Stories

Senate Majority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, followed through on his promise Friday and dropped out of the 2010 campaign for governor.
McKinley said last month that when former Gov. Terry Branstad made his candidacy official, he would withdraw. While Branstad has yet to formally enter the race, he’s hired staff and begun holding campaign events, making [...]

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 [...]

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.

Gov. Chet Culver has fired the manager of the Iowa Film Office following allegations of misconduct surrounding a state tax credit program he administered.
Tom Wheeler, who was put on paid administrative leave on Friday after problems were discovered in the Film, Television and Video Promotion Program, has been dismissed effective Monday afternoon, the governor said [...]

Moderate Republican Doug Gross has released another 2010 gubernatorial campaign poll through his group, the Iowa First Foundation.
Gross, who served as a top aide to former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad and was his party’s 2002 gubernatorial nominee, has been releasing the results of his latest round of surveys, conducted July 23-26, this week. Today, he [...]

Don McDowell, communications aide to Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, called me a few minutes ago to explain why he owns BranstadForGovernor.com. He says it has nothing to do with his boss, who is “aggressively exploring” a run for governor, or with former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who is also considering becoming a candidate.
McDowell says [...]

With six men actively seeking the Republican Party of Iowa’s gubernatorial nomination and a few others publicly mulling a run themselves, a hotly contested 2010 GOP primary is virtually guaranteed.

Republican gubernatorial hopeful and Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley blasted Democrats Monday for blocking a bill during this year’s legislative session asserting Iowa’s sovereignty under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

State officials have completed the sale of $601 million in bonds for Gov. Chet Culver’s I-JOBS infrastructure program, with the end result saving Iowa nearly $12 million a year.