Rants forms exploratory committee for possible gubernatorial run

JOHNSTON - Reaching out to tech-savvy voters, State Rep. Christopher Rants used the social networking site Twitter to announce Friday that he was forming a committee to explore the possibility of running for governor next year.

Rants is the second Sioux City Republican to form an exploratory committee, following Bob Vander Plaats.

Rants used his day in the spotlight to criticize Democratic Gov. Chet Culver's response to last year's historic floods and said the first-term governor is pursuing policies that will put even more Iowans out of work.

"I don't think we're at a crossroads in Iowa, I think we've gone down the wrong road for the last several years, and frankly, we're off in the ditch," Rants said.

With roughly 81,000 Iowans out of work, the Republican nominee for governor has to have a plan to bring jobs to the state, Rants said. He's promoting lower property taxes as a way to do that.

"Right now, that's a job killer for Iowa," Rants said.

Rants also took aim Friday at Culver's response to last year's historic floods, saying a lot of things could have been done sooner.

"I don't know that you can call having 300 Iowans living in trailers today a successful response to the flood," Rants said, although he did not place all of the blame on Culver.

Culver, who is expected to seek a second term, defended his administration's flood response. He said they are pushing reforms at the federal level that would get aid dollars out more quickly with fewer strings attached.

"I feel great about the progress we've made," Culver said. "But, you know, we're all impatient. We want this to all be taken care of. That's why I work so hard everyday on it. That's why it continues to be my top priority."

A new approach

With his announcement on Twitter, Rants sought to reach out to younger voters whom he said might get their news from online sources rather than traditional media. He said Republicans need to embrace new media.

"If we're going to win back the youth vote, we have to talk to them in a mode that they are paying attention to," Rants said.

Rants and Vander Plaats provide updates on Twitter chronicling their travels through the state as they try to woo supporters.

A seasoned political veteran, Rants, 41, would bring a long record of legislative experience to the race. He was first elected to the Iowa House in 1992 and quickly rose in the leadership ranks, serving as speaker, majority leader and minority leader.

After House Republicans lost seats in last year's election, Rants' colleagues replaced him as minority leader with Rep. Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha.

"I've had to eat a little humble pie over the last six months, and that's probably been a good thing for me," Rants said.

Rants, who has gained a reputation as a fiery partisan, acknowledged his critics have called him too aggressive in the past.

But he said losing the leadership post last year helped him learn about himself.

"It gave me an opportunity to sit back and do a lot of self-examination, re-evaluation," Rants said.

In recent months, Rants said he's logged around 11,000 miles traveling the state to hear what voters are looking for in a gubernatorial candidate.

Rants said he would not set a time frame for deciding whether he'll formally jump into the race. He estimates he would have to raise $2 million for the primary election.

A crop of other Republicans have expressed interest in the possibility of running for governor. Besides Rants and Vander Plaats, the others include Rep. Rod Roberts of Carroll, Bettendorf businessman Mike Whalen, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey of Spirit Lake, U.S. Rep. Steve King of Kiron, Former state senator Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny, and State Sen. Jerry Behn of Boone.