Several Democrats thinking of running for Governor

Several of the democrats who may run for governor in 2006 were in Boston last week, courting the state party activists who were delegates at their party’s national convention. Many of the delegates to the national conventions are the folks who work in the trenches of campaigns, putting up yard signs, making phone calls, and making the right introductions. Others help raise money or lead labor organizations that help turn-out voters. If Tom Vilsack rethinks his promise to only serve two terms as governor and seeks a third term in 2006, then he laid some groundwork in Boston by praising Iowa convention delegates for working on his two statewide campaigns.A handful of other potential gubernatorial candidates were in Boston, including Attorney General Tom Miller, who ran for governor once before in 1992; Lieutenant Governor Sally Pederson; Senate Democrat Leader Michael Gronstal and Secretary of State Chet Culver. The slimmed down Culver was very visible, raising the money to pay for Monday morning’s Iowa breakfast and serving as emcee for the roster of speakers at the breakfast, which included his own father, former U.S. Senator John Culver, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Pederson says she hasn’t decided whether she’ll run for the top job in state government, and is just focused on the two years that remain on her current term as Lieutenant Governor. She gave a speech to Iowa Delegates Wednesday morning, after Barak Obama and Teresa Heinz-Kerry had talked at the convention. Pederson said after such dynamic speakers, she felt like she had been asked to perform with the Boston Pops and only had her kazoo. Gronstal, the Senate Democrat Leader who’s from Council Bluffs, says a national party convention is a pretty good venue for networking, But Gronstal says it’s “more important” to court votes “in the towns and cafes and grain elevators of Iowa.”