ChetChase 2010 - The Week + Poll

Scientists have determined that Iowa's race for governor is rich in energy. Here's your weekly dose. 

1. Rants vs. Culver - This time, it's renewable -- Republican candidate for governor Christopher Rants says Gov. Chet Culver's been inhaling ethanol fumes if he thinks the Iowa Power Fund has helped create thousands of green collar energy  jobs. Rants. R-Sioux City, says the $50 million invested so far has actually created very few jobs.

He says the Big Lug is a Big Fibber:

“Governor Culver has a problem with numbers; either he isn't keeping accurate account of jobs in the state or he is willing to fabricate facts and figures for campaign purposes. I am not sure what is worse, having a governor who is unable to keep an accurate account of jobs funded by state dollars, or a governor who deliberately misleads Iowans trying to give a false sense of security. Either way, Governor Culver needs to be straight with Iowans about how their tax dollars are being spent.”

Culver says that actually, Power Fund investments have led to the creation of 8,700 jobs, with more on the way. Bleeding Heartland has the governor's back, and says if Republicans want to fight about renewable energy, bring it on with a side of biomass:

When Rants was speaker of the Iowa House, Republicans resisted most efforts to increase renewable energy generated in this state. They apparently thought it better to continue generating most of our electricity from coal, which has to be imported from other states and creates harmful air pollution and toxic waste.

Thanks in part to Rants' shortsighted leadership, Iowa didn't adopt measures that could have promoted renewable energy during the first half of this decade.

Democrats also argue that the Power Fund is about making key investments that foster innovations. Judging it solely by jobs created ignores the fact that it takes time to turn advances into jobs.

Yeah, that's a very good point. And anyway, where would someone get a vastly inflated, overblown idea of what the Power Fund would accomplish?

"It's time for Iowa to become the Silicon Valley of the Midwest," Culver said in his inaugural address proposing the Power Fund.

“Today, I believe, is the time for Iowa to take the lead in the race to become the energy capital of the world,” said Culver when he signed the fund into law.

If only we could develop a hyperbole-powered vehicle.

2. Never Let 'Em See You Chet -- Culver told the Associated Pressthis week that he is confident of re-election. And he says word of former GOP Gov. Terry Branstad's possible entry into the race is revving up his fundraising efforts.

"One of the things that all of this discussion about who is going to run against me has done is it has really solidified my base and my fundraising apparatus," Culver told The Associated Press in an interview. "People are ready to get involved right now because there's so much discussion on the other side about who might run against me."

Culver dismissed polling that suggests he would be vulnerable to a Branstad challenge, saying his internal surveys and other public polling suggest his approval rating is at 60 percent or higher.

Several anti-Chetite bloggers pounced on that one, pointing to a fairly recent Survey USA poll that showed the Lug approval rating, LAR, at 44 percent. His approval numbers with independents and even Democrats were low enough to give even a confident governor pause.

But Culver has become pretty skilled at ignoring numbers he doesn't like, polls, budget etc. In fact, sources say he's buying an ad that will be displayed on the side of a Des Moines transit bus:

"Dont Believe in Numbers? - Your Not Alone. Call 1-888-ChetMath."

3. Trick or Terry? -- Sounds like it will be October before Branstad says whether he will run for governor again.

Waiting until after the first hard freeze has already frozen the Republican fieldin its tracks. They can't make a move or raise a red cent until the great man has declared himself in or out. It's sitzkrieg until fall.

I think he gets in. But what do you think? This week's ChetChase Poll -- Does Terry B get in or stay with that cushy college gig?

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