Branstad promises 'a new day coming'

Former Gov. Terry Branstad is predicting he will win Tuesday's election against Democratic incumbent Chet Culver because he is offering a change of course in generating jobs for Iowans by helping private companies grow their businesses rather than looking to government for solutions.

“It's a new day coming,” Branstad told supporters at the kickoff of today's campaign fly-around with his GOP running mate Kim Reynolds.

I've never seen this much energy and enthusiasm,” said Branstad, 63, who previously served four terms as governor from 1983 to 1999. “This is my 12

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election campaign. I'm 11-0. Tomorrow will make it 12-0.”

Branstad said his message to Iowans is “help is on the way” after four years of government scandals, budget mismanagement and overspending under Culver's administration.

“We know that he loves Iowa and he's tried hard,” said Reynolds, a state senator from Osceola, “but the results speak for themselves and the status quo is just not good enough. Iowans deserve better and they deserve a leader like Terry Branstad that's going to change the course and get this state on the right track.”

Branstad said he is seeking to spur job growth by cutting the state corporate income tax rate in half and phasing down tax burdens for commercial and industrial property owners. He said Culver promised four years ago to address the high cost of commercial property taxes but did nothing. “The commercial property tax burden on Main Street business is crushing,” he said.

The GOP gubernatorial hopeful said Culver has tried to counter his tax-cut proposals with a late-arriving plan to offer middle- and lower-class taxpayers a $120 million income tax reduction that Branstad dismissed as “a last-minute idea to try to gin up a class warfare situation.”

“He cannot make up in couple of days what he's not done in four years,” Branstad said, laughing off Culver claims that he is outworking his GOP challenger in the campaign's closing days. Branstad said Culver is counting pass-through cities as campaign appearances on today's whistle-stop passenger train ride from the Quad Cities to Newton.

“It's going back to the 19

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century way of campaigning. Talk about going back in time. That is a real joke,” Branstad said.

The rural Boone Republican urged supporters to work hard to get out the vote on Tuesday – an effort his campaign said in an email message to Republicans that will make the difference between “an election-night party or a victory party” after the polls close at 9 p.m. on Tuesday.

“The question is do you like the status quo or do you think that we can do better, and I believe that Iowans want us to do better,” he said.