Biden and Culver Coming to Town, Branstad Welcomes Lug with TV Hit

Gov. Chet Culver will campaign with Vice President Joe Biden in Greene Square park at noon today. That explains all the dark suits and dark glasses in my workplace neighborhood.

I'm not making any sudden movements, as is my normal custom.

Not to be outdone by the Democratic duo, Gov. Terry Branstad is launching a new TV ad attacking Culver's record.

Here it is:

The first remarkable thing about this is that Branstad is throwing a general election punch before he's won a three-way Republican primary. Look at Mr. Confident.

TB 5.0 clearly has the bucks, and the odd dearth of  usual whispers about internal polling suggests, in my mind, that he must be pretty far ahead. If polls were tight, we'd be hearing about it from his rivals, Bob Vander Plaats or Rod Roberts.

Also noteworthy is that the ad cites among its media sources a headline about Culver from The Iowa Republican, "news for Republicans, by Republicans." These "headline" ads always leave viewers to guess about the full context, but there's no guessing where TIR stands on Culver.

I'm not saying ITR never gets it right, it's a must-read for political junkies, but it's not in the business of making an even-handed, hyperbole-free assessment of a Democratic governor.

The "Pay to Play" item cited from ITR was about the investigation into potentially  improper contributions to Culver's campaign from Fort Dodge casino backers. An independent prosecutor is looking into the case, and we have no idea at this point if it is indeed Culver's "worst scandal yet," or a scandal at all. 

Lugo is not Blago. There are plenty of headlines out there about the Fort Dodge issue, but Branstad's campaign just couldn't resist "Pay to Play."

The ad also cites $10 million in flood aid "misspent," The Gazette's headline btw,which may, in the end, be a misunderstanding over rules and documentation used in giving aid to flooded business owners. Perhaps Branstad will spearhead the effort to force 300 local businesses to return the money. Perhaps not.

It's funny that with all of Culver's proven problems, you'd have to use this dubious stuff. But that's politics, folks, 30 seconds and a cloud of smoke.

 The rest of the ad, a 114,00 Iowans out of work, big budget woes, high unemployment and property tax increases clearly are fair game. These are the first shots of many that will be taken at those sizeable holes in his record.

Culver and Biden had better bring some spackle today. And sunscreen.