have spoken, and Gov. Branstad has listened,” said Sandy Grenier, a former state legislator who founded the Draft Branstad PAC in September to convince the former governor to enter the race.

The Des Moines Register reports that initial Branstad supporters include former Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Richard Schwarm; 2002 GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Gross; political strategist David Roederer; Vermeer Corp. CEO Mary Andringa; and businessman and top GOP donor Bruce Rastetter.

In addition, several state legislators have signed on to the Draft Branstad movement.

A recent Iowa Poll by Selzer & Co. Inc. of Des Moines found that 70 percent of Iowans look back approvingly on Branstad’s years in office. It also found that 48 percent of Iowans believe he should run for a fifth term.

While many Iowans, and a lot of large Republican donors, will greet the news with glee, Branstad’s entrance into the race is not without detractors, most notably his fellow Republicans already seeking the gubernatorial nomination.

Just last week state Rep. Chris Rants of Sioux City attacked Branstad’s record of balancing the state’s budget, saying he used “accounting gimmicks” instead of fiscal responsibility. Another GOP rival, Bob Vander Plaats, made it a point to tell reporters he would not try to “balance the ticket with somebody who’s moderate or liberal or who doesn’t believe in those core values like I do,” a statement many considered a shot at Branstad, who chose Joy Corning, a pro-choice, moderate Republican, as running mate in 1990 and 1994.

Veteran Iowa journalist Chuck Offenburger, formerly with The Des Moines Register and now managing his own Web site, called a potential Branstad candidacy a “black eye for the Republican Party of Iowa,” claiming it would discourage a new generation of Republicans to get active in politics and set back all the good work done by the party’s new leadership.

Controversial Christian radio host Steve Deace has been highly critical of Branstad re-entering politics. He predicts the bloodiest primary in the state party’s history, pitting so-called Polk County moderates against social conservative activists. Deace says Branstad’s record will not sell to social conservatives, pointing to his appointment of the Supreme Court Justice who penned the decision legalizing same-sex marriage to his choice of Corning as lieutenant governor.

In addition to Branstad, Rants and Vander Plaats, four other men are currently seeking the GOP nomination: state Sen. Jerry Behn, Christian Fong, state Sen. Paul McKinley and state Rep. Rod Roberts.