Carroll Republican Rod Roberts had to make a decision. The filing deadline is March 19th. Roberts had to decide whether to file to run again for his statehouse seat or whether to file for governor. He can't do both. He told me today he is running for governor. He will not seek re-election in the house for the seat he has held since 2000.
I reminded him of a prediction he made to me about six months ago. At that time, there were 7 or 8 Republicans seriously looking at running for governor. He told me he expected 3 of them to actually run. I wonder if he would be as good at predicting the Powerball numbers:)
Roberts said campaigning has a way of "winnowing the field". He expects the winnowing to be finished now and he will be running for the next 4 months against Bob Vander Plaats and Terry Branstad. No one else will enter the field for his party, he expects.
Roberts acknowledges the other two men have raised a LOT more money and are better known. After all, Branstad has been governor 4 terms before. Vander Plaats has run for governor 3 times. Roberts plans on not just going after typical Republican primary voters to make up for his lack of recognition (he also added that he will just have to outwork the other 2). He plans on getting Democrats and Independents who are unhappy with the money Governor Chet Culver has spent since he took over and who are also unhappy with the overall direction of the state. Roberts told me this will be the year for the outsider. And he said he will be the outsider. Vander Plaats, by the way, has told me HE would be the outsider.
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June 9th Headline: Roberts and Vander Plaats split conservative vote enabling Branstad to become the GOP nominee for Governor.
November 3rd Headlines: Divided GOP unable to oust Culver – Democrats retain control of the Iowa House by one seat
I have a hard time buying Roberts as an outsider. If Branstad offered him the running mate slot I bet he would accept without hesitation.
I would think all 3 Republicans will have trouble convincing certain people any of them are outsiders. Branstad was governor 4 times. Vander Plaats has run 3 times. And Roberts has been a lawmaker since 2000.
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