I hope you and your friends can help Iowa keep a new "Iowa Renaissance" alive by training, retaining, and/or attracting top skills and "creative talent" in the world...

So far, everything has been going very well; filmmakers, musicians, artists, actors, comedians, etc. from Iowa have been doing well on the world state, and creative people have been coming to iowa to do these kinds of media(s) production work...

Iowa has gained the attention and the goodwill of the world with the Iowa Caucuses and the Iowa Supreme Court decision regarding gay marriage. This has been a slow, quiet boon for Iowa...

BUT, there is trouble ahead...

The Iowa Governors election WILL have real world consequences.

Former governor and current republican candidate Terry Branstad has been catering to the right-wing, promising, among other things, to be anti-gay marriage.

**this is totally unacceptable**

Recently, I saw a poll that said Terry Branstad is up 57% to Chet Culvers 31%.

That is a very steep hill to climb...

I have a game plan: Here is how you can help;

Incumbent Gov Chet Culver has publicly supported gay marriage, and praised the Iowa General Assembly for NOT taking up any discriminatory legislation.

That is a HUGE plus for Gov Chet Culver.

This aspect needs to be played up on the world stage. The best way to do this is by telling and sharing personal stories of real people with real lives...

And the easiest way to tell a story is with an image, so share pics!

Try to find and highlight one new person or couple every single day... one-a-day-every-day... in a steady drip-drip-drip-drip fashion.

Proverb: a slow drip will fill a tub. Proverb: even the biggest pile of rice is composed of individual grains.

When not highlighting real people, highlight other bright spots in Iowa.

Is the Iowa economy doing better? Did unemployment dip a little? Did Iowa get recognition doing something well? Find it. Share it.

Watch Iowa news like a hawk. Actively find good news and share it with friends, especially if it relates to the "high-end" of the "Iowa Renaissance".

Try to write, use, or say "Governor Chet Culver" as often as possible, to boost Governor Chet Culver's name recognition in the general publics "top of mind".

Try to run a positive campaign. Give Governor Chet Culver daily opportunities to be in the spotlight in a positive way.

On the other hand, Do NOT be fools...

Know that "the other side" will use every underhanded tactic.

Remember "Swift Boating", where a five-time draft-dodger and other chicken-hawks went after people who actually served, questioned their service, smeared their image...?

They not only got away with it, but successfully went on to be respected leadership in the "pro-troops" party!?!?

They will not hesitate to do the exact same thing again, or worse. Why?

Because they have been rewarded for this behavior in the recent past. It works. They know it works. They will reach for whatever tools work.

The other side will use "low road" tactics because they work, so you must be prepared to use them yourself... because they work.

Actively observe their low-life behavior, and be prepared to "sink to their level", however low that is.

Terry Branstad has has a long record as Governor, and has many weak spots that can be exploited.

For example, Terry Branstad had the highest unemployment of all time, even though Terry Branstad campaign has been saying "Gov Chet Culver has the highest unemployment in 24 years!!!"

except 2010 - 24 = 1986.

Governor Terry Branstad's administration started January 14, 1983, so it would be difficult for Terry Branstad to try and blame Jimmy Carter at the same time try to blame Barack Obama for the current economy.

I try to publicly ask Terry Branstad if the bad Iowa economy and unemployment in 1986 was his own fault or Ronald Reagans fault. So far... ::crickets::... I think more people should publicly ask him that question. Do it for the lurkers.

As another example, Terry Branstad refused to allow extradition of a prime suspect in the murder of a pregnant woman. There are lots of ways of making an issue out of this that would sink his credibility.

Also, prison populations expanded under Terry Branstads watch, especially for marijuana offenses. The long term consequences of Terry Branstads "tough on crime" administration is that now Iowa is laying off teachers at the same time as we are building a HUGE new state prison.

Terry Branstad supports the death penalty for your family, but when his own son killed two people in a reckless driving accident, Terry Branstad helped him get off with a slap on the wrist.

Iowa's disuse of capital punishment is another very bright spot on Iowas civil rights and limited government record. To move backward and re-adopt the death penalty would be another heavy blow to our states progress.

Then there are the kidnapped paperboys.

Terry Branstad is getting near retirement age, and has recently had ::cough:: "elective" ::cough:: heart surgery,

What is Terry Branstad doing farting around getting "elective" heart surgery when 1/4 of Iowans 65 and under don't even have health care insurance for "real" health care needs?

Maybe Iowa should give Terry Branstad a gold watch, thank him for his service, and put him out to pasture so he can "spend more time with his family".

There is a bottomless pit of history to dig up. Google for the angle that represents your point of view in interests.

Overall, I feel that Terry Branstad was probably a decent governor.

That makes it hard to "attack" the man for his public service.

Fortunately, Terry Branstad has an "Achilles Heel"

His name is Steve King, the right wing nut job who makes every iowan cringe every time his name is mentioned.

Website labels Steve King ‘eight times crazier than Michele Bachmann’

List of top stories Reddit has dug up on Steve King

Here are just two examples, and probably not the worst of what is out there. Ill keep digging during the election and post what I find.

Another angle is to attack Governor Terry Branstad and Rep Steve King for their continued involvement in the Roman Catholic Church.

During the Iowa Caucuses, through the whole 2008 election, through the first year of the Obama administration, and up to today, Sean Hannity has been on the radio 3 hours a day, playing Rev Wright's out-of-context "U S of K K K" ad nausea.

Sean Hannity now even has a contest where listeners are supposed to download Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Aint My America" and mixx it with clips of Rev Wright and Barack Obama saything things they find offensive.

Sean Hannity and the Right Wing Noise Machine harassed Barack Obama to the point where Obama had to publicly quit the church he had been a member of for 20 years.

If we try to be as "Fair and Balanced" as FoxNews, we would look into the "dirty little secrets" of the church Sean Hannity, Terry Branstad, and Steve King are members of.

If it is fair to use an out-of-context isolated incident of Rev Wright at Barack Obama's church to relentlessly smear Barack Obama...

Then is is fair to use a long established pattern of Child Rape and Official Catholic church cover-up, a cover up that implicates even The Pope, to relentlessly smear Sean Hannity, Terry Branstad, and Steve King.

Conservatives hate the "politically correct" so ask the "child molestation" question in a way that doesn't sugar coat what really goes on

Thanks in advance for your help.

ps. if i get 100 comments in this thread, I will tell the untold story of how a handful of friends stopped scHillary Clinton in Iowa, and put Barack Obama on the winning trajectory.