I was pretty critical of former Governor Terry Branstad’s campaign this morning, and I learned from a friend that my criticism was rather unfair… in particular this comment was disputed:
So the final lesson is that if you are a Republican legislative candidate who would like Governor Branstad’s help you should make sure that you are “targeted” first. If you are a local candidate – forget about it.
My friend, Art Smith who is a co-contributor with me at From The Right at The Des Moines Register, writes at The Conservative Reader, and is the communication chair (on a voluntary basis) of the Polk County Republicans called me to gently take me behind the woodshed. Later at my request he followed-up with the email below:
We have had very strong support from the governor’s campaign at the county level, including:
- the fact that Kim Reynolds spoke at the press conference announcing the three candidates for County Supervisor
- both Branstad and Reynolds participated at the Polk County GOP summer picnic (which was an opportunity to highlight all of our candidates from Polk County at every level)
- Kim’s presence at the Steve Forbes luncheon
- They had a booth setup at the Asian Festival next to ours, and
- Kim will be at our booth at the Latino Festival
With roughly 100 republican candidates for Iowa House and Senate this year, and other candidates up and down the ticket across 99 counties and state offices, plus the need to campaign for themselves, it is hard to believe that the Branstad campaign can provide direct active support to every republican in the state. This campaign is not sitting still, and I believe the overwhelming impact, as referenced in this morning’s Des Moines Register article, is that all Republican candidates will be benefiting whether the Governor does a photo op with them or not.
I was then told on Facebook that Governor Branstad will be headlining a fundraiser for Dave Funk’s campaign for Polk County Supervisor in District 3. I do agree with Art that all Republicans will benefit if the top of the ticket does well. So I didn’t have the entire picture of what the campaign is doing and criticized the campaign unfairly, and I apologize. I do think more should be done for the Iowa House District 42 race and I was happy to hear today that Brad Zaun’s and Senator Chuck Grassley’s campaign have been in contact with Kim Pearson. The criteria on how some races are “targeted” can be pretty subjective and I’m not sure can always apply this year. This year as we’ve seen already is an unconventional year and one that won’t be friendly to incumbents. This year is the best shot we have had in awhile to unseat Democrats in districts that typically wouldn’t be in play. I just want to make sure my side of town isn’t ignored.