ChetChase 2010 - The Week

Iowa's race for governor, subject to blackout. Check your local listings.

Story of the Week

Live Streaming SUX less than a media blackout -- Readers of this blog - and greetings to solitary confinement block 6 - already know about the great KTIV GOP TV debate/forum/private interview saga.

It had it all, secrecy, intrigue, confusion, bravery and the glitzy allure of local TV news. All it was missing was a good teaser. Tune in at 10 to find out why.

In the end, KTIV offered to stream the April 7  debate live on its Web site, rather than place the one and only tape of the debate in a sealed mountaintop vault until its airing on April 10.

This concession was immediately appreciated by all of us in a better-than-nothing sort of way. Yay. Meh. The hour-long debate will now be shown online live at 1 p.m. and on at 7 p.m. on KTIV, KWWL and KTTC Wednesday night.

The uneasy truce was called by KTIV in a news release. This is my favorite part, as Jerry Watson, a regional veep for the company that owns KTIV, explains how the scheduling hyjinks ensued.

First, was the candidates' availability and second was time periods available to air the program on three NBC affliliates. We did not want to pre-empt NBC's new, popular show ‘Minute to Win It.' In the end, we felt Iowans should be able to view the debate live as it happens and on the air the very same evening.”

The solution was right there in front of them. So simple. The GOP debate should have been formatted like "Minute to Win It," which "features competitors participating in a series of simple, yet nerve-wracking, games that can lead to a $1 million prize."

Then the candidates could have tested their gubernatorial mettle playing games just  like they do on the actual show:

HANKY PANKY - Using only one hand, the competitor must pull tissues out of a tissue box one at a time until the box is empty

JUNK IN THE TRUNK - A belt with an empty tissue box is attached around the competitor's waist and positioned against the contestant's back with the hole facing outwards. Ping-pong balls are placed inside the tissue box and the competitor must jump and wiggle to shake the balls out of the box without letting his hands touch the ground. All balls must be out of the box to complete the challenge.

EGG ROLL - Contestant must move three eggs across the floor and into a target area only by "fanning" the eggs with an empty pizza box.

BOBBLE HEAD - A pedometer is attached to the competitor's head and he must move his head to rack up a total number of steps to complete the game.

MOVIN' ON UP - Contestant is given a stack of 49 blue plastic cups with a red cup on the bottom. He must race to move the one red cup to the top by holding the stack and continuously moving the cups, one by one, from the top to the bottom through the entire stack.

I'm sorry, Rep. Roberts, your pizza box clearly touched one of the eggs. You have been disqualified from the primary.

It could have been the best forum ever. But, now we'll never know.

This week on the idiot box.

Terry Branstad has two new TV ads. Actually, one, called "Ready," already ran during NCAA hoops. But the other "I Know Iowa" is new.

So what have we got?

Fearful, concerned, hopeful, comeback, 200,000 jobs, income up 25 percent, reduce government, education, love, people, exceed expectations. Two babies, five hearty handshakes, one hug and one spot-on Crayola portrait of Terry 5.0, and you've got yourself a ad. Not much to analyze here.

Branstad will actually tell us how he plans to create 200,000 private sector jobs on Monday morning in Ankeny. I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that tax cuts and less regulation will be part of the package.

Who Won the Week?

Gov. Chet Culver -- Weird, I know. The polls still have him more than two touchdowns behind T-Bran, but not a bad week for the Lug.

The Iowa Legislature adjourned in broad daylight, and apparently with very little last-minute drama. Lawmakers actually did some stuff he wanted - government streamlining/reorg, expanded I-JOBS. He praised Democratic leaders and seemed to mean it. Not a disaster!

Culver got to help christen a brand new Hormel plant in Dubuque and signed the long-awaited texting-while-driving ban into law. Although there' is no reason to believe LOL will become Love Our Lug anytime soon.

He also, at long last, said some stuff about gay marriage that wasn't entirely lawyerly and squishy. Progress.

Oh yeah, and the Iowa economy appears to be improving. Important.

Culver did catch flak from gambling opponents, who say his pitch for more casinos has been swayed by campaign contributions from gaming interests. I was going to analyze opponents' political clout, but then I got distracted scratching tickets, picking numbers, pulling tabs, rolling dice, shuffling cards, betting on horses, staying on 16 and waiting in buffet lines.

They make a fair point....Ooh, more shrimp.

So, score a week for Culver, even though he's still pretty much toast.

Poll This

More polling. This time Magellan Data and Mapping Strategies says Branstad leads culver by 16 percentage pointsin a general election match up. Culver and GOP hopeful Bob Vander Plaats are statistically tied and Culver leads Rod Roberts by 6.

Yawn. Call me when someone actually polls the Republican primary.