Why Christopher Rants will get the GOP nomination

Often wrong but never in doubt, Skinny now believes that Christopher Rants will get the Republican nomination to run against Chet Culver in 2010. Further, Skinny now believes Rants has a reasonable chance of winning, though it will take some deft footwork to go from an ideologue who wins the nomination to a moderate who wins the election.

Rants has several things going for him:

First, to Republican moderates, he is the least offensive of the GOP right-wingers. (“I think Christopher would be a fine candidate,” a well-known and well-connected liberal Republican — if there is such a thing these days — said at a small dinner party the other evening as Democratic jaws dropped.) If pushed, he passes the right’s litmus tests — though no one on “Iowa Press” asked him about any social issues on his somewhat bland but somewhat impressive appearance on the TV show over the weekend.

Second, he knows the issues better than any fellow Republican — and certainly better than Culver. He has been a student of policy as well as of politics in his 17 years in the Iowa house, including three years as Majority Leader and four years as Speaker. He can sound authoritative — whether he’s right or wrong — when he talks about the state’s budget, and in debate he can get into detail that can befuddle opponents and bedazzle audiences.

Third, he can raise money. He said over the weekend when he announced his “exploratory committee” that it will cost $2 million to run in the primary, and while he wouldn’t say how much he has raised he said he was “on target.” Conservatives and bet-hedgers will fund his primary; if he wins, the big-money people then will kick in — with reluctance, but with checks for the $7 million or so he’ll need to take on Culver.

Fourth, he has no viable opposition. On the right, Bob VanderPlaats is a proven loser. No one has heard of Jerry Behn. Rod Roberts can’t get traction. Yes, there’s Congressman Steve King — a darling of the right but a guy who seems to be too coy by half as he drops hints about whether he’ll run. And Rants is more knowledgeable on Iowa issues. The efforts of Doug Gross and his band of check-writers to find a moderate candidate aren’t getting anywhere. The group has met at least four times to go over a list of a score or so of possible candidates, but no consensus has emerged. The top names have said “no.” As of last week, those folks were talking about Farm Bureau president Craig Lang (“he’s rounded second and heading toward third” in his decision to run, says one moderate), Barnstormers owner and former legislator Jeff Lamberti, longtime party operative and small-town lawyer Mike Mahaffey, and name-from-the-past Rand Fisher. But Lang has to run again for his Farm Bureau job and would have to give up a nice salary to go into politics. Lamberti, who lost to Congressman Leonard Boswell in 2006, has flatly said no. Mahaffey has indicated he’s rather take on Boswell — who barely beat him in 1996 — than Culver. And Fisher, who now is president of a trade association of electric cooperatives and municipal utilities, is unknown to most Iowans under 50.

Fifth, he has negatives — but many are the same as Culver’s, so they’ll cancel each other out if Rants survives the primary. Each can be a hothead and a bully. Each is a poor listener. Neither has the appearance of a believable politician. Rants looks like the feisty little cartoon dog that is always saying to the big dog, “Let’s go chase cats.” Culver looks like the snoozing overfed big dog that lets the burglars clump away with the jewelry he was supposed to be guarding.

Sixth, he could pick a moderate to balance his ticket, while Culver surely will stick with Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, who shares most of his views. If Rants picked a moderate woman — former legislator Libby Jacobs, who worked with him in the legislature and who recently was laid off by Principal, would be a good choice — he could pick up some independents who are losing faith in Culver.

Seventh, the general election will be about the economy and nothing else. And Culver will be vulnerable. The state’s economy still will be in the tank, and Culver will have shot his wad — the stimulus money — in fiscal 2009 with nothing left over in 2010 to help bail out K-12 and the other needy parts of society. Rants can argue that it’s all the Democrats’ fault — that they have been in charge in the White House, the Congress, both sides of the Iowa legislature and Terrace Hill itself. He can paint himself as just a helpless bystander or a lone voice of reason in the wilderness. There’s nothing on the horizon that is likely to help Culver in the polls, where his negatives currently exceed his positives.

All that being said, remember: You get what you pay for. And Cityview is free.

Now, some other stuff.

Question: Who’s running the Department of Management now that the peripatetic Charlie Krogmeier has moved over to the Department of Human Services? Answer: No one seems to know. There is no director. There is no interim director. There is no de facto director. It’s a mess, an insider tells Skinny.

Question: Will the Principal Golf Classic go the way of the Iowa Chops? Answer: Probably. The contract has one more year to run, but don’t bet on it being renewed. A couple of reasons: The economy has hit Principal hard, and it’s kind of difficult to spend $2 million or so each year on a golf tournament when you are laying off people. And the tournament was the favored child of Barry Griswell, who has retired from Principal; his successor, Larry Zimpleman, isn’t a golf nut. And the second-biggest sponsor, Wells Fargo, isn’t likely to take it over. For one thing, the bank just bought Wachovia, which already has a bigger golf tournament. For another, it has taken government Tarp money and is under the spotlight. No one else around town is likely to step up — unless the super-rich Griswell himself does it. And that’s not likely to happen.

Question: Is Max Holmes’ Chevy dealership in Norwalk going to be axed by General Motors? Answer: Apparently. The dealership, which just moved from Indianola to shiny new quarters in Norwalk when Holmes took it over after losing his Oldsmobile dealership, is said to be one of the many Des Moines franchises that are on the chopping block. Add in this rumor: Holmes is selling his Honda dealership. Another venerable Des Moines dealer, Ramsey’s, might lose one or more of its GM deals, too, say folks who keep track of such things. And some other old names are pretty worried about their dealerships.

Question: How much did Tom and Christie Vilsack get for their house on 51st Street? Answer: The same thing they paid for it, $410,000. They sold it June 6 to Bob Berntsen, the newly appointed head of the Iowa Utilities Board. Berntsen, who had worked for Chet Culver in the Secretary of State’s office, most recently had been the lawyer for an energy-holding company in Indiana. Vilsack bought the house a year or so ago but took a rental place in Des Moines and bought a place in Washington when he was named Secretary of Agriculture. Realtors say the sale to Berntsen was handled without an agent — saving the former governor $25,000 or so in commission.

Question, from a reader who should have better things to do: Now that car-dealer Mark Vukovich has been named head of the Blank Park Zoo, will the place specialize in cougars and pintos?

Again, you get what you pay for. And Cityview is free. CV

Comment on this story | Return to top