IA-Gov, IA-05: Rep. Steve King Looking At Running For Governor

Time for another exciting edition of Washington Republicans Abandoning Ship!

In this chapter, we explore the gubernatorial aspirations of Iowa Republican Steve King, who hails from the rock-ribbed Republican Fifth District:

Rep. Steve King (R) is looking at a bid for governor in 2010, according to multiple local news sources. On a weekly public TV show taping this week, King said he was not sure whether he would challenge Gov. Chet Culver (D) but was looking at his options.

"There’s a duty for me, I think. I’ve made no decisions," King said on the program, according to the Associated Press. "It would be constructive for me at this point to say that the most important job right now is to bring together and reunify the Republican Party in this state."

King is one of several Republicans looking at running for governor. The four-term Republican represents the western part of the state, and his district would likely stay in Republican hands if King steps down to run for statewide office.

King is just the latest in a series of Republicans falling all over themselves to get the hell out of the House of Representatives. This is a natural consequence of being sunk so deep in the minority, 40 seats away from bringing the Speakership back home.

He is also emblematic of the highly risible Republican tactic of lurching further to the right in the wake of defeat. After a rousing Obama victory in Iowa coming hot on the heels of Democrat Chet Culver's handy victory in the 2006 Governor's race, it is not a moderate, but the most prominent of Iowa's militant right-wingers who has been propped up as the nominee for Governor.

If King is in fact the nominee in 2010, Culver will pulverize him.

King's House seat, unfortunately, is a different story. Democratic chances would be exceptionally slim even in an open-seat race. Not only was IA-05 the only district in Iowa to vote for McCain, but they did so in dramatic fashion, giving him a neat 10-point victory as Obama carried the state by the same 10-point margin.

The 2008 Democratic nominee in IA-05, the immortal Rob Hubler, managed to lose in even more dramatic fashion:

You never know when lightning will strike, but western Iowa is not exactly fertile territory for a Democratic pickup.

Still, every arch-winger out of the House is an advantage for Democrats.