Des Moines Register
06-04-06
Gubernatorial candidates make last pleas
Few remain from what was once a crowded Democratic field
THOMAS BEAUMONT
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
At times nasty, at others tedious, the Democratic campaign for Iowa governor
has quietly progressed for a year with a changing lineup and no clear favorite
heading into Tuesday's voting.
The three surviving main candidates, in a field that once numbered eight, argued
in stops around Iowa that their profiles are the best match against Republican
Jim Nussle.
Quickly sketched, they are: the architect of Gov. Tom Vilsack's signature jobs
program, the state's top election official and heir to a Democratic Party icon, and
a self-styled maverick and frequent thorn in his party's side.
With history working against them, former state economic development director
Mike Blouin, Secretary of State Chet Culver and state Rep. Ed Fallon charged
into the primary campaign's final weekend hoping to convince holdouts they can
keep the executive branch in Democratic hands.
Culver, whom polls show with a single-digit lead over Blouin, began the final
sprint Saturday in Waterloo and then Newton, where Maytag Corp.'s closure
announcement last month has jolted the state's United Auto Workers, a group
backing Culver.
"I have great confidence that we will prevail in this fight with the big businesses
and the corporations," Culver told about 20 supporters who attended the
midmorning event at a downtown union hall.
Blouin and Culver have tangled over their opposing positions on abortion and the
death penalty, as well as their indirect affiliations with the politically sensitive
meatpacking industry. With Fallon advising against negative campaigning, Blouin
and Culver traded attack ads, which were replaced by more positive spots for the
campaign's final run.
Culver, however, launched an ad Friday containing an indirect dig at Blouin, the
author of Vilsack's Grow Iowa Values Fund, a jobs-incentive program launched in
2003.
"I don't want Iowa to be played for a sucker," Culver said in the 30-second spot.
Fallon and Culver have said there is little proof to claims by state officials who
have said the $500 million program has created or retained 25,000 jobs. Culver
has consistently said he would strengthen penalties against companies who don't
fulfill their promises, despite Blouin's claim that each contract contains such
language.
Culver's new ad is hardly a sharp-edged attack on Blouin, though, and it marks a
departure from their on-air back-and-forth in May, Iowa State University
political science professor Dianne Bystrom said.
"The ads have focused on issues, even though at times they've gotten a little
testy," said Bystrom. "But now they are generally going positive, trying to
energize and enthuse their supporters."
Of the state's 587,000 registered Democrats, an estimated 120,000 or so are
expected to vote Tuesday. Their challenge is to pick a standard-bearer to
succeed Vilsack, who is not seeking a third term and is the only Democrat
elected governor in 30 years.
Higher turnout is expected in Iowa's 1st U.S. House District in northeast Iowa,
where a crowded primary for Nussle's congressional seat is expected to draw
higher participation than is expected statewide.
Blouin, who represented Dubuque in Congress in the 1970s, was in the district
Saturday, meeting with supporters in Waterloo at the outset of an eastern Iowa
swing.
"We need to make the quality of life in a way that Iowa is a fun and exciting place
to live," he told about 20 supporters at a breakfast event.
Fallon, meanwhile, mixed politics and music while stumping in northern Iowa,
where he played guitar and accordion for a crowd of about 50 at a festival
marking the centennial of Charles City's landmark suspension bridge.
"People really loved it," Fallon's campaign spokeswoman, Lynn Heuss, said.
"They really appreciate what a genuine guy he is."
Fallon, who also had events scheduled in Mason City and Iowa Falls on
Saturday, was the first to enter the race, announcing his plans to run three years
ago. Since then, Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge, state Senate Democratic
Leader Mike Gronstal, and a number of lesser-known candidates took steps
toward running.
Gronstal decided against running last summer and endorsed Blouin, while Judge
exited the race in February to be Culver's running mate. Shenandoah Mayor
Gregg Connell, who explored running last fall, gave up his long-shot bid in
November after he was involved in a car accident in which he failed to stop at a
rural intersection in southwest Iowa, killing a farmer from Atlantic.
Sal Mohamed is the only other Democrat on the ballot. Although an enthusiastic
campaigner, the Sioux City engineer registers negligible support in opinion polls
and has run his campaign on his own money and little organization.
Register Staff Writers Jared Strong and Meghan Malloy contributed to this article.