On the Campaign Trail with Ed Tibbetts

Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley of Chariton is out of the running for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

This is not unexpected, with ex-Gov. Terry Branstad entering the race.

“As I’ve traveled extensively to all corners of this state in the past few months and visited with taxpayers, business owners and community leaders, I am confident that we are witnessing a real political sea change in Iowa. Senate Republicans will continue to play a major role in renewing Iowa and getting our state back on the right track,” McKinley said in a news release.

Des Moines lawyer Roxanne Conlin will file organizational papers with the Federal Election Commission next week, her spokesman said today, meaning she will seek the Democratic Party’s nomination to run against U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley next year.

Conlin already had said she would likely run. But the filing next week will remove any doubt, said Mark Daley. The filing “moves her from more than likely to definitely,” he said.

Conlin will join two other Democrats in the race. Former state Sen. Tom Fiegen and ex-state Rep. Bob Krause of Fairfield already have said they’ll seek the party’s nod.

Conlin also is in the midst of putting together a campaign.

The filing indicates that she has been moving on the financial front. Generally, one is considered a candidate and an organizational filing is required when $5,000 is raised or spent.

“It’s safe to say we’re within this window,” Daley said.

Conlin, who is personally wealthy, has said it will take $5 million to $6 million to run a competitive campaign. Other news reports have said she plans to raise $10 million.

Grassley reported having $4.4 million in the bank at the end of September.

It’s not clear yet when Conlin will hit the campaign trail. Daley said she plans to do so “soon,” but a schedule hasn’t been drafted.

Conlin was the Democratic Party’s candidate for governor in 1982.

Gov. Chet Culver announced a reshuffling of his communications hands today.

Phil Roeder has been sent to the Department of Education, while Erin Seidler has been tapped to be the new communications director in the governor’s office. She had been the top press person at the Department of Economic Development.

Roeder, who was the deputy chief of staff for communications, will now handle a variety of policy and communications duties, the governor’s office said. The moves take effect Nov. 10.

The Iowa Republican web site puts a spotlight on Scott County politics while promoting the local GOP’s fundraising dinner Nov. 10.

The article notes the party’s loss of legislative seats and shift in registrations to the Democrats over the past 10 years, part of a trend in eastern Iowa. But it says ex-congressional candidate and former state party chair, Brian Kennedy, could be planting the seeds to recovery by ramping up fundraising activities.

The article is here.

Republicans do feel enthusiasm here, like across the rest of the country. But lately, the losses have piled up.

The upside of that is there are more targets.

Next year, there will likely be another hard-fought battle for Democratic state Rep. Elesha Gayman’s west Scott County seat. Also, first-term incumbent Phyllis Thede, a Bettendorf Democrat, will likely be targeted. Her seat had been in Republican hands for years, and the GOP would like to take it back.

Republicans are not without their own troubles.

State Sen. David Hartsuch, of Bettendorf, is up for re-election. Democrats would dearly love to knock him off, and this will be the first time he’ll be on a ballot since he upset Maggie Tinsman in a GOP primary but then struggled to win the general election, narrowly pulling out a 400 vote win in a decidedly right-leaning Senate district.

I’m also hearing that Hartsuch is in for a primary challenge.

It’s still early, so there could be other targeted races, too.

UPDATE: (1:50 p.m.) Bleeding Heartland, a liberal blog, has its own take on Scott County’s political drift. You can find the post here.

Its message: The GOP has abandoned moderates, and no amount of focus on the economy (part of the Iowa Republican’s piece) will change that.

“Until the Republican Party makes room in the tent for people who admire Jim Leach, they won’t regain a dominant position in places like Scott County,” Bleeding Heartland says.

Rep. Bruce Braley has picked a new communications director. She’s Caitlin Legacki.

Legacki worked in the press shop in Iowa for John Edwards’ 2008 presidential campaign. Most recently, she worked for U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-North Carolina. And in between, she worked as the press secretary for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s Senate campaign in New Hampshire.

Legacki is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s campaign has signed veteran communications hand Tim Albrecht.

The Branstad committee made the announcement this morning.

“We are excited to have Tim join this campaign,” said Branstad committee leader Jeff Boeyink. “His extraordinary experience in both traditional and new media will be beneficial as we move forward in our efforts. His addition shows growing momentum as Governor Branstad explores a possible gubernatorial bid.”

Albrecht, who ran the Iowa communications shop for 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, also was the top spokesman for Rep. Christopher Rants when he was the speaker of the House.

Lately, Albrecht has run TheBeanWalker.com, a Drudge-like web site devoted to Iowa politics. The release quotes Albrecht saying a new publisher will run the site and will maintain its “integrity and independence.”

The Iowa Family Policy Council issued a news release today saying 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin won’t be coming to the organization’s Nov. 21 banquet.

But, the IFPC says, “she has asked if she could speak at a future mutually agreeable date.”

This all comes on the heels of a flap over whether Palin demanded a speaking fee for the event.

You can see my post on it here. In sum: A Politico article and headline suggested yesterday that she did. A Palin’s spokeswoman said she didn’t.

I won’t go over the whole thing again. See my post.

Lest there be any confusion over Palin’s future appearance, the IFPC closes out its news release today with this: “She will not accept any fees for her appearance.”

Sen. Tom Harkin, never one to mince words, seems to be warning Sen. Joe Lieberman that if he joins a Republican effort to block a vote on a health reform bill his chairmanship of the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee might be at risk.

According to the Iowa Independent, Harkin predicted Lieberman would come around, but also noted what might be the consequences if he doesn’t.

“As I said before, when it comes down to getting the 60 votes necessary to pass this bill, I do not believe that Joe Lieberman would want to be the one person who caucuses with the Democrats … to bring this bill down. I don’t think he wants to go down in history like that,” Harkin said.

“He still wants to be a part of the Democratic Party although he is a registered independent. He wants to caucus with us and, of course, he enjoys his chairmanship of the [Homeland Security] committee because of the indulgence of the Democratic Caucus. So, I’m sure all of those things will cross his mind before the final vote.”

The Iowa Family Policy Center issued a news release earlier this week that raised a few eyebrows. And a piece in the Politico today adds even more intrigue.

The release, issued Tuesday, said the IFPC had invited former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to its Nov. 21 banquet.

Nothing unusual there. She’s in high demand. But the group also added it had begun “soliciting financial support for the event this week in anticipation of the Governor’s potential visit.”

That’s what was unusual. Potential presidential candidates aren’t usually paid to come to the state. Getting in front of Iowa activists is seen as the payoff.

Jonathan Martin’s fascinating story in the Politico today explores the whole business. In it, he quotes some familiar GOP operatives — Steve Scheffler, Ed Failor, Jr., Dave Kochel, Tim Albrecht, etc. — talking about the unusualness of paying a potential presidential a fee to speak in Iowa.

But in the article, IFPC spokesman Bryan English says he is not personally aware of a speaker’s fee.

Yet, the Politico piece says: “At the request of the Iowa Family Policy Center, Team Sarah, a national pro-Palin organization not formally connected to the former governor, has begun raising money among its members in an effort to collect the $100,000.”

As I say, intriguing. Of course, Palin’s visit would be the same night that Vice President Joe Biden is in Des Moines for an Iowa Democratic Party event. An intriguing possibility in itself, as noted earlier this week by Kay Henderson.

The bottom line in this, however, is that it appears unlikely the two 2008 vice presidential candidates will be in the same city, if not the same stage, on Nov. 21. A spokesman for the former governor tells Martin it would be “incredibly difficult” for Palin to attend given her book tour.

Alas. (Maybe)

UPDATE: (2:15 p.m.). The mystery deepens. A Newsweek blog called The Gaggle, reports that a Palin spokesperson, Meg Stapleton, says the former governor isn’t asking for a speaking fee.

Writes Newsweek’s Holly Bailey:: “Meg Stapleton, Palin’s spokeswoman, tells your Gaggler that Palin “has not requested anything” and that she “does not charge people to campaign for them.” According to Stapleton, Palin would instead cover such travel costs through her political-action committee, SarahPAC.

Incidentally, Bailey quotes Stapleton saying it’s unlikely Palin will be in Iowa for the IFPC event.

It looks like video gambling may have new life in the Iowa Legislature. House Speaker Pat Murphy, a Dubuque Democrat, is calling the issue “a live round to be discussed.”

That’s a difference from July, when I started poking around to find out if Iowa would match Illinois’ decision to allow video poker. Recall, Illinois approved video gambling as part of a larger budget package that included a long-awaited capital bill.

Back then, Murphy didn’t shut the door on the possibility, but said “I think it’s a tough uphill fight.”

Apparently, the hill has flattened a bit.

The Des Moines Register reports Murphy said yesterday that legislators who may have turned their nose up at it a year ago may be looking at it differently now.

Certainly, video gambling would bring money into state coffers at a time when there’s a round of budget cuts going on. But it would also inject gambling expansion into an election year, which is likely to ruffle some feathers.