If Iowans want to see the future Democratic Party vice presidential candidate, they could have that opportunity  Aug. 21 in central Iowa. We got word this morning that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will be in the state for four events in support of presumptive presidential nominee (the presumptive will finally be dropped next week after the Aug. 24-28 convention) Barack Obama.

Sebelius is frequently mentioned in the veepstakes (crud, I finally broke down and typed that phrase) to pad the Obama ticket. She could perhaps placate the women in the party who still wish they had Hillary Clinton on the national ticket.

In the other recent Iowacentric presidential race news, former Republican Congressman Jim Leach has endorsed Democrat Obama. Leach had 30 years in Congress as a GOP moderate  from eastern Iowa who didn’t always vote the party line. He was upset in November 2006 by Sioux City native Dave Loebsack, and now Leach says Obama would make a better president than John McCain.

Said Leach, “Obama’s platform is a call for change, but the change that he is so gracefully articulating is more renewal than departure. It is rooted in very old American values that are as much a part of the Republican as Democratic tradition. There’s an emphasis on individual rights, fairness and balance at home and progessive internationalism.”

The Iowa McCain campaign team was unimpressed by the Leach endorsement. Iowa McCain spokeswoman Wendy Riemann in response said Obama’s lofty speeches on change are puffery and Obama “has no record of achievement beyond the confines of his party.” McCain, by comparison, Riemann said, has put his country ahead of his personal and party interests to get things done in D.C.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 3:19 pm and is filed under Presidential race '08. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.