This week's Civic Skinny 02-22-06

[Debi]

They don't like Culver's Decision:

Not only was asking Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge to serve as his running mate premature, a top-ranking state official told us, but it was also, quite possibly, one of "the worst" choices Chet Culver could have made in his bid to become Iowa governor. Our source, who has yet to back a candidate, says that in an attempt to get an even bigger numbers boost and distract big-money types regarding candidate Mike Blouin's "huge" union endorsements last week (IBEW Union and the Quad City and Waterloo Building Trades), Culver "made a bad misstep." "And I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why," he said. "Chet has all this momentum, he sounds better than ever before, Mike is having trouble raising money and still has no message, and then this. It makes no sense." According to our source, Judge cannot raise money, has a caustic relationship with legislators (they call her "Patty the Pig" because she is "bought and paid for" by big corporate farms interests) and has a "shabby" record that doesn't match her rhetoric. "The Register wrote how she is aligned with Culver on going after Blouin on being pro-life, but if they bothered to have their reporters dig a little into her Senate record, they'd see that couldn't be further from the truth," this person said. "Add to it that Culver once lobbied for IBP and is pro-death penalty, and this is starting to look like a Republican ticket, not the one that can carry on the Vilsack-Pedersen legacy, which is too bad, because Blouin can't beat Jim Nussle, only Chet can." Rumors abound that Culver agreed to pay off Judge's campaign debt if she stepped down and Judge upped the ante by insisting on being his number two. But a cynical Blouin-backer told us that, "We couldn't have picked a better ticket to run against."

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More Vilsack '08


From the bloggers come these tidbits: From a variety of sources, the latest on Democratic presidential comings-and-goings in the great state of Iowa. The big news: Lou Susman, one of the chief national fundraisers for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's '04 presidential bid, has signed on to be a senior adviser for Vilsack's Heartland PAC. Susman might also become the PAC's national finance chair. Heartland PAC does not play in federal races and therefore accepts "soft" money. Vilsack's political minders, including some who help with his national aspirations, spend lots of time at the Iowa Democratic Party these days, and rightfully so: If a GOPer replaces Vilsack as gov or if Dems lose seats down-ballot, Vilsack's presidential aspirations might be nipped in the bud. Patrick Dillon, the young ex-John Edwards Iowa press staffer who is managing Culver's gubernatorial campaign, is said to be first in line to become Edwards' Iowa state director if Edwards runs for president. Ex-Iowa Democratic Party Executive Director Jean Hessberg and Ron Parker, current chief of staff Iowa Senate Democrats, are being courted both by advisers to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN).

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