The Last Time Branstad Announced...

It was Feb. 1, 1994.

The Gazette was there. Here's our Feb. 2 story:

Branstad into race for 4th term

Ken Sullivan

Gazette senior editor

LELAND - Drawing both on his background from rural Iowa and his dozen years as Iowa's chief executive, Gov. Terry Branstad launched his bid Tuesday for the Republican nomination for governor and the right to seek re-election to a fourth four-year term.

He will face 5th District Rep. Fred Grandy in the June 7 primary election.

In a departure from previous announcements, Branstad launched his fourth gubernatorial campaign at the Winnebago County farm owned by his father, Edward, and farmed by his brother, Monty.

Dressed in a leather jacket, jeans and boots, the governor spoke from a plywood platform laid across bales of hay. Completing the rural backdrop were two tractors - a restored 1938 Farmal "H" bought new by the governor's grandfather and a massive new John Deere tractor on loan for the occasion.

"You learn on a family farm about work, family and community," Branstad told some 60 relatives and friends gathered in a chilly machine shed.

"Iowa is a place where people don't just talk about values. They live them. I am proud to be 'made in Iowa."'

"Made in Iowa" will be the theme Branstad carries the balance of this week as he tours Iowa in a luxurious Winnebago motor home made in nearby Forest City.

Each stop today and Thursday will reflect the "Made in Iowa" theme.

"I've got the experience you can trust to get the job done," he said, citing a series of goals for creating jobs, increasing household income and stimulating population growth.

Grandy welcomed Branstad to the campaign by renewing his call for campaign debates, this time seeking one in each of the state's five congressional districts.

"I think the governor's longevity is his strength and his weakness," Grandy said. "There are people who are concerned that 12 years is enough."

Branstad rejected those charges.

"I think I have the experience and the ability," Branstad said.

In addition to family members and local Republican officials, Branstad was accompanied by Lt. Gov. Joy Corning, who again will be his running mate.

He will travel in northwest and central Iowa today, moving into the eastern part of the state Thursday.

Of course the "Made In Iowa" was a slap at Grandy, a Sioux City native who had the audacity to leave the state, attend Harvard, of all places, and become an actor, of all things, before returning to serve northwest Iowa in Congress. Branstad beat that native drum until the June primary, which he won largely with strong support from rural counties.

A second story we ran the same day had a prophetic headline:

His last run? Branstad won't say

The answer to the headline, we now know, is heck no.

Rod Boshart

Gazette Des Moines Bureau

 DES MOINES - Gov. Terry Branstad opened his bid for a fourth term

Tuesday by declining to say whether he expected it would be his last should he vanquish opponents in this year's primary and general elections.

"This is a four-year term and that's what I'm running for," Branstad said at his weekly news conference.

"Four years is a long time." Branstad noted that his bid for a fourth term is not unprecedented because his predecessor, former Gov. Robert Ray, served five terms spanning 14 years - which covered three, two-year terms and two, four-year terms.

A precedent would be set, however, if Branstad succeeds in defeating fellow Republican Fred Grandy, a congressman from Sioux City, in the June 7 GOP primary and prevails over Democratic Attorney General Bonnie Campbell in the November general election. That would make him the longest-serving governor at 16 years.

"We're intending to win," Branstad said. "I've never lost an election, and I don't intend to this year either."

Grandy has indicated he would serve only two four-year terms if he becomes Iowa's next governor, but Branstadwas non-committal on his long-term career plans. A number of the goals the governor has outlined in his 1994 campaign strategies have target dates that fall midway in a fifth term.

"Some people say they want to limit the term of the governor, but they don't support limiting the terms of the liberal Democrats who control the Congress of the United States," Branstad said. "I'm saying it ought to be fair. If you're going to have a standard, it ought to apply to everybody."

Later Tuesday, Branstad officially announced his candidacy at his family's farm in Leland