Tags
wristbands tag wristband unity plan red bands livestrong Iowa Strong iowa handband bands

DES MOINES — The top dogs in Iowa’s Republican Party pulled red bands over their wrists and announced a party “unity plan” at the Iowa State Fair Thursday.

The three-pronged “Iowa Strong” campaign is a play on cyclist Lance Armstrong’s “Livestrong” effort with Republican red wristbands that show support for policy goals as opposed to yellow wristbands that show support for cancer research.

But what it means exactly to pull a red band over your hand is still a work in progress. Instead, the announcement was accompanied with a handout of some broad policy proposals, such as eliminating red tape and burdensome regulations and saving taxpayers’ money by operating an efficient and effective government.

“We’re kind of laying this out today at the 30,000-foot level,” said House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha. “You should anticipate that some time next month, we will be laying these (policies) out in greater detail.”

Paulsen joined Gov. Terry Branstad, Iowa Senate Minority Leader Jerry Behn of Boone, Iowa Republican Party Chairman AJ Spiker and other members of the state’s GOP political leadership.

Paulsen and House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer of Garner preside over a 60-40 majority in the House. But Democrats have a two-seat majority in the Iowa Senate.

Branstad said he doesn’t expect all the candidates to agree with everything party leadership decides to roll out as part of Iowa Strong proposals, but he “is confident there will be broad support” for the policy specifics.

State Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky, whose party booth is only a few feet away from the Republican booth at the fair, said the Republicans haven’t been able unify since Branstad took office.

She said the call by Spiker for Republicans to oust Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins, which party leaders such as Branstad and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley downplayed, was a good example.

“They haven’t had any unity in two years,” Dvorsky said. “They haven’t had any in a long time.”

The announcement came as a hyper-political week wraps up in Iowa when most of the attention focused on politics at the national, as opposed to the state, level.

President Barack Obama took a three-day tour of the state that began Monday in Council Bluffs and ended Wednesday in the Quad-Cities.

Republicans countered with some of their most-charismatic stars. Newly anointed vice presidential pick Paul Ryan of Wisconsin stopped by the Iowa State Fair on Monday, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was in Marshalltown and Cedar Falls on Tuesday.

The speeches from both sides focused on taxes and Medicare.