Culver: Re-election chances, Money, I-JOBS

Culver Cam: It feels like so many things have happened in the news, I just don't know how to address them all! I'll start with what Governor Chet Culver had to say this morning.



He seemed to make news with almost every sentence. So here we go...The governor defended the head of the Department of Natural Resources, despite a state audit that found the DNR broke 16 laws. He said coverage was "overstated and overblown".

The Iowa Workforce Development released unemployment numbers that showed the rate stayed steady from May to June, although fewer Iowans were looking for work. However, the state had 2,700 fewer construction jobs than June, 2009. Culver blamed the weather (that's about 2 minutes into the interview about with the gov).

Culver defended I-JOBS and said the $875million program has brought thousands of jobs to the state. Our interview with him took place about 12:30pm. He said I-JOBS created between 5 and 10,000 jobs and that he would have a better idea "as early as next week". Four hours later, his office released a statement that projected estimates at between 7-9,000.

Republican challenger Terry Branstad has out raised Culver the past two financial reporting periods, but Culver said, "I’m better positioned than any incumbent governor has ever been going into the final 100 days here. That’s the story.”

Whew, that's a lot of news in about ten minutes of talking. Your turn. What do you think? The governor tells us what he thinks the story is. What do you?