Free Republic

Craig Robinson at The Iowa Republican broke the news about Bob Vander Plaats being hired by Iowa Family Policy Center to be their CEO. Even though IFPC’s President, Chuck Hurley, is being coy with the news, I’ve heard from my “sources” that this is indeed the case.... Thoughts? Good or bad move on the part of IFPC?

After coming up 21,531 votes short of Terry Branstad on primary night, Bob Vander Plaats announced that he and Branstad had agreed to meet and talk about ways to unite Republicans after the primary. Sources close to Vander Plaats tell TheIowaRepublican.com the meeting with Branstad occurred on Monday in Sioux City, and it did not go well. Apparently, Vander Plaats’ plan to unite the party wasn’t based upon his executive order proposal, his stance on illegal immigration, or even his position on other social issues. Instead, sources close to Vander Plaats say it was based almost entirely on Branstad naming...

Des Moines Regsiter - title and link allowed only

North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling actually polled the Iowa Republican gubernatorial primary. Yeah, the one next week. Branstad is up by 15 points, 46-31, over Vander Plaats, with Rod Roberts at 13 percent. The poll was of 474 likely GOP primary voters with a 4.5 percent margin of error. From PPP press release: ""In the Iowa Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Roxanne Conlin appears headed for a romp, while Terry Branstad is surprisingly under 50% in his bid for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination. Terry Branstad has just 46% to entrepreneur Bob Vander Plaats’ 31% and State Representative Rod Roberts’ 13%....

DES MOINES - Two Iowa Republicans running for governor staked out get-tough positions on illegal immigration Friday. In separate media interviews, Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats and Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll, both said they - if either is elected governor next November -- would seek to more actively curb the presence of people illegally working, residing or receiving government benefits in Iowa without proper documentation given the failure of federal and Iowa officials to address the issue properly. Vander Plaats told a WHO radio audience he would propose legislation based on a new Arizona law that makes it a...

Another campaign manager for Gov. Chet Culver announced Monday she is quitting, leaving the Democrat's re-election effort to a veteran Iowa Democratic activist. Abby Curran said she would leave at the end of April, only four months after she was hired to manage Culver's campaign for a second term. Her departure continues a tumultuous period for Culver, who has gone through two campaign managers and two interim managers in the past year... She will be replaced by Donn Stanley, who has long worked for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. The campaign upheaval comes at a time when polls show Culver's...

During the first debate of the primary season, the three Republican candidates for governor offered opposing views of the kind of experience it will take to be the next governor. The three candidates gathered at KTIV studios in Sioux City for the hour-long debate. Former Governor Terry Branstad started by touting his own 16-year record as governor and questioning rival Bob Vander Plaats, who has never held elected office. “Iowans want a leader not only that talks about things, but somebody that gets results,” Branstad said in his opening statement. “Results over rhetoric, that’s what this is all about.” Vander...

No longer the darling of the Right, Terry Branstad is vying for a fifth term as governor. As he mounts a comeback bid for a fifth term as governor, Iowa Republican Terry Branstad, once the golden boy of Hawkeye conservatives, finds himself under attack from an unusual direction, the right. His fight for the GOP nomination has plenty of echoes from his party's 2008 presidential caucuses, and the outcome could signal what sort of Republican presidential candidates will get the warmest receptions in Iowa during the 2012 campaign. With his conservative credentials intact, Branstad, who was governor from 1983 to...

Former Gov. Terry Branstad is maintaining a double-digit lead over incumbent Gov. Chet Culver, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports survey. Rasmussen’s telephone survey of likely voters in the state shows Branstad leading Culver by 16 points, 52 percent to 36 percent. Six percent prefer some other candidate, and 6 percent are undecided. Branstad, a Republican who served as governor from 1983 to 1999, held virtually identical leads over the Democratic incumbent a month ago and in the first survey of the race last September. Rasmussen found Culver is doing better against another Republican gubernatorial hopeful, Bob Vander Plaats, a...

Activists visit lawmakers as new session gears up. DES MOINES -- Hundreds of activists headed to the Capitol on Tuesday to push their views on Iowa's same-sex marriage law despite Democratic legislative leaders' insistence there wasn't time to take up the issue during a session largely devoted to the budget. Although the issue likely will be pushed aside as lawmakers focus on a large budget shortfall... Opponents of the ruling -- many wearing red -- jammed the House chambers during Culver's speech... As Culver left the chamber after his speech, some in the Rotunda chanted, "let us vote," Opponents later...

he nation’s economy has taken its toll on incumbent governors across the country, and Iowa Governor Chet Culver is no exception. Add to that the difficult political environment for Democrats at the moment, and Culver’s potential vulnerability becomes clear. The first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 telephone survey of the Iowa governor’s race shows Culver trailing badly in a match-up with one of his predecessors and running even with a lesser-known challenger. Terry Branstad, now president of Des Moines University, leads Culver 54% to 34%. Branstad, a Republican, was the youngest governor in Iowa history and served longer than anybody else,...

Huckabee Iowa Manager: 'We're Fighting a Radical Religion in Islam' By Mark Finkelstein | December 19, 2007 - 18:57 ET Mike Huckabee might want to "revise and extend" the remarks of his Iowa campaign manager. Appearing on this evening's Tucker on MSNBC, Bob Vander Plaats stated that "we're fighting a radical religion in Islam" and that "the war on terror is a theological war." View video here.