Last week's primary may have been as much of a litmus test of Tom Vilsack's political brawn as it was of Mike Blouin and Dusky Terry's voter appeal. There are those who think Vilsack's support may have done those two more harm than good - despite any claims that Vilsack was "neutral" in the primaries.

Blouin lost the gubernatorial primary, and Terry lost the primary race for Secretary of Agriculture. What are the odds of both Vilsack pals tanking in their respective races?

"I think that's a real sense of people looking for change in Iowa," says one political insider. "They're looking for a changing of the guard." And she's not just saying that because she's watching from the Republican side of the fence. There are too many questions in people's minds about CIETC, Vision Iowa and the Values Fund under Vilsack's reign, she says. Blouin in particular seems to have suffered politically from the questions surrounding management of the Values Fund and how many jobs the Department of Economic Development really created with it. There's just too much distrust of state government right now, she says. "It's not really Vilsack's party anymore."

It doesn't help, she says, when Iowans see their governor globe-trotting in his quest to become President rather than tending the home fires. He began last week in Pittsburgh at a wind energy conference, and he ended the week in Las Vegas at a bloggers' convention. "I think people are kind of seeing that there's nobody in charge at the Capitol," she says. "While our legislators are doing what they can, it's hard when they don't have a chief executive officer."

But all this jet-setting may be for naught, because a Democrat with her ear to the ground tells us that Vilsack won't be seriously considered as a presidential contender if he can't even get his favorites into statewide office. "He's got to have the coattails to pull the next governor in," she says.

The big wake-up call for Democratic Party strategists was Ed Fallon's strong primary showing in the governor's race - particularly the fact that he carried Polk County, where voters know him best. "He did surprisingly well," says a woman active in the Iowa Democratic Party. "I think it shows that people are ready for someone different, someone who sticks to the values of our party."

The most hardcore Democratic loyalists felt conflicted about Fallon, she says, primarily because of his idealistic refusal to court PACs and lobbyists for campaign contributions. "You need money to win," she says. Fallon tends to be the favorite among key Democratic Party players, she says, but those same people see him as ultimately impractical, given current political realities. "Mainstream Democrats see him as too liberal," she says. It's that whole "throw-away vote" quandary. "We might like Ed, we might like his policies, but we don't think he can win."

However, she says, "Fallon created a lot of buzz in the party," and Democratic leaders are counting on Fallon to help Chet Culver make it to the top with his campaign-finance reform message, especially since Jim Nussle's wife is a former lobbyist for Big Tobacco and pharmaceutical companies.

Part of the reason Fallon did better than expected is that free-spirited Republicans were crossing over to vote in the Democratic primary to beef up his showing. "If you asked Ed, he would say he has a lot of Republicans," says one Republican For Fallon. "I don't know if he counted me more than once."

In one of the state's weirder local primary contests, Marty Ramsey managed to nab 629 Democratic votes for House District 73, despite the fact that he was unable to campaign because of his brain tumor. Ramsey had been Madison County Attorney until he was removed from office for missing too many court dates, and he attracted notice by showing up for a jury pool wearing a Hawaiian shirt and lei. Regardless, Ramsey lost out to Maxine Bussanmas of Bevington in the primary.

Meanwhile, word is that certain West Des Moines residents are gearing up for a potential legal battle with the city over a proposal to extend 35th Street southward with a bridge spanning the Raccoon River at Walnut Woods sometime in the future. One of the people who's feeling particularly primed for battle is resident Margo Blumenthal, who felt like she got fleeced in the city's past development dealings and doesn't want it to happen again. "The way I heard it," our source says, "she spent so much on lawyers, she could have done a lot better with bribes."

Finally, the Polk County Supervisors last week amended the county's management plan, cutting $3.2 million for mental health, mental retardation and developmental disability services to help maintain a balanced budget. The cuts come as Central Iowa prepares to host the Special Olympics USA National Games in July. CV

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