Republicans lay groundwork for ’06 governor race

Republicans who’re laying the groundwork for a campaign for governor in 2006 are meeting and greeting the 25-hundred Iowa republican activists who’re attending today’s state G-O-P convention in Des Moines. Congressman Jim Nussle is contemplating a bid for governor, and he hosted a reception last night for the G-O-P faithful. Senator Charles Grassley, the state’s most popular republican office-holder, says the convention is prime-time for building a network of supporters for a gubernatorial campaign. Grassley says “it’s just a no-brainer” that if republicans hope to field a good candidate in 2006, the candidates who plan to run “are going to have to get started very quickly.” Grassley himself thought about running for Governor back in 1998, but he ran for the Senate instead as Grassley said with his tenure in the Senate, he was in a position to do more good for Iowa in Washington. The Republican State Convention is to get underway at nine o’clock this morning. Last night, many of the delegates and other G-O-P faithful gathered at State Republican Party headquarters in tribute to former President Reagan.