Just got word that western Iowans will finally be able to see Terry Branstad in a public event. Branstad still remains in the coy “exploratory” candidate committee phase even while having hired campaign staff, so we know he’s running for the 2010 governor position sought by five other Republicans as well. Branstad will meet with the Sac County Republican Party Central Committee tomorrow night in Sac City, then on Dec. 14 he’ll speak at the noon meeting of the Sioux City Downtown Rotary Club.

Branstad’s schedule released by communications director Tim Albrecht also includes stops through mid-December in Fort Dodge, Centerville, Kalona and Cedar Rapids. After joining the stage with the other GOP candidates for the first time on Nov. 7 in Des Moines, Branstad is ready to rachet up his public appearances. The other men in the race to unseat first-term Democratic Gov. Chet Culver are Sioux Cityans Chris Rants and Bob Vander Plaats, state lawmakers Jerry Behn and Rod Roberts and Cedar Rapids insurance executive Christian Fong.

It will be interesting to see how Branstad is received here — whether it’s as the Alpha Male who’ll crowd out the rest of the field en route to a primary victory that some envision or as the guy on dicey terms with social conservatives over his perceived inability to take a sufficiently tough stance against gay marriage.

Blasted John Deeth, beating me to the punch with a post of plentious sagacity. Iowa City-based Deeth not only has his original JohnDeethBlog site, but lately he’s moved onto periodic posts for The Des Moines Register. Two nights ago in handling what I’m hoping (please!) is my last time raking leaves in 2009, my mind went to 2010 gubernatorial politics and the Republican field. I was thinking how if the large GOP field isn’t settled by the June primary, Bob Vander Plaats would be the favorite in a special convention to pick the nominee.

I dawdled on that topic for a post, but Deeth laid that thought out similarly here. Give it a read, I’m essentially in agreement. As said in this blog previously, in his third attempt in running for governor, Vander Plaats enjoys a strong constituency of supporters who won’t want to move to another candidate. I’ll put that at 30 percent, perhaps 35 percent, that the Sioux City management consultant can lock-it-in count on. I don’t believe any other candidate, Terry Branstad included, has such a rabid core of supporters.

There could be a field of three or four from among Vander Plaats, Branstad, Chris Rants, Jerry Behn, Christian Fong and Rod Roberts still going come June, and if the primary doesn’t result in one of the candidates amassing the 35 percent threshold in the primary, I posit that Vander Plaats would have the advantage in the convention. Vander Plaats might want to hope for the biggest field possible to ensure no one gets 35 percent in the primary. On the other hand, the smaller the field, the more likely it is that someone like Branstad or Rants could squeak out a 36-to-38 percent win.

These special conventions are rare but interesting, as evidenced by the summer 2002 event in Denison that included horsetrading before then-State Sen. Steve King emerged with  the Iowa 5th District Congressional GOP nod.

Just about the time polls close in Iowa tonight, a prime political event in the neighborhood will be wrapping as well. A forum for GOP gubernatorial candidates will be held about five miles southeast of Ida Grove, where the Ida and Crawford County Republican Parties will be cooperating to host five candidates in a Morton building on an acreage. The field includes everyone who plans to run for governor save former Gov. Terry Branstad — Bob Vander Plaats and Chris Rants of Sioux City, state lawmakers Jerry Behn and Rod Roberts and Cedar Rapids insurance exec Christian Fong. And the political parties landed a nice ‘get’ to moderate the event, as Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn will handle those duties.

The event is called Barn(get it?)storming for Governor, and Rachel Law of rural Correctionville is pleased she’ll be able to take it in. Law, who’s on the Ida County Republican Party Central Committee, said she hasn’t settled on a candidate she’d like to see win the governorship a year from tonight. She particularly wants to hear the five men talk about taxation, education and their views of the 10 percent across-the-board budget cut for Iowa agencies, as recently ordered by Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.

You might recall a week ago tonight, four of the five candidates (Roberts, Vander Plaats, Behn and Rants) shared the stage for a governor debate at the Sioux City Convention Center.

UPDATE: Behn had farmwork to do — given the wet weather, the harvest  has been very slow — and did not attend the Ida/Crawford GOP event.

Woodbury County Republican Party Chairman Brian Rosener this morning confirmed State Sen. Jerry Behn of Boone can’t work around some conflicts and won’t be present tonight in the county party gubernatorial debate at the Sioux City Convention Center. Former Gov. Terry Branstad also is saving up his first appearance with the other candidates for Nov. 7 in Des Moines, so that leaves a field of four: Sioux Cityans Bob Vander Plaats and Chris Rants, Christian Fong and Rod Roberts.

The event is a fundraiser for the party at $10 per head, and Rosener said a few hundred might attend. “We certainly hope there are a lot of people out to see where these guys stand on the issues,” he said.

The topics will be the economy, state budget, taxation, education and marriage, on the day that same-sex marriage hits six months in Iowa. Rosener said the 90-minute event will involve a debate-style format, so while there will be time limits on answers, if the back-and-forth gets instructive, the candidates will be allowed to keep going. “We want it to flow a little bit,” he said.

Rosener said he’s disgruntled over the state of the state budget, with K-12 schools and law enforcement being included in the 10 percent across-the-board budget cut Democratic Gov. Chet Culver announced earlier this month. Rosener said state auditor David Vaudt and Republican lawmakers warned the budget was too plump in a time of recession, yet Culver didn’t insist on racheting back the budget during the session. Waiting until the early October state revenue estimate indicated a crisis was poor leadership by Culver, Rosener said.

“This state of Iowa is in such a critical situation,” he stated.

Next week will be an important period for candidate forums. More short-term focused will be the Oct. 29 evening forum at city hall for the five Sioux City Council candidates, John Fitch, Tom Padgett, Ian Rappolt and councilman Jim Rixner. That session should provide fodder for making candidate voting decisions in the Nov. 2 election.

But the forum that could draw more attention is the Oct. 27 Woodbury County Republican Party forum and fundraiser to which seven 2010 gubernatorial candidates have been invited. Those extended opportunities to speak are Sioux Cityans Bob Vander Plaats and Chris Rants, Cedar Rapids business executive Christian Fong, state lawmakers Rod Roberts of Carroll, Jerry Behn of Boone and Paul McKinley of Chariton, and one more guy you may have heard of, former Gov. Terry Branstad.

Branstad on Friday, of course, made news by resigning his position as president of Des Moines University while still not announcing if he’d run for governor in 2010. He’s formed an exploratory committe, hired staff for that committee and quit his job — you do the math. Branstad said he’s going to travel all 99 counties to get input in making his decision.  Could this provide the opportunity to see Branstad stand alongside other candidates?

Woodbury County Republican Party Chairman Brian Rosener of Bronson is enthused about the possibilities the forum holds to get a big field of candidates. He’ll have a handle on who will attend in a few days, but this afternoon said he expects at least four to be on  hand. Rosener said the event will be the biggest for the county party in 2009, so he’s hoping for a big turnout by those providing $10 to witness the forum.

“We are coming at it with the viewpoint that Iowa is in pretty critical condition or heading that way,” Rosener said.

He said people need to hear where the candidates stand on methods to improve the shaky state budget situation, while learning about positions on social issues like same-sex marriage, which became legal in April following an Iowa Supreme Court ruling. Same-sex marriage is an important issue for 2010, Rosener said, since “it is a social issue as well as a judicial issue.”

(The original post excluded Padgett’s name in the list of candidates, while including Rixner twice. My apologies.)

Dave Price of WHO-TV in central Iowa has the goods, leading the reporting pack in learning that former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad on Friday will announce he’ll seek the governorship again in 2010. The foregone conclusion is now at hand.

Finally, we can move past all the will-he speculation and query Branstad on what he plans to do for the state, and Republicans can decide if he should be the nominee to take on Democratic Gov. Chet Culver. Additionally, candidates Bob Vander Plaats and Chris Rants of Sioux City, state lawmakers Jerry Behn of Boone and Rod Roberts of Carroll and Cedar Rapids business executive Christian Fong can sharpen their sights on Branstad. Or pitch themselves as lieutenant governor candidates, if you buy the logic (and polling) that Branstad is the odds-on GOP pick.

Had a lengthy chat with Iowa Congressman 5th District Steve King on a host of topics, including the status of health reform, energy legislation dubbed “cap and trade” and his leadership of the Conservative Opportunity Society. I also queried him on politics back in Iowa, including the gubernatorial position that he’s long eyed, yet never pursued.

King was aware former Gov. Terry Branstad yesterday morning formed an exploratory governor candidate committee and said he expects Branstad will shortly get fully in the race.  He said that will be an act of complete “altruism” by Branstad, since he’ll have nothing to personally gain by serving as governor again.

King said Branstad “has the political capital and he understands the fundraising stream, and that gives him an advantage over the other candidates.” The field  includes Sioux Cityans Chris Rants and Bob Vander Plaats, state lawmakers Rod Roberts of Carroll and Jerry Behn of Boone and Christian Fong, a business executive from Cedar Rapids. But King noted lots of officeseekers who are given little chance have moved into the House where he serves.

“I am among them, ” King said, noting the view that some didn’t expect King to advance out of the June 2002 GOP congressional primary. He won the party nomination in a special convention after the primary didn’t settle the matter.

“I don’t want to rule anybody out. But I do think Governor Branstad will be well-positioned,” King stated.

I can’t seem to get a handle on this blogcation, as items keep pulling me back. This morning the Associated Press reported Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has his campaign re-election team in place (he actually never really shut down the campaign HQ), although he of course has not formally announced a second bid to head the state’s executive branch. Democrat Culver’s got more than $1 million for his campaign, although he can’t be too happy to see a poll this week showing a slight majority of Iowans surveyed are ready for a new governor.

That’s an opening a host of Republicans are hoping will turn into a tide of Culver disenchantment in upcoming months as they fight it out for the GOP nod. Earlier this week State Sen. Paul McKinley of Chariton made it clear he will run for governor, bringing the GOP possibles up to six: Sioux Cityans Christopher Rants and Bob Vander Plaats, state lawmakers Rod Roberts and Jerry Behn and Cedar Rapids businessman Christian Fong. Will Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King perceive there’s no clear frontrunner and make it a Super Seven?

I wrote a preview about the Sac County Republican Party fundraiser that looks very intriguing in bringing together four possible GOP gubernatorial candidates tomorrow. They might have been coming to Sac City regardless of the gimmick, but the event is drawing attention for the offer that if any of the four make official their all-but-certain intentions to run for governor, they would get half the funds raised on the day.

It wouldn’t be a lot of money — the cost is $10 per head and maybe 100 people will participate. But the event is estimated to perhaps double the typical summer Sac County fundraiser numbers of about 50 to 60 people.

Krause said he doesn’t expect any of the four Republicans at the event — Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats, State Reps. Rod Roberts of Carroll and Christopher Rants of Sioux City or State Sen. Jerry Behn — to actually announce in Sac City. The reality is Rants will likely announce his move from exploratory candidate committee to fully running when in Sioux City or that Vander Plaats will make his big news in his hometown of Sheldon, Krause said.

But the you-announce, you-get-half-the-fundraising offer is a way to get Sac County Republicans enthused to channel some early participation in the governors race, county chairman Brian Krause said. He said conservative counties like Sac need to offset the other counties where Democratic Iowa Gov. Chet Culver will win.

“I really don’t believe the Republican Party is as fractured as people are portraying it. But I think we need somebody who will first of all have the suport of both our fiscal conservatives and social conservatives,” Krause said. He said Culver is “vulnerable” on both social and fiscal issues.