Culver takes wait-and-see attitude toward primary debates

By James Q. Lynch 

The Gazette

DES MOINES – Gov. Chet Culver is taking a wait-and-see approach to debating a Democratic primary challenger.

The governor called it “premature” to talk about the June 8 primary before knowing who – if anyone – will be on the ballot.

“We'll see is I have an opponent first,” Culver said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference where he also defended his recent Iraq visit as consistent with his duties as commander-in-chief of the Iowa National Guard.

“The filing deadline in March 16, so I'll probably have more to say, in terms of who is actually on the ballot, who's not, at that time,” the former Iowa secretary of state said. The deadline for filing nomination papers to be on the primary ballot is March 19.

So far, Jon Narcisse, a Des Moines businessman, is the only announced challenger. Like Culver, he has not filed the necessary nomination papers with the Secretary of State's Office.

Narcisse would like to debate Culver, but he doubts he'll get the opportunity.

“He should debate me,” Narcisse said. “Culver would be better off dropping out of the race than debating me.”

If Culver's campaign staff lets the first-term governor debate, “that would be political malpractice,” Narcisse said.

Culver campaign manager Abby Curran agreed with her boss it's not the time to be talking about debates.

The governor, she said, “is focused on working hard to pass policies and reform that will improve the lives of all of Iowa's hard-working families.”

“He is not focused on politics of politicians,” Curran said.

That was the response Narcisse anticipated.

“I think that there's a better chance that a Prairie Meadows jockey will agree to a cage fight with Quinton ‘Rampage' Jackson than Chet Culver will debate Jonathan Narcisse,” he said.