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Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 04:47PM
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 04:47PM
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 02:56PM Vander Plaats Prepares to Tackle Budget in Quest for Governor's OfficePosted: Feb 8, 2010 10:04 PM
Local News more>> With every passing month, mid-term elections creep closer and candidates aren't backing down. Republican Bob Vander Plaats pitched his platform to become Iowa's next governor to the Sioux City Rotary Club Monday.
Vander Plaats has run for governor and lieutenant governor in the past. He told the rotary crowd that he thinks the budget is the biggest issue. Vander Plaats says the way to cut back on spending is to streamline government.
"We need a governor that says, 'I'll deliver limited government, but with results, and then I'll give you a competitive tax structure and regulatory structure, so you can do business in the state of Iowa,'" said Vander Plaats.
Vander Plaats also told Rotarians, he feels Iowans have embraced his campaign and he looks forward to the primaries four months from now on June 8th.
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 06:30PM
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 10:49AM The Tea Party movement in Iowa has grown from a political curiosity to a full-fledged phenomenon and potentially powerful force in this year’s state and national elections.
Democrats around the country have disparaged the Tea Party demonstrations, generally dismissing its supporters as wing nuts. The Iowa Poll results in Sunday’s Register might change that, at least in Iowa. It shows one-third of Iowans consider themselves supporters of the Tea Party movement, regardless of party affiliation. Only about a third of these are Republicans. And they seem very inclined to vote.
Republicans so far have given far more attention than Democrats to this rather amorphous collection of Iowans who seem to distrust the party establishment and seek to counter powerful interests that influence both sides of the aisle.
I went out to campaign stops last week for Republicans Bob Vander Plaats and Terry Branstad, in part to see whether these two candidates for governor are appealing directly to Tea Party voters.
Vander Plaats, speaking to about 25 people at the Pizza Ranch in Waukee, played up his outsider status.
“I’m a candidate, quite frankly, that doesn’t owe anyone anything,” Vander Plaats said.
One self-described Tea Party voter, an independent, urged Vander Plaats to show the GOP is for “the little guy” and not just the rich.
Vander Plaats answered, “How we do that is, No. 1 is, we should show them we’re not about establishment-like politics.” Later, he added that he was the only candidate for governor to have never held elected office. “I happen to believe that’s a positive in today’s environment,” he said.
He’s run for the office three times and can’t dodge the label “politician.” But Vander Plaats is making it easy to imagine he would go further than others to bulldoze establishment walls. In the past, such an approach would be tarred as “too risky.” This year, risky might be in vogue.