Lt. Gov. Judge as IDP chair?

Civic Skinny, the political gossip column published every week in Des Moines’ alternative newsweekly (Cityview), says sources inside the Iowa Democratic Party expect Lt. Gov. Patty Judge to become the party’s next chair.

The idea, Skinny says, is that the move would bolster Gov. Chet Culver’s standing leading up to his re-election bid in 2010.

Here’s the guy’s note to Skinny: “Taking a page out of Vilsack’s playbook (for once), Chet wants Patty as the chair of IDP just as Vilsack had Sally Pederson as chair of the party.” He adds: “It makes sense to have the lieutenant governor overseeing the party as they roll into the 2010 campaign. Vilsack put Pederson in as chair in 2006 as they rolled into his unsuccessful presidential bid. Pederson’s draw was that she was universally liked by the party and had access to a big Rolodex of donors.” Then he asks, in what Skinny can interpret only as a snotty aside, “What is Patty’s draw?” (Well, she did have her name on every gas pump in the state for a few years.)

The theory goes that current Iowa Democratic Party chairman Scott Brennan will step down to either practice law or fill Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s position if he is tapped to serve in the administration of President-elect Barack Obama (Miller was an early and fervent supporter of Obama).