Insiders say Blouin source is full of hot air

Gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver dismissed a comment in last week's "Civic Skinny" from a top Mike Blouin supporter that his campaign has "peaked," we were told. "Mike is trying to take a dire situation and create some buzz," a top party official told us. "But it is going to take a miracle for him to make a race of it. Vilsack will need to officially stump for (Blouin) and then a lot of dominos are going to need to fall, too." The Culver campaign is busy planning its TV schedule and message, but with 125 days until the primary, Blouin barely has enough to keep people on the streets looking for more money, this individual told us. "Mike and his people have said from the very beginning that they can buy name recognition (Culver is known by three times as many people as Blouin), but that's not going to end up being the case." Political types figured that with 95 percent of Iowa's Democratic legislators, excellent business contacts in the state's two wealthiest cities, behind-the-scenes nudges from the governor and perceived union support, Blouin would be ready to hit his stride. "But the report - the only one that counts - killed him," our source said. "He probably had momentum, but he's lost it." So how can Blouin (who told the Cedar Rapids Gazette in July that it would take $2 million to run a primary but is only one-fourth of the way there) get back in the game? According to a top legislator, he'll have to hit Culver pretty hard. "And I'm not talking about Chet getting his money from Washington. While that might be interesting to people who read your column, voters don't give a shit," our source said. Whether Vilsack will sit idly by and let Blouin hurt the party's chances of winning in November by trashing the likely nominee is up for debate, though. "This campaign is getting to the point where the smart money is going to start building up behind the guy who will win the primary with the hope that an investment will be realized in November. Nussle's money and name will be tough enough to overcome as it is. The losers hate to hear it, but eventually you have to unite the party for the common good."
To that end, speculation has heated up regarding the future of Patty Judge's campaign - and the future looks to be short-lived. Register political columnist Dave Yepsen first reported the grumblings of Judge dropping out after financial reports were released, but we've heard that some actual "reaching out" to Judge supporters and perhaps the secretary of agriculture herself has begun by a handful of Culver backers (But no organized or directed effort by Culver's staff). Judge, you'll recall, told union heavyweights late last fall that Blouin is a "Partnership Democrat who betrayed local workers when he pushed for no PLA for the Iowa Events Center." And Judge has also posed herself as the ideological opposite of Blouin, who is pro-life. "What she'll do, I don't know," said a big-business type. "But she's reasonable. And while she doesn't have much more than big-ag support and maybe some recognizable women behind her, it could be the final nail in Blouin's coffin."

On the other side of the race, nearly 80 percent of Bob Vander Plaats' campaign contributions (some $600,000, although Vander Plaats announced on his Web site in December he'd raised more than $1 million) came from 10 Northwest Iowa families, with the candidate ponying up a $200,000 loan and the Wells and Van Wyk families writing checks totaling close to $300,000. "Clearly Bob's strings are being pulled by two elite families, and he really has no business being in this game," a top Republican said. Still, we've heard Vander Plaats will not buckle under party pressure and run against Michael Mauro for secretary of state.

As we first reported in this column a few weeks back, the battle between the Iowa Lottery's TouchPlay program and gambling interests has come down to a "pissing match" between business moguls Gary Kirke (Wild Rose Casino) and Bill Krause (Kum & Go) "pulling out all the stops to go after each other." A Democrat, as well as a Republican official in the House, told us that it looks as if the machines - all of them, even the ones in the pipeline - are here to stay, and that Congressional candidate Jeff Lamberti's family (Casey's General Stores) will be the next group at the trough with 1,000 machines on the way (Casey's would not return our calls). The strict standards we said leaders were leaning toward two weeks ago - more security, less visibility - seem to be sticking, but we're also told that it is feasible, "the machines will be muted." Kum & Go's machines alone are seeing some $640,000 a week in action, we were told.

A top Republican told us that a number of House Republicans are signing a "Dear Colleague" letter to Speaker Chris Rants regarding his stance against raising the state's tobacco tax. These individuals want Rants to reconsider and join Gov. Vilsack and the Senate in increasing the tax per pack to aid with healthcare concerns. Rants, however, has caught wind of the proposed correspondence, and has, according to our source, "threatened to kill any legislation that anyone who signs the letter is pushing."

And lastly, during a legislative committee meeting where the Iowa Department of Elder Affairs was pushing for $9 million in state funds for a new program, DEA Director Mark Haverland was noticed to be "sleeping" in the back of the room. "I know 3 in the afternoon is kind of late in the day," a state legislator said. "But for nine million, I'd switch from decaf." CV

Comment on this story | Return to top