Stories

A TV and film star is throwing a $100,000+ fundraiser for a candidate for Iowa governor tonight, but the beneficiary isn’t the bleeding-heart Hollywood liberal you might expect.

The latest Iowa Poll by The Des Moines Register finds Gov. Chet Culver losing to both former Gov. Terry Branstad and Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats in hypothetical head-to-head campaigns.

An automated call featuring one of Terry Branstad’s former lieutenant governors asking Republicans to support same-sex marriage has drawn the ire of social conservatives.

The 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary is shaping up to be a spirited affair, with candidates already actively campaigning and taking shots at their fellow Republicans more than seven months before Election Day.
But Civic Skinny, the anonymous gossip columnist for Des Moines’ Cityview, says the contest is as much about revenge and staking a claim on [...]

In order for Iowa to become the “economic engine of the Midwest,” the Hawkeye State should phase out its income tax, according to GOP gubernatorial hopeful Christian Fong.
It’s a theme he’s returned to repeatedly over the last few weeks, first in a series of town halls, then in a blog post on the conservative Hawkeye [...]

The latest health care reform proposal, which includes a public insurance plan that state’s could “opt out” of, has raised the possibility that the debate currently raging in Washington could be headed to state capitols around the country.
As the news site Politico points out, the details of how, exactly, a state can opt out are [...]

With former Gov. Terry Branstad’s tentative entrance into the already crowded field of Republican gubernatorial candidates, conventional wisdom dictates that several lesser-known hopefuls will likely exit the race.
Branstad has high name recognition and will undoubtedly be able to raise a huge campaign war chest quickly, which will likely drain resources and attention from his opponents.
But [...]

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Chet Culver would lose to former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad by five percentage points if the election were held today, according to the latest Research 2000 poll.
The October poll of 600 likely voters commissioned by the liberal blog Daily Kos found Branstad bests Culver 48-43 in the hypothetical matchup, with a margin [...]

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 front-runner Bob Vander Plaats has officially endorsed an independent candidate running for a seat in the Iowa House.