Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Branstad wins in Iowa

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The candidate endorsed by Sarah Palin has won the Republican nomination for governor in Iowa. The Cedar Rapids Gazette has the story:
Former Gov. Terry Branstad completed the first phase of his political comeback Tuesday by scoring a solid victory over Bob Vander Plaats and Rod Roberts in a hard-fought three-way primary battle for the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nomination.

The Associated Press declared Branstad the winner at about 10:30 p.m. The next hurdle standing in his way is first-term Democratic Gov. Chet Culver, who was unopposed Tuesday in his bid to win re-election in the November general election.

With 67 percent of 1,873 precincts reporting, Branstad, 63, of rural Boone, held a comfortable lead with 50.4 percent of the Republican ballots, while challengers Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City garnered 40.3 percent and Rod Roberts of Carroll stood at 9.2 percent. Early returns showed a fairly tight race but Branstad slowly pulled away as the night progressed, stretching his lead to over 16,000 votes.

Tuesday’s gubernatorial balloting was viewed as a clash among the party’s business-oriented conservatives and centrists who backed Branstad and the religious, social and tea party conservatives who primarily split their support between Vander Plaats, 47, a Sioux City business consultant making his third bid for governor, and Roberts, 52, a five-term state representative making his first run at statewide office.

Branstad, who previously served four terms as Iowa governor from 1983 to 1999, announced in October he was stepping down as president of Des Moines University to re-enter the political arena with hopes of defeating Culver in the fall and charting a new course of fiscal responsibility by cutting corporate and property taxes, easing business regulations to grow private-sector jobs, raising Iowans’ income levels, and shrinking state government.
- JP

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