Culver, Branstad make election day pitches

Gubernatorial rivals Chet Culver and Terry Branstad are making last-minute appeals for votes today and urging their supporters to cast their ballots now that Election Day has arrived in Iowa.

Polls in 1,774 precincts in today's general election will be open until 9 p.m., after which Culver, 44, a one-term incumbent Democrat, and Branstad, 63, a former four-term Republican governor bidding for a political comeback, will know who will be the voters' choice to lead the state for the next four years.

Branstad started the day by casting his ballot in Ogden near his rural Boone home. He predicted a “great turnout” and said “I'm very confident that we'll get a great vote of confidence out of the people” because they're “really motivated, they're not happy with the direction of the country or the state, they're looking for new leadership and they want to restore fiscal responsibility and put the focus on jobs.”

Culver, who voted early, accompanied with wife, Mari, to their Des Moines polling place today with their two children – an entourage the governor described as “Team Culver.” He said he remains confident he will emerge victorious in his re-election quest after completing a grueling campaign schedule the past week.

“It feels really good,” Culver told reporters. “We have left it all on the field. We've made a great closing argument.” It comes down to executing the ground attack of getting Democrats, independents and Iowans who don't want to “go back to the future” with Branstad – Iowa's governor from 1983 to 1999 -- to the polls, he said. “I don't care if it's one vote or 100,000 votes -- we won by 100,000 last time -- we're going to win this time.”

Along with the governor's race, Iowa voters casting ballots today also will decide who fills one Iowa's two U.S. Senate seats, five congressional slots, five statewide offices, all 100 Iowa House seats and 25 Iowa Senate seats. Iowans also will decide whether to retain 74 judges and pass judgment on two constitutional ballot issues, as well as weighing in on a number of local races.