Narcisse: Culver's a nice guy, but not re-electable

When things go wrong for the current Governor of Iowa, Chet Culver, they really go wrong. There's now competition for his job, from within his own party. Jonathan Narcisse, I recently learned, is now running against Culver, with the winner being decided in a June primary here in Iowa. Here is a snip from the article below that says a lot about what Jon Narcisse wants to do for his state:

His campaign will be about restoring Iowa's world-class education system, lowering taxes and enabling a free market economy, streamlining state government to make it more efficient and transparent and developing a healthy lifestyle to fight the obesity epidemic.

I have mixed feelings about Jon Narcisse. There are conservative points of view that he has, and then he has a bit of a social progressive streak when it comes to some issues. For example:

Recent polling suggests to him [Narcisse] that Culver's electability has sunk so low that "the same people who said government is too small, taxes are too low, we ought to legalize dope and gay marriage is cool, still said they'd rather have Bob Vander Plaats," Narcisse said.

There you go; he mentioned Bob Vander Plaats, who is a social and fiscal conservative. Vander Plaats is in a huge primary fight against former (1983 to 1999) Iowa Governor Terry Brandstad. It could be an interesting election next fall should it be Vander Plaats vs Narcisse... Ya think?

He's confident Iowans have had enough and want to see their state restored.


"If people don't stand up and take this state back, it's not going to be taken back," he said. "If I fight for what's right, people will support me."

By JAMES Q. LYNCH, Courier Des Moines Bureau

Posted: Monday, March 1, 2010 8:13 pm

Jonathan Narcisse
Des Moines businessman
running for Democrat
nomination for GovernorCEDAR RAPIDS - Nothing personal, but Jon Narcisse doesn't think Chet Culver is up to being governor.

"Chet Culver is a nice guy," the Des Moines-based publisher of weekly newspapers said Monday. Narcisse supported Culver when he ran for secretary of state and again in 2006 when Culver was elected governor.

"Nice guy" goes only so far, said Narcisse, who is challenging Culver for the Democratic nomination for governor because he believes the incumbent "simply isn't re-electable."

"I've run a family business for years and I learned a long time ago that just because you like or care about someone doesn't mean you don't have to let them go," Narcisse, 46, said Monday as he kicked off an Eastern Iowa media tour that took him to Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Clinton and Waterloo.

He's hoping Democrats let Culver go when they vote in the June 8 primary. If they don't, Narcisse said he will run as an independent in November.

His complaint with Culver is that the governor "has not only failed in being a good governor, he also has let down core constituencies that supported him in 2006.

His campaign will give Democrats a chance to vote for a "real Democrat."

READ FULL STORY at WCFCourier.com

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