Branstad: GOP House will Vote for Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Plebiscite

Republican gubernatorial candidate and former four-term governor Terry Branstad said Thursday that he will urge the Iowa House to pass a resolution supporting a public vote on gay marriage.  Candidate Branstad supports a constitutional amendment to forbid gay marriage and said he expects the GOP to retake control of the Iowa House in the 2010 elections.  Democrats currently hold a 56-44 seat edge on the Republicans, but Branstad expects the GOP will take eight to fifteen more  seats in the election.

Branstad's comments come alongside a flurry of interest in his candidate for lieutenant governor, freshman State Senator Kim Reynolds of Osceola, and her comments regarding civil unions.  In an interview with The Iowa Independent, Reynolds said that the state "could take a look at civil unions," while also saying that if abortion were successfully made illegal, the punishment for performing or having one should "be equivalent to [the punishment for] murder."

The civil unions comments raised eyebrows among the right wing of the Republican party, which was already critical of Branstad for his comments that were perceived  as sympathetic towards civil unions.  Conservatives, whom Reynolds was supposed to woo in a tour of counties conservative Republican Bob Vander Plaats won in the primary fight with Branstad, are now attacking Reynolds for her comments.

This spat highlights the still simmering split left over from the close primary (whose official results show Branstad won slightly less than fifty percent of the vote, and Vander Plaats was within ten percentage points of victory) and a conservative bid to get Vander Plaats on the ticket as Branstad's running mate despite the former governor's wishes.  Reynolds, Branstad's preference for lieutenant governor, won the spot with only 56 percent of the convention votes to Vander Plaat's 44 percent.

Vander Plaats has not endorsed Branstad and may potentially run as a third party candidate.  His non-endorsement thus far has drawn some criticism and questions as to how united the state GOP will be behind the Branstad/Reynolds ticket.

Reynolds (whose list of legislative accomplishments is relatively short) has been campaigning solo in counties Vander Plaats won in a bid to smooth over differences with Vander Plaats supporters.  Reynolds and Branstad traveled together to Newton and Marshalltown for events while the campaign launched a new advertisement statewide.

Despite the increased interest in the Republican primary this cycle, there are still significantly more registered Democrats in Iowa than there are registered Republicans.  However, that lead has been cut approximately in half by this primary election, and those registered for "No Party" still outnumber both the Republican and Democratic parties (separately) in Iowa.