Groggy Tuesday

Coming back from a long, sun-baked and sunburned three-day siesta is not easy. I'm not quite here.

My boss is gone, which means extra work and less blogging today. But here are a few things catching my eye between yawns.

The Gazette, traditionally, doesn't do primary endorsements. But other papers do, and in the governor's race, retro Republican Terry Branstad picked up a bunch over the weekend.

Craig Robinson has a nice roundup at The Iowa Republican.

I think the Sioux City Journal endorsement is the most significant. It's a paper with a conservative editorial philosophy in Bob Vander Plaats' stomping grounds. The Fort Dodge Messenger, also, is very conservative editorially.

I don't think newspaper endorsements matter a whole lot to voters, although they are written by people who actually sat down with these folks and took their measure, so they have some value.

Branstad's opponents, Vander Plaats and Rod Roberts, can point to them as more evidence that Mr. Four-Term is the establishment's choice. And if the media likes him, he must be squishy, moderate and flawed. But truthfully, they would have enjoyed an endorsement  boost.

Speaking of...I was a little surprised that The Des Moines Register endorsed Tom Fiegenin the Democratic U.S. Senate primary. But Fiegen has a good command of the issues,  is passionate and isn't afraid to take politically courageous/crazy positions, like ending ethanol tax breaks or sending 20,000 troops to the Mexican border. That's the sort of unusual stuff that appeals to editorial writers used to having candidates walk in an spew conventional talking points.

The front-runner, Roxanne Conlin is well-financed and well-known, but message-wise, she's a conventional Democratic candidate. She's going to win Tuesday, but I don't get a sense that she's sparking much enthusiasm among gloomy Democrats. Perhaps that will change.

Bleeding Heartland has a very thorough linkfest of the race.

Meanwhile, The Iowa Independent has a great summary of legislative primary races across the state. It's the start of the critical battle for control of the General Assembly this fall.

Still groggy, but the fog is slowly lifting. More later.