Chris Christie meets Richard Nixon in the Heartland
Fixed the AP title. Originally was, "Iowa's popular governor suddenly put on defense"
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — In Terry Branstad's nearly 20 years as governor of Iowa, he has earned a reputation for steady management, frugality and a distinct absence of drama. Gray-haired, smiling and always attired in a crisp business suit, he's been a model of Midwestern stability and owner of a public approval rating over 60 percent.
But the 67-year-old governor now finds himself in an unfamiliar position. He's fending off multiple mini-scandals and has become a political target in a mid-term campaign that was supposed to be about the Democratic president's problems, not his.
In the last few weeks, Branstad has come forward grim-faced to face questions about why his administration pushed dozens of state officials out of their jobs and paid some to keep quiet about it; whether it kept a blacklist of banned former employees, contrary to a judge's opinion about the legality, and whether an appointee was mishandling unemployment cases.
The latest eruption came Tuesday, when he abruptly fired an administrator he had been defending for weeks.
full: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/iowas-popular-governor-suddenly-put-defense
C'mon, Iowa Democrats, GOTV in November please! From this excerpt, looks like Richard Nixon meets Chris Christie in the Heartland.
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