Branstad's Debut

The reviews haven't been exactly stellar for former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad's appearance at the "Leadership for Iowa" event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Saturday night.

Radio Iowa's Kay Henderson calls it a "rocky performance" in her story this weekend.

The Des Moines Register's Kathie Obradovich said he "needs more practice".

I talked with probably about a dozen people at the event, maybe a few more...none seemed blown away by Branstad's speech. For the record, Branstad was the only candidate to stay within his allotted ten minutes.

Sunday, all six candidates for governor received the invite to attend the Hamilton County GOP's 3rd Annual Chili Supper and Fundraiser Auction. Candidate Chris Rants points out which four candidates showed up (you can figure for yourself with process of elimination Branstad and State Senator Jerry Behn were the no-shows). Here's Rants' tweet tonight:

Just left Hamilton Co GOP chili feed - me, Rod, Bob & Christian making our pitch for Gov nomination..

No mention of how the chili was...