Why Iowa and Chet Culver matter

If there's one thing I learned while I was running for President, it's that Iowa matters.

That's why today, I'm asking for you to help my friend, Chet Culver, Democratic candidate for governor in Iowa. The Iowa governor's seat is ranked as Karl Rove's #1 target for a Republican gubernatorial pickup in 2006.In fact, David Broder of the Washington Post said earlier this year:

"The campaigns in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin will tell us more about the direction of the country and the shape of the 2008 presidential battleground than any of the battles for Capitol Hill."

As always, Iowa is a key bellwether. Help make a statement for 2006 and 2008. Please contribute to Chet Culver's campaign today!

Chet Culver has the experience, the commitment, and the leadership to not only win this race, but also to make Iowa better as governor. From his days as a public school teacher and successful football coach to his service as Secretary of State, Chet knows what it takes to help Iowans. That includes increasing teachers' pay, raising Iowa's minimum wage, and using alternative energy resources to fuel the world, create good jobs, and help break our nation's dependence on foreign oil. Chet will be a wonderful governor and his wife, Mari, who I met on my last trip to Iowa, will be a great first lady.

What can I say about Jim Nussle, Chet's opponent? Well for one thing, he took $15,000 from Tom Delay's political action committee, and then, not surprisingly, voted against investigating Tom DeLay's good friend and convicted felon, Jack Abramoff.

Jim Nussle has been nothing but a rubberstamp for President Bush in Congress. Since he became chair of the House Budget Committee, Jim Nussle and George W. Bush have turned a two-hundred-billion-dollar federal budget surplus into a four-hundred-billion-dollar deficit -- the largest in history. So it should come as no surprise that George W. Bush returned the favor by raising over $1 million for Nussle in one night at an April fundraiser.

This quid pro quo may work in Washington, but do we really want a guy who is mortgaging our children's future to run the state of Iowa?

And while Chet has been fighting to increase wages for workers, Nussle has voted against raising the minimum wage time and again while accepting pay raises for himself of over $30,000 since the last time the minimum wage was increased.

This is not the kind of leadership that we need in America -- and certainly not the kind of leadership we need in the governor's office of a critical swing state like Iowa.

Show Chet the strength of the Clark community.

Contribute to Chet's campaign today!

Chet is currently leading the race by single digits. But given Jim Nussle's ties to Tom DeLay and the power brokers in Washington, we can expect a full-scale barrage of negative attacks on Chet.

We need to make sure Chet Culver has the resources he needs to fight back against these attacks.

Will you help Chet fight back by giving $100, $50, or whatever you can afford to his campaign today?

The Clark community has already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for critical 2006 races. Now we need to step up to the plate once more.

Thank you for supporting Chet today, and thank you for your continued support of worthy candidates across America.

Sincerely,