The theme of those speaking is what this crowd expects to hear: Reid and Pelosi are bringing the country down, killing jobs, killing the economy, stepping on the Constitution. What the country needs is smaller government, stronger jobs and economic growth, and greater fiscal responsibility, and Republicans can deliver.

Speakers included Republican Party of Iowa Co-chair Jim Kurtenbach, Representatives Steve King and Tom Latham, Senator Chuck Grassley, Former Governor and Candidate Terry Branstad, and Republican Party of Iowa Chair Matt Strawn.

Terry’s speech was the most heavily targeted at his opponent (Governor Chet Culver), hitting on all of the same issues we’ve heard on the campaign trail and in this week’s debate. Of the warm-up speeches his was probably the longest. Terry was very warmly received by this crowd, and he also took the time to mention all of the state constitutional office candidates.

A nice video tribute to the late President Ronald Reagan was part of the program, which included highlights from some of his best speeches over the years.

Matt Strawn gave a great talk on the importance of stepping up now and making sure we get as many principled conservative Republicans elected this fall as we can, as he introduced Sarah Palin.

So, what did Sarah have to say?

Sarah complimented Iowa, complimented Terry Branstad, then talked about staying focused on the 2010 election and not the 2012 election, meaning she wasn’t going to talk about whether she is running for President in 2012 or not.

She talked about the need to elect leaders who respect “We the People”, like Senator Grassley, Tom Latham, Steve King, and then mentioned her endorsement of Brenna Findley.

What does “We the People” mean, anyway? Sometimes this term is being used lately in a context that sounds like it is equivalent to “We the Conservatives”. Sorry for the tangent.

Sarah went on to talk about how competition (in primaries) is good, but that it is now time to unite. If we want to stop Obama, Pelosi and Reid, then now is the time to unite. She talked about the need to move on now after having lost primaries. And the Need to set aside internal power struggles for the sake of the party. The need is great going into the mid-term elections.

Sarah then went into an extended criticism of the Press and emphasis on the importance of holding the Press accountable when they are telling untruths. She even Called some of the media “cowards”. She made a number of suggestions about what she thought party leadership should be doing right now.

I think she’s running for RNC Chair.

sarah said that Voters and patriots will restore America. Our (Republican) candidates will bring back constitutional government. She agrees with Obama that there are better days ahead… starting on November 2.

Sarah went on to provide a list of the problems with the current administration and Congress. Culminating with the President’s “foolish” attempts to run a conciliatory foreign policy with our enemies, in stark contrast to Reagan’s strong support of allies and strong confrontational hold against our enemies.

She believes that Principles and People will help hold our nation together, and that it’s time for a national rediscovery and renewal.

Overall, her speech was very pro-business, pro-individual, pro-radical renewal, and very contrary to current federal policies.

And finally the biggest philosophical dichotomy we struggle with against Democrats today: we don’t need to fundamentally transform America, we need to restore America.  Great line, strongly received.

Although I agree with much of what Sarah had to say tonight, I will say I feel like I’ve been riding on a bullet train as she dropped a lot of already well-worn (literally word for word what I hear day after day from a variety of conservative sources) sound bytes as I passed by.  She basically covered much of what conservatives are frustrated with in our current government and many of the principles that conservatives are anxious to see drive what our government does (and does not do).

Nothing that she shared tonight compelled me to hold her up (despite my support of her two years ago) as a strong candidate for President. But I do think she can continue to be a strong voice for the movement, the party, and for people who feel they are not being heard.

And many of those people may think this gives her credibility as a Presidential candidate. That’s okay… but I don’t agree. At least not yet.  As I said before, she states a lot of what I agree with at a very high level, but I want to see some meat in the form of detailed policy statements.  My friend Shane Vander Hart tells me I need to read some of her recent writings, which I will do.

Anyhow, it was very encouraging to see so many Republicans gathered to celebrate our history of strong conservative values, and to get enthused for the campaign we are fighting this year. Hats off to the Republican Party of Iowa for an awesome job with this event! And thanks to Danielle Plogmann (RPI Communications Director) for doing a great job providing for the press and bloggers!

At the blogging table we had Craig Robinson (the Godfather), Shane Vander Hart (the Preacher, and Sarah’s number 1 fan in the Iowa Blogosphere), Albert Bregar (hizzoner), Grant Young (he never said “epic” tonight) and the folks from The Cool Conservative.

• 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 seated next to Bill Northey, Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture. I had a good chat with Bill about the upcoming budget work in his department, and it sounds like everyone is putting the nose to the grindstone!

Governor Branstad was there, as well as Bob Vander Plaats. I’m assuming the Rod Roberts and Chris Rants were also there, but I did not get a chance to see them. Other candidates that I happened to see included:

• George Eichhorn, running for Secretary of State
• Dave Funk, Brad Zaun (Iowa Senator from Urbandale), and Mark Rees, all three running for US House District 3
• Chris Reed and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, both running for US House District 2

I saw Dave Vaudt as well… Tom Latham was not able to attend the event.

Overall, the event was encouraging and a great opportunity to connect with folks I had not seen in a while.   Although Republicans are in the minority, our legislators are ready to do the hard work of helping reduce unnecessary spending and fight for Iowans rights.

Video presentations from David Vaudt, who criticized Democrats 30% slash of his budget as an attempt to “muzzle the taxpayers’ watchdog” and Bill Northey who wants to see more republicans in the state capital.

Representatives Tom Latham and Steve King could not attend, but they probably had a good excuse since they are working in Washington tonight.  Both provided videos where they spoke to the health care bill being debated today.  Both are trying to kill it.  King stated that ”Iowans need to speak out until the bill is mortally wounded with a stake in its heart!”

Huge applause came for Senator Grassley as he stepped on the stage to speak.

Quotes from Chuck Grassley: “Our common focus is leadship and vision for the future.”, “Iowans of every political stripe were telling me, both by words and by action, that they are scared.” “For the first time in the history of the United States the government wants to tell us we must buy something.”  Grassley also mentioned that Republicans have a 200 page bill as an alternative to Democrats 1,995 page bill.  “They want to redistribute wealth, they want to take property without just compensation, and that is not Constitutional.  That won’t happen on my watch.”

Quotes from Matt Strawn: “It’s a good week to be a Republican, not just because of how we won, but how we were able to show the distinctions between Republicans and Democrats to the voters.”, “Iowans are desperate for competent leadership.”  “Real leaders don’t sign the largest budget in the states history and then try to convince iowans otherwise.” 

Pawlenty: “Chuck Grassley has changed Washington more than Washington has change him.” “(Re: Virginia and New Jersey) We need to launch the same comeback across America.” 

Tim Pawlenty provided a stimulating speech to Republicans in Iowa tonight.  It was clear before too long that he was working on his 2012 campaign, but provided ammunition and motivation to push folks toward 2010 as well.

All of the candidates for Governor provided strong speeches, each providing their own unique angle on pretty much the same message: Culver is making a mess of things, we need to cut spending, fix the definition of Marriage, bring more jobs to Iowa by making the state more business friendly. 

Tonight was the first big night for Republican activists to get a taste of Terry Branstad 2.0 (or perhaps 2.1).   He seemed a little rough tonight, starting out hesitatingly, but he eventually warmed up and did well. 

A major benefit of tonight’s event is the continued opportunity for activists to hear not just stump speeches, but ideas.  Although Republicans will be selecting one person to run against Chet Culver, the combined voices of all of the candidates bring some great perspective, great ideas, great concepts to merge together into a platform that our candidate for governor, whoever that ends up being, can bring.  The crowd tonight was well engaged… the big challenge is to keep them and voters engaged through the coming year and maintaining focus.

You can watch the entire event at CSPAN’s web site shortly.  We will provide a direct link to the video tomorrow.