Steve King announced via Twitter late Friday that he will not be running for Senate.
Since Tom Harkin said he would not be running for re-election, there has been speculation about who would run for the open senate seat. Democratic congressman Bruce Braley quickly announced, and seems to have a lock on the nomination. A PPP poll in February showed that King would easily win the GOP nomination, but would lose to Braley by 11 points in a state-wide race. Since then, King has been toying with the idea of running. Now the game begins for the GOP.
Several other possible GOP senate candidates have said previously that they will not run for the open seat, including Congressman Tom Latham, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, Ag Secretary Bill Northey, and Gov. Terry Branstad. That leaves a bunch of second tier candidates. There has been some speculation that there will be pressure for Latham to reconsider now that King has ruled out a run. Gov. Branstad said publicly that Latham would be the strongest candidate.
Karl Rove will be pleased that King will not be a candidate because of his "Todd Aiken problem."