Republican candidates wrap up campaigning

URBANDALE – It's in the hands of Iowa voters now.

Republicans Terry Branstad of rural Boone, Rod Roberts of Carroll and Bob Vander Plaats of Sioux City turned their fates over to their get-out-the-vote organizations as throngs of Iowans decide Tuesday which one of the three will face Gov. Chet Culver in the fall general election. Culver, a first-term Democrat was unopposed in today's primary election.

Branstad, who has emerged as the favorite based upon recent polling results, picked up a last-minute endorsement Monday from his predecessor, former Gov. Robert D. Ray, who served as Iowa's governor from 1969 to 1983. Ray said Branstad, who was his third lieutenant governor, has the experience, leadership, expertise and is “the man who knows how to do it.”

“The polls are very positive, very indicative of what we can expect,” Ray told a rally at Branstad's campaign headquarters.

For his part, Branstad said he is taking nothing for granted in his comeback bid to reclaim the office he held from 1983 to 1999, noting the only poll that counts is the one taken Election Day.

“That's why we've got an army of people making phone calls,” he said during a Monday stop in Marion earlier in the day. “We are not over-confident and we'll never be. We'll never be outworked.”

Vander Plaats, who also made a swing through the Cedar Rapids area on Monday, took some solace in poll numbers that showed a sizable segment of the Iowa electorate indicate they could change their vote in the closing hours of the primary election campaign.

“That is very, very good news for us because our supporters are locked in,” said Vander Plaats, a business consultant.

“I don't think any thunderstorm, tornado watch or broken glass is going to stop them. They're going out to vote,” Vander Plaats said.

“I think things are setting up for a victory for us tomorrow night,” he said, because “People are tired of politics as usual, tired of political establishments, tired of political elites, even political experience even if it is 16 years of political experience. I think we're in for a surprise tomorrow. I think we're going to shock Iowa, we'll shock the country with victory over Branstad.”

Roberts, a five-term state representative, finished his active campaigning today with stops in Boone, Fort Dodge and his hometown of Carroll.

Branstad said the weather forecast calling for a 70 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms Tuesday shouldn't keep Republicans away from the voting booth.

“Republicans are pretty hardy and we'll turn out in snowstorms and we'll turn out in rainstorms,” he said. “I'm not worried about that.”

During a campaign stop in Davenport, Branstad predicted a Republican turnout of more than 200,000 statewide, which is about what GOP turnout was in 2002. That was the last time there was a competitive Republican primary. Branstad, Vander Plaats and Roberts have all made Quad-City stops in the past three days.

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