Out in Greene County, Iowa

Yes, that pompadour hairdo Terry Branstad now has is goofy, but it frees up the rest of us guys

By CHUCK OFFENBURGER
January 27, 2010
COOPER, IOWA

As most readers of this Internet site know, I’m one of the few Republicans who, from the moment we first heard talk that Terry Branstad might try to make a political comeback, has been saying, “No! Bad idea! Don’t do it!”

But he’s done it anyway.

The 63-year-old Branstad, who served four terms as governor from 1983-’99, is into his second week on his “Leading Iowa’s Comeback” tour, which is what he’s named his new campaign for governor. He launched his campaign with a big rally in Des Moines at the State Historical Building. What did using that location suggest? And now he’s touring the state trying to get Iowans excited about a back-to-the-future kind of government strategy for this new century. Déjà vu!

I’m still opposed.

I want to say again that, yes, I was a strong supporter of Branstad in his first four terms, and I wrote favorably about him then in my Des Moines Register columns. But enough’s enough. I think his campaign now is stunting the Iowa Republican Party. It’s a terrible affront to the good Republican candidates who got into the gubernatorial race before he did. It is sending an awful message to younger Iowans, those in their 30s and 40s who should be moving into leadership positions now but are being denied by Baby Boomers who won’t leave the stage. You can read more of my objections by checking the earlier columns, which you can get by clicking here and here.

However, I concede Branstad has set-up and is now running his campaign well. He seems to be generating lots of favorable press coverage.

And there is one other thing he is clearly doing – he is liberating the rest of us old dogs to do whatever we damned well want with our hair!

Have you seen that new swept-back hairdo Branstad is sporting? It’s the talk of the state, and yet I haven’t seen a word written about it yet. He’s doing a comb-back on the top and sides, but I notice from different photographs that it doesn’t always seem to behave.