Google Time Travel Reminds Me Why Culver is in Trouble

Mysterious electronic quirks will result in odd Google search results now and again.  This morning I was looking for articles written this week about Iowa’s race for Governor.  Interestingly, the third result was from nearly a year ago, not this week, and it included a link to something I had written.  Shane Vander Hart’sCaffeinated Thoughts blog was considering Governor Chet Culver’s reelection chances.  I am thankful for the Internet glitch, because it reminded me of a few things and made me question what I was researching in the first place.

My piece dated October 6, 2009 was written in the wake of the Iowa Film Office debacle and after Culver had made a statement at a groundbreaking for a new state building that showed he possessed something less than a firm grasp on how the project was being funded.  The Governor said the project was exempt from the building moratorium he had instituted because the money had been appropriated before the ban.  When a reporter pointed out the building was being funded by a bond issue that was to be repaid with fees collected by the Utilities Board and not general fund dollars subject to the moratorium, the Governor said, “better yet!”  It was another bad moment for Culver.

I speculated that in order to win reelection, Culver was going to have to own up to his mistakes and work to build back the public’s trust.  So far, Culver has done the first part.  He went to the Iowa State Fair and apologized to Iowans and his campaign has aired a commercial with the same theme.  Unfortunately, the Culver team has done next to nothing about winning the voters’ trust.  A year after I wrote my post about what Culver needed to do to win, it is clear he has done little to do so.

I cheekily ended my post a year ago with, “Pretty soon he (Culver) is going to find himself asking voters if they share his vision for the future, or if they want to change course mid-stream.  Here is a hint, Governor.  If the voters answer, ‘better yet,’ you are in big trouble.”

Here we are in the Fall of 2010 and the Culver campaign is in big trouble.

My Google search started because I had just told a Facebook friend that it took more to win an election than saying “at least I am not my opponent.”  Part of Terry Branstad’s challenge to Culver is based on that, but he has staked out a number of strong policy positions and he has a long track record to show how he may behave in office this time.  Culver has not staked out many clear policy positions for his next term, or shown why he will be better than his opponent.

Culver has about 7 weeks to turn his campaign around.  He needs to stop apologizing, stop trying to make Branstad look bad and start demonstrating how he will be a better leader over the next few years than his opponent.  As I examine the ghosts I found on the Internet this morning, it occurs to me Culver may be about a year behind.

(Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com)

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.