Unfortunately, I can't see a black woman winning in this race in Iowa:
Todd Dorman
Mar. 11, 2022 6:00 am
Twenty-five years ago this month, politics watchers in Iowa were mesmerized by a speculation-fest.
It was a chapter of political history I had forgotten about until I was digging through the archives for another recent column.
Gov. Terry Branstad had announced that he would not seek re-election in 1998. It was the end of the Branstad era, or so we thought. (The ‘stache made a comeback in 2010.)
Advertisment
His announcement set off lots of conjecture over who would be running for governor. On March 11, 1997, The Gazette ran an Associated Press story, “Grassley suspense builds.”
Yep, Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley considered running for governor. His spokesperson at the time, Jill Kozney said, “He’s putting a lot of careful thought into it.”
Newsletter Signup
Delivered to your inbox daily
The AP story continues, “The pressure has increased because Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin has indicated he might run for governor next year.”
So the tea leaves were serving up a potential clash of the titans. Grassley vs. Harkin. Ali vs. Frazier. Sweet corn vs. tenderloins.
For other candidates considering a run, the political landscape was frozen solid as we awaited the definitive word from the two Iowa icons. Republican Iowa House Speaker Ron Corbett was mulling a run. Republicans David Oman, a Des Moines businessman, and Secretary of State Paul Pate were making plans to run. Branstad’s lieutenant governor, Joy Corning, was considering a run.
Democratic state Sen. Tom Vilsack was seen as a possible contender, along with former Iowa Supreme Court Justice Mark McCormick, also a Democrat.
Imagine how a Grassley-Harkin gubernatorial race would have altered the state’s political trajectory. In that election cycle, Harkin could run without giving up his Senate seat, but a Grassley run for governor would have left his seat wide-open. Whoever won could have served as governor for a long time, potentially a very long time. No Branstad comeback needed. Gov. Kim Reynolds might have stayed in the state Senate.
But it wasn’t to be. On April 27, 1997, The Gazette’s front page carried a story by former chief political reporter Ken Sullivan. “Grassley to focus on Capitol Hill, not Terrace Hill.”
“Confirming what party activists had suspected, Grassley announced his plans Saturday at his New Hartford home with his wife, Barbara, at his side and their children and grandchildren, two sisters and a handful of neighbors and friends looking on.
“Joking that ‘I have several more campaigns in me,’ he said he could campaign and win five more times ‘and still be younger than Strom Thurmond.’”
No joke. Grassley is running for his eighth Senate term this year. If completed, he will be 94, the same age Thurmond was in 1997.
Harkin also bowed out of the governor’s race and stayed in the Senate until his retirement in 2015. So no clash of the titans.
The parties responded in different ways. Republicans persuaded former Congressman Jim Ross Lightfoot to run, big-footing Oman, Pate and Corning. Corning dropped out of the race due to a lack of fundraising. Branstad, who the late great columnist Donald Kaul once dubbed the “Audie Murphy of weather vane politics,” gave his former running mate no help and backed Lightfoot.
To Democrats disappointed Harkin didn’t run, Vilsack had this to say in Ken Sullivan’s column in July 1997: “I think the deeper problem we have to address in the Democratic Party is one of confidence. We want somebody to ride in on a white horse and save us. The reality is, this election is a lot of people — ordinary folks — are going to decide this election. We’ve got to stop emphasizing our stars and start focusing our attention on the real stars, the ordinary people.”
Democrats stuck with their non-iconic candidates, and Vilsack narrowly defeated McCormick in the primary.
Republicans figured Lightfoot was a shoo-in. He had just lost a tight race to Harkin in 1996, so he had high name recognition. A Des Moines Register Iowa Poll showed Lightfoot leading Vilsack 53 to 32 percent. A later Mason-Dixon poll still showed Lightfoot with a 53 to 35 percent lead.
But Vilsack outworked Lightfoot, and forcefully delivered a compelling argument for change. The Lightfoot campaign believed a TV ad it launched accusing Vilsack of supporting “totally nude dancing” was a masterstroke. It backfired, badly. The Vilsack campaign claimed Lightfoot had already moved furniture into storage in Des Moines in anticipation of his win.
So the race tightened dramatically as the election neared, with polls showing Lightfoot’s lead had evaporated. Vilsack won on election night, by a margin so clear the race was called just a few minutes after the polls closed.
Maybe there’s a lesson in this for Democrats in 2022, especially those lamenting they don’t have a bigger-name gubernatorial candidate. What they do have in the party’s leading contender, Deidre DeJear, is a candidate crisscrossing the state forcefully making a compelling argument for change. She’ll never have the millions of dollars Reynolds has amassed for re-election. Money matters, of course, but hard work and hustle can matter more.
A recent Iowa Poll showed Reynolds leading DeJear 51 to 43 percent. Eight points is a solid lead, but DeJear is already ahead of where Vilsack was in 1998. And yes, the state has turned red, but giving up a governor’s race isn’t an option. Democrats with checkbooks should take note.
Imagine how this race could change the state’s political trajectory.
www.thegazette.com
Todd Dorman
Mar. 11, 2022 6:00 am
Twenty-five years ago this month, politics watchers in Iowa were mesmerized by a speculation-fest.
It was a chapter of political history I had forgotten about until I was digging through the archives for another recent column.
Gov. Terry Branstad had announced that he would not seek re-election in 1998. It was the end of the Branstad era, or so we thought. (The ‘stache made a comeback in 2010.)
Advertisment
His announcement set off lots of conjecture over who would be running for governor. On March 11, 1997, The Gazette ran an Associated Press story, “Grassley suspense builds.”
Yep, Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley considered running for governor. His spokesperson at the time, Jill Kozney said, “He’s putting a lot of careful thought into it.”
Opinion Newsletter Signup
Newsletter Signup
The AP story continues, “The pressure has increased because Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin has indicated he might run for governor next year.”
So the tea leaves were serving up a potential clash of the titans. Grassley vs. Harkin. Ali vs. Frazier. Sweet corn vs. tenderloins.
For other candidates considering a run, the political landscape was frozen solid as we awaited the definitive word from the two Iowa icons. Republican Iowa House Speaker Ron Corbett was mulling a run. Republicans David Oman, a Des Moines businessman, and Secretary of State Paul Pate were making plans to run. Branstad’s lieutenant governor, Joy Corning, was considering a run.
Democratic state Sen. Tom Vilsack was seen as a possible contender, along with former Iowa Supreme Court Justice Mark McCormick, also a Democrat.
Imagine how a Grassley-Harkin gubernatorial race would have altered the state’s political trajectory. In that election cycle, Harkin could run without giving up his Senate seat, but a Grassley run for governor would have left his seat wide-open. Whoever won could have served as governor for a long time, potentially a very long time. No Branstad comeback needed. Gov. Kim Reynolds might have stayed in the state Senate.
But it wasn’t to be. On April 27, 1997, The Gazette’s front page carried a story by former chief political reporter Ken Sullivan. “Grassley to focus on Capitol Hill, not Terrace Hill.”
“Confirming what party activists had suspected, Grassley announced his plans Saturday at his New Hartford home with his wife, Barbara, at his side and their children and grandchildren, two sisters and a handful of neighbors and friends looking on.
“Joking that ‘I have several more campaigns in me,’ he said he could campaign and win five more times ‘and still be younger than Strom Thurmond.’”
No joke. Grassley is running for his eighth Senate term this year. If completed, he will be 94, the same age Thurmond was in 1997.
Harkin also bowed out of the governor’s race and stayed in the Senate until his retirement in 2015. So no clash of the titans.
The parties responded in different ways. Republicans persuaded former Congressman Jim Ross Lightfoot to run, big-footing Oman, Pate and Corning. Corning dropped out of the race due to a lack of fundraising. Branstad, who the late great columnist Donald Kaul once dubbed the “Audie Murphy of weather vane politics,” gave his former running mate no help and backed Lightfoot.
To Democrats disappointed Harkin didn’t run, Vilsack had this to say in Ken Sullivan’s column in July 1997: “I think the deeper problem we have to address in the Democratic Party is one of confidence. We want somebody to ride in on a white horse and save us. The reality is, this election is a lot of people — ordinary folks — are going to decide this election. We’ve got to stop emphasizing our stars and start focusing our attention on the real stars, the ordinary people.”
Democrats stuck with their non-iconic candidates, and Vilsack narrowly defeated McCormick in the primary.
Republicans figured Lightfoot was a shoo-in. He had just lost a tight race to Harkin in 1996, so he had high name recognition. A Des Moines Register Iowa Poll showed Lightfoot leading Vilsack 53 to 32 percent. A later Mason-Dixon poll still showed Lightfoot with a 53 to 35 percent lead.
But Vilsack outworked Lightfoot, and forcefully delivered a compelling argument for change. The Lightfoot campaign believed a TV ad it launched accusing Vilsack of supporting “totally nude dancing” was a masterstroke. It backfired, badly. The Vilsack campaign claimed Lightfoot had already moved furniture into storage in Des Moines in anticipation of his win.
So the race tightened dramatically as the election neared, with polls showing Lightfoot’s lead had evaporated. Vilsack won on election night, by a margin so clear the race was called just a few minutes after the polls closed.
Maybe there’s a lesson in this for Democrats in 2022, especially those lamenting they don’t have a bigger-name gubernatorial candidate. What they do have in the party’s leading contender, Deidre DeJear, is a candidate crisscrossing the state forcefully making a compelling argument for change. She’ll never have the millions of dollars Reynolds has amassed for re-election. Money matters, of course, but hard work and hustle can matter more.
A recent Iowa Poll showed Reynolds leading DeJear 51 to 43 percent. Eight points is a solid lead, but DeJear is already ahead of where Vilsack was in 1998. And yes, the state has turned red, but giving up a governor’s race isn’t an option. Democrats with checkbooks should take note.
Imagine how this race could change the state’s political trajectory.
Opinion: Political suspense was building in Iowa 25 years ago
Gov. Terry Branstad had announced that he would not seek re-election in 1998. It was the end of the Branstad era, or so we thought. (The ‘stache made a comeback in 2010.) His announcement set off lots of conjecture over who would be running for governor.
www.thegazette.com
