Sarah Palin endorses Branstad for Iowa governor

DES MOINES – It's not often that martial arts champion Chuck Norris gets knocked out but former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin managed it Thursday.

Palin took the luster off Norris' two-day, five-city swing through Iowa in support of GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats by announcing she was endorsing former Gov. Terry Branstad in next Tuesday's Iowa Republican primary.

Palin, a possible 2012 GOP presidential candidate who was the Republican 2008 vice presidential nominee, noted Iowa's state motto: “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain” and said the words would be well served if Iowans voted for Branstad in next week's balloting.

“Sarah Palin joins thousands of Iowans in recognizing that Terry Branstad is the honest, conservative leader Iowa needs to fix Gov. Culver's mismanagement of Iowa's budget,” said Branstad campaign spokesman Tim Albrecht. “Terry Branstad signed the state's largest tax cut in history, left the state with a $900 million surplus and led the state to record employment. She, along with conservatives across the state, recognize Terry Branstad's strong record of leadership in Iowa.

“This latest endorsement further demonstrates the broad base of support that Gov. Branstad continues to build in his campaign for governor,” Albrecht added.

Branstad, who served four terms as governor from 1983 to 1999, is on Tuesday's GOP primary ballot with Vander Plaats, a Sioux City business consultant, and five-term state Rep. Rod Roberts of Carroll. The Republican who captures at least 35 percent of Tuesday's vote will face Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in the November general election. Culver, who is seeking a second term, is unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Branstad got more positive news Thursday in a public opinion poll released by KCCI News Channel 8 in Des Moines in which Branstad drew 44 percent support from the 400 survey respondents, followed by Vander Plaats at 29 percent and Roberts at 12 percent. The margin of error in the poll conducted May 31 to June was 5 percent.

Michael Kiernan, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, said the poll indicated that Branstad has been losing ground among Iowa Republicans and had to “call in reinforcements” with the Palin endorsement.

“Terry Branstad is a former four-term governor. How he will manage to come out of this primary without a solid majority of Republicans is amazing to me. I am not sure Sarah Palin's endorsement is going to help much,” said Kiernan. “Much like Terry Branstad, she doesn't exactly embody commitment to public service and fiscal responsibility. When tough economic times hit the country, Chet Culver rolled up his sleeves. But, Sarah Palin cut and ran.”

While Branstad is the race's perceived frontrunner, Vander Plaats has made a major push in recent days to finish strong by landing the endorsement Thursday of James C. Dobson, an author and host of a nationally syndicated radio program, and by getting an affirmative nod from the Des Moines Tea Party in their candidate report card.

Dobson's support was expected to broaden Vander Plaats' appeal among social and religious conservatives – a key voting bloc in next Tuesday's GOP primary.

“Bob has fought tirelessly for conservative family values. He is passionately pro-life and supports the exclusivity of marriage between one man and one woman,” said Dobson, who served for 33 years as founder and chairman of Focus on the Family before resigning from that well-known organization earlier this year and last month launching the Family Talk broadcast – which is carried by more than 700 radio outlets nationwide.

The Tea Party report card marked a “no” beside Branstad's name, citing a history of raising taxes, “budgeting irregularities,” increasing the size of state government, building a “state-owned phone company,” and other reasons for withholding support. The scorecard also gave Roberts a “no” out of concern he wouldn't reign in judicial activism.

The Tea Party scorecard cited Vander Plaats as a “strong constitutionalist” who would advocate for state's rights and free markets, support the 2

^nd

Amendment, reduce taxes and the state's dependency on the federal government, and oppose judicial activism.

Aides to Branstad, whose campaign has landed the support of Iowans for Tax Relief, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and others, shrugged off Thursday's developments, noting that Republicans statewide are supporting the former four-term governor because he had a record of honest, conservative leadership during his previous 16 years as governor and plans to build on those accomplishments if elected.

“Gov. Branstad supports results over rhetoric, and those results are clear – record tax cuts and record employment,” said Albrecht. “No governor before or since has done more to advance the conservative cause than Terry Branstad.”

Branstad spent Thursday campaigning at stops in western Iowa and plans to campaign in Fort Dodge, Webster City, Mason City and Marshalltown today. Roberts' itinerary took him to Ames on Thursday and his focus today and Saturday will be stops in western Iowa.

Vander Plaats has scheduled joint appearances with Norris today in Davenport and Cedar Rapids, and in West Des Moines, Council Bluffs and Hinton on Saturday.

“I think he's at the heart of what a lot of people are trying to be about today,” Vander Plaats said. “He's just a good guy. He's a good American hero. Having him in five major cities just before Election Day, I think it's going to play out huge for us.”

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