Might June 10 be the day Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City officially announces he’ll run for governor? There’s zero uncertainty that Republican Vander Plaats will run for the governor position up before voters in 2010, but to date he’s operated what is called an exploratory campaign. He’s talked of making it official in the summer and since he’s got a big guest coming to the state on June 10, I’ll surmise it could be the time to fully run.

What big guest? Mike Huckabee.

Former Arkansas govenor Huckabee won the January 2008 Iowa presidential caucuses, which gave him a kick in the national race for a few weeks. BVP was Huckabee’s Iowa campaign chairman and since that time has not been shy of touting his connection with Huckabee, who remains popular among Iowa Republicans.

I’ve got a call into Vander Plaats to inquire if June 10 will be his time to announce. You could make the case that he’d want to make the announcement in a metro area with tons of media, but if he’s got Huckabee in tow, it would be the logical opportunity. Or maybe theyll do the fundraiser in Spirit Lake, then fly to Des Moines or Sioux City to hold a press conference with the announcement.

The Vander Plaats/Huckabee fundraiser has tickets going for $100. The event, called An Evening of Politics in the Park, will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Spirit Lake. In a release, Huckabee said, “I’ve called Bob Vander Plaats ‘the next govenor of Iowa’ on many occasions and I’ve done it deliberately and with good reason.”

If you’re looking for more on who might be in on the GOP side, check out a major piece in the Sunday Journal that I and Charlotte Eby of the Des Moines Bureau are just now wrapping.

Tags: bob vander plaats, mike huckabee, politics

This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 12:04 pm and is filed under Iowa gubernatorial 2010. 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.