Iowa Poll

Pondering Polls: The Des Moines Register released its newest Iowa Poll on the race for governor. I can't think anyone in Governor Chet Culver's office was smiling. Culver's Republican challenger, Terry Branstad, is up 19%. That means Culver made up just 1% since the last Iowa Poll in February. Culver for the past year has told reporters there is a lot of time left in this race. He is quickly running out of time.

Despite these developments, the numbers barely budged:

He has officially launched his re-election
taken part in the first debate (where most insiders I've talked to think he either tied or slightly beat Branstad)
admitted mistakes (although not specifically pointing to any decision he has made, other than to blame communications' problems. Speaking of, he has made yet another communications' change in his campaign office. Ali Glisson is out. I don't know how many people this now makes who have worked and left Culver's campaign in the past year.)
repeatedly attacked Branstad and even started to say he "lies"
and he pulled out his cute kids to try to sell their dad's image in new ads.

What else can he do? I did find a few numbers interesting in the poll. As the Register's Tom Beaumont points out, Culver is losing Independents, communities of all sizes, all congressional districts, all age groups and all income levels. But here's what piqued my curiosity.

63% back Culver's commitment to improving education.
73% believe the state investing in infrastructure improvements (roads, bridges, etc.) will attract business (I-JOBS anyone?)
58% support keeping the state's commitment to stem-cell research
56% go for free pre-school for all Iowans, which will lead to a better work force
33% said they could be persuaded to change their pick for governor

Those would all seem to offer some hope for Culver, right? So what isn't working? And is it possible for him to turn these numbers around in such a short time? His campaign sent this out within minutes of the Register's poll going on-line.

"We believe that this poll serves as wake up call to Iowa voters," said Governor Culver's campaign manager, Donn Stanley. "When all is said and done, we believe that Iowans will ultimately choose Chet Culver, a leader who stands for Iowa values.

"The fact is," Stanley continued, "all one has to do is look back as recently as Tom Vilsack's race against Jim Ross Lightfoot in 1998 to see that this poll is not a harbinger of things to come. At this point in the race, Tom Vilsack was down a full 20 points in the Iowa Poll. I'm sure Governor Lightfoot would be happy to tell you the degree to which the Iowa Poll predicts the outcome of the race."

Is this really a fair comparison? Back then, Tom Vilsack was a relatively little-known candidate running in his first statewide race against Republican Congressman Jim Ross Lightfoot. Vilsack was down big with just 3 or 4 weeks to go. But there was no incumbent governor in this race.. The Culver-Vilsack comparison would seem to be far more appropriate had Vilsack been running for a second term as governor (as Culver is now) and not running for his first term.

Iowa Poll

The political types are anxiously awaiting their morning paper in Iowa. The Des Moines Register puts out its new Iowa Poll. I'm told no sneak peaks on-line tonight. We will have to wait for the hard copy in the paper. What will the numbers show for Governor Chet Culver's popularity? He's already run political ads, he starting meeting more with the media and he's stepped up his public appearances lately. Will that help him in the polls. I know Democrats who are very nervous right now. Republican candidate Terry Branstad even mentioned the poll to me when I interviewed him in Osceola Wednesday night.

Thanks to those of you who have emailed about this week's Purple Matters internet show. Usually I can post the archive of the show right away. But they are putting in new software, which is greatly delaying the process. So I'm still waiting on the archive before I can post it. In the meantime, I hope you will vote in our weekly Purple Poll. Our question this week is whether lawmakers should ban texting and driving. What do you think? You can leave your comments below and cast your vote on your cell phone by dialing 72466 and texting the word, matters.

Canada didn't exactly have a good opening night Friday for the Winter Olympics. Obviously, it would seem to be premature and possibly wrong to blame Canada for that horrible luger death. But the ceremonies themselves don't seem to match what I remember from Beijing. Blame Canada.

Culver Drops in Polls

Iowa Governor Chet Culver has been falling and he can't get up. At least not yet. Culver's popularity, according to the Des Moines Register Iowa Poll ,has dropped 20 points during the year and 10 points just since September. It's doubtful the budget mess or filmgate has helped his popularity efforts.

Two Republican candidates beat Culver head-to-head, one by quite a bit. Bob Vander Plaats topped Culver by 8 points. But Terry Branstad tripled that margin...24 points. Branstad is the only candidate in the poll who tops 50% popularity. TB hit 57%.

ETC...

Speaking of popularity...My wife and I hung out with about three dozen University of Missouri-Columbia journalism students this weekend. They checked out her station and then checked out mine. I'm sure they like mine better:) They were really sharp, inquisitive and bright and made me proud.

One student said something to me like, "Wait...I just figured this out. YOU'RE Dave Price." I replied, "yep". She continued, "Dave Price is the name of the best camera we have at KOMU (the NBC station in Columbia where many of the student work part-time)." Apparently, the news director named each camera after certain employees who used to work at the station over the years. Quite an honor, I thought. I was feeling pretty good about myself...well, that is, until a friend sent me this...

It's the preview on DirectTV about what airs on WHO-TV 13 on Saturday at 10pm. Apparently, some guy named "Dave Bryce" is on. Maybe I will have to tune in. (By the way, our meteorologist also has two t's in Brett.)