Branstad's Latest Sign Opens Up Some Eyes

I saw the sign. It opened up my eyes. OK not really.

Actually, what I saw saw was The Register's article over the weekend reporting that Terry E. Branstad is thinking even harder about running for governor. The 62-year-old Republican ended a four-term run in 1999, but is now considering a comeback to take on Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat.

Some polls show he could do well. Some Republican money guys are salivating at the idea of a retro run. Now the GOP race will sit in a holding pattern until the great man makes his intentions known.

Branstad hasn't been on a ballot since 1994, when he beat Bonnie "Don't Gamble on" Campbell.

Those were the days.

That's  the same year Ace of Base hit with "The Sign."

We began the long, slow-speed chase of the OJ Simpson saga.  Tonya Harding knee-capped her way into infamy. A baseball strike led to the cancellation of the World Series.

Nebraska won the national title in football. George Foreman won the heavyweight title, paving the way for a revolution in home grilling.

The Chunnel opened. Kurt Cobain ended. Lorena Bobbitt was found not guilty. Quite a year.

It was also the year of the great Republican tidal wave that swept the GOP into control of Congress. So I guess the GOP can't help but be a little nostalgic.

I started 1994 as a sports editor at a twice-weekly paper in Iowa Falls, my first job out of college, and ended it in my first daily newspaper gig in Fort Dodge. I made $320 per week at The Messenger. They offered me $300 but I was a very shrewd negotiator.

As I arrived in Fort Dodge in October of '94, one of my first assignments was to show up on a Saturday morning and interview Branstad, who was stopping in during a campaign swing.

I must admit It wasn't a special moment. I have no recollection of the substance. He had survived a tough primary challenge from Fred Grandy and was on his way to crusing past Campbell. It was probably a pretty standard exchange. "Running like I'm 10 points behind," etc.

When I was done, I typed a story in monochrome digital green characters on an ancient terminal screen. Looked like it came from the bridge of the original Star Trek.

It eventually was then printed on a long strip of paper in the composing room,. The strip was was sliced with an X Acto knife, rolled through a hot-wax machine and stuck on a page.

There was no digital newspaper design. The story didn't appear on the Internet because the newspaper didn't yet have a Web site. I didn't have Internet access at my apartment until the following year. A cell phone, for me, was still three years away.

Man, that was a long time ago. So many changes since.

So now Branstad is considering wading into a campaign where he'll encounter snark nonstop form pesky bloggers and twittering scribes and every Joe and Jane within 10 feet armed with video-shooting, Web-posting smart phone. No place is safe. No gaffe goes unpunished.  

The haze of time that has settled around the low points of his four terms will be blown away. In its place will be intensive scrutiny. No sales tax increase or veto will remain unturned.

Maybe he's up for it. Maybe he's not. We'll all be waiting for him to give us The Sign that signals his next move.