Iverson leaving legislature

http://www.gazetteonline.com/2006/06/12/Home/iverson.htm

Iverson leaving legislature

DES MOINES, IA - Former Senate Republican Leader Stewart Iverson announced Monday that he won't seek another term in office. "I've made the decision not to run,'' Iverson told The Associated Press. "It's time to move on in my life.'' Iverson, 55, of Clarion, said he was close to announcing a new job and hoped to finalize that by the end of the week.

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His decision means there will be six open seats in the Senate, which is tied at 25-25.

Republicans will have to hold a special nominating convention to pick a candidate in Iverson's District 5 seat, which includes Wright, Webster, Story and Hamilton counties. The convention will probably be held in the next couple of weeks. Reps. George Eichhorn, R-Stratford, and Jim Kurtenbach, R-Nevada, are among those interested in running.

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Four Republican Senators earlier announced plans not to seek another term in office, and Sen. Maggie Tinsman, R-Bettendorf, lost a primary battle last week. With Iverson's announcement, there are now six seats currently held by Republicans that won't have an incumbent on the ballot in November.

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This really shakes things up, improving Rick Olive's chances of taking the seat. Rick is a great candidate from Story City and was already making a serious run. Even if the Republicans throw up their best candidate, Olive should be positioned very well.

I do not know about Eichorn as Iverson's replacement, but if they put up Kurtenbach, that is good news for Susan Radke of Nevada. She has a campaign in place, and I am not sure who the Republicans can put up to hold onto Kurtenbach's House seat.

I was suspicious of Iverson's ouster as Senate Majority Leader, as I did not hear a reasonable explanation of why they kicked him out in the closing weeks of the legislative session. I wonder if what precipitated his ouster also caused him to pull out of the race, or if his ouster as Majority Leader motivated his withdrawal from politics?

At any rate, this just makes the Democratic takeover of the Senate more of a sure thing, and it may help our chances in the House, also.

Don't jinx anything. Isn't Iverson in a fairly 'safe' Repub district?

There is a little bit of Story County in the district, but it is the more Republican part of the county. It may be conservative, but Rich Olive is a respected businessman in Story City, and his chances definitely went up with Iverson dropping out. The Republicans will have to fight to keep the seat. They will have to come up with a good candidate and probably need to spend more money than they want.

The article speculated that one of the two Republican Representatives might run, which would make the seat easier for the Republicans to hold. But then they have to come up with a substitute candidate to hold on to the House seat. If it is Rep. Kurtenbach in Nevada that runs for Iverson's seat, I am not sure they have a good Republican candidate to run against the Democrat Susan Radke.

The Senate is the easy part. The Democrats only have to pick up one of the 6 open Republican seats to take the majority. They need two seats in the House, and one of those pick ups might be possible because of Iverson's retirement.

Look at the Republicans retiring and their districts. Brunkhorst from Waverly. Very Republican district. Tinsman lost to a right wing dork in Bettendorf where they kill moderate Republicans and a Democrat is the man servant at the club. Staying Republican. Lamberti is running for Congress. His district leans Republican. The Dems are fielding a good candidate there but it is all uphill. Iverson's district is pretty damn safe. I know both of the representatives and both of them are tough campaigners. Doug Shull in Indianola. He beat an incumbent Dem who was abandoned by Gronstal. Ms. Appel should pick up that one. Chuck Larson in Cedar Rapids. Robb Hogg should pick up that one.

According to my count, that's a net two if we don't loose any.

Meanwhile, the Repubs are gunning for Roger Stewart with the mayor of Clinton. Tough race. Roger is well respected, but he is no spring chicken. And they always throw the kitchen sink at Keith Kreiman in southern Iowa. There are a couple of other races where the Democrat has to pay attention (like Daryl Beall in Ft. Dodge and Amanda Ragan in Mason City) or they could be surprised on Election night. This is not a gimme. Gronstal has a history of losing the swing districts. He lies to his candidates about the level of support they will get and their polling numbers. Plus as contrary as Iowans are, if they pull the lever (or push the touch screen) for a Democratic legislator, they will probably vote for Nussle. Sort of a perverse checks and balances.

All that said, help the Democratic candidates in the swing districts. If we work hard and are lucky, we might actually have a Democratic majority in one house of the Iowa Legislature in January 2007.

Wouldn't it be great to start 2007 w/Culver in office and Dems in control of the statehouse? :bounce: