I attended this morning’s 2010 Republican Legislative Kickoff Breakfast. At least 200 people, including legislators, party leaders, lobbyists and candidates were in attendance. The event was opened by Jim Kurtenbach, Iowa Republican Party Co-chair. Brief speeches were given by:

• Steve King, US House District 5 Representative. Invocation and some comments. He acknowledged that the results of our work are in God’s hands.
• Linda Upmeyer , Iowa House Republican Whip. She reminded us to pray, work to get volunteers on campaigns, and raise the financial resources needed to win.
• Kraig Paulsen , Iowa House Republican Leader. He commented that he has a lot of love in his trunk, plus a few sticks of dynomite.
• Steve Kettering, Iowa Senate Republican Whip, He said “A comeback for Republicans is a comeback for all Iowans!”
• Paul McKinley, Iowa Senate Republican Leader. Paul related a story about meeting some US Department of Labor employees in New York who stayed at the Ritz Carlton at the government’s expense… their comment: “It’s a new day!”.
• Matt Strawn, Iowa Republican Party Chair. “Iowans have gotten a taste of what a Democrat dominated government is like” and “we have solutions”.

Through out the speeches, a consistent message of satisfaction that all Iowa Republicans in the 2009 voted consistently with the party, that we cannot support a budget that exceeds revenue, that we need to give Iowans the right to vote on the definition of Marriage, labor unions cannot be allowed to destroy Iowa businesses, and that Democrats are extremely vulnerable.

I was honored to sit next Royd Chambers from Sheldon, who was deployed with the Iowa Air National Guard to Kyrgyzstan during the 2009 session. I was also [...]

Today the Republican Party of Iowa finally ended one of the more unusual elections for party officers in recent memory, which included last week’s candidate forum. The new slate of officers are:

• Party Chair: Matt Strawn
• Party Co-chair: Jim Kurtenbach
• Party Treasurer: Matt Randall
• Party Secretary: Bill Schickel

Strawn is a 35-year-old businessman and co-owner of the Iowa Barnstormers Arena Football Team. Strawn’s focus in his campaign has been on better use of technology, communication and encouraging participation by younger Iowans in the political process.

After listening to Polk County GOP Chairman Ted Sporer (for the first time in a couple of months, by the way) on [...]