Branstad’s historic victory

Gov. Terry Branstad says Iowa is on the right track. And it's clear after election returns rolled in Tuesday night that many Iowans agree. They kept Branstad in Terrace Hill for a sixth term, giving him an opportunity to become the longest-serving governor in American history.

'Iowa's in good shape. We're working. Things are growing,” Branstad told our editorial board during a meeting last month.

As we noted in our recent endorsement of Branstad, he's a pitchman in perpetual motion when it comes to selling Iowa. And with low unemployment, economic growth, a healthy state budget and big bipartisan compromises on property taxes, health care expansion and education reform, his pitch for another term was a fairly easy sell.

His re-election campaign spent millions anyway, but with unknown, underfunded state Sen. Jack Hatch of Des Moines running as his party's lone option, all that spending was unnecessary.

So we congratulate the governor, who runs his record in primary and general elections to 20-0. We'd call it his final triumph, but we know better than to assume Branstad is out of gas.

Now, it's time to turn from campaigning to governing.

Speaking of gas, the governor told our editorial board he expects 2015 will be the year he and lawmakers come together to forge a plan for funding the state's mounting list of transportation needs. He's hoping for a bipartisan, 'hybrid” package that uses multiple fees and approaches to generate revenue without raising what he calls the 'old fashioned” gas tax.

We hope, at long last, he is willing to take risks and spend his ample political capital to get the job done.

Branstad also told us he is committed to funding efforts to clean up Iowa's waterways, even after he vetoed critical dollars last spring. We'll be watching to see if Branstad follows through or once again shortchanges the state's valuable natural resources.

Branstad has been handed a historic opportunity by a broad cross-section of Iowans. With that in mind, we hope he listens to a broader array of constituents as he governs the next four years. Powerful business and agricultural interests are important, but too often, they seem to be the only voices Branstad hears. The governor should cast a far wider net for input and ideas if he wants to forge the kind of broad gubernatorial legacy that matches his ability to win elections.

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