Caffeinated Thoughts is interviewing with Republican candidates who are running to replace the Democrat governor of Iowa. Iowa is his home state. He’s interviewed my two favorite candidates for the post, Christian Fong and Chris Rants. Fong is the private sector business executive who is solid on family values, and Rants is the policy expert who has specific ideas on how to solve the problems that Iowa is facing.
Christian Fong
He is the son of a Chinese immigrant and Nebraska farm girl, and as his website claims is a “product of the American dream.” He graduated high school at 16. He earned his B.S. from Creighton at 19. He also holds an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College.
He is currently an executive with AEGON USA in Cedar Rapids and serves as chair for The Generation Iowa Commission. He also founded and is President and CEO of Corridor Recovery, a non-profit flood relief organization that coordinated recovery efforts after the Cedar Rapids Flood of 2008.
We discussed his decision to run for Governor, why he believes he should be the GOP nominee, spending cuts, his plan to cut the state’s income tax, creating private sector jobs, the Iowa Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision, abortion, school choice, and Iowa’s growing prison population.
Here’s the MP3 of the interview with Christian Fong. (38 minutes)
Christian Fong’s blog is here.
Chris Rants
Rants first elected to represent Iowa House District 54 (Sioux City and Sergeant Bluff) in 1992 and still serves his district today in that capacity. In 2003 was elected Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives and served as Speaker until 2006. He is one of six Republicans running for Governor.
We discussed a variety of different topics including state spending, property taxes, the Iowa Supreme Court ruling, abortion, what his priorities would be as Governor, our growing prison population, and why he decided to run.
One thing I certainly learned is that if you want to know what Chris thinks, just ask. Also of all of the candidates running I would classify him as the policy wonk of the bunch. Especially when it comes to the budget. He has also been talking up providing specific ideas for state government, and has many of those ideas listed at 99 Ideas.org.
Here’s the MP3 of the interview with Chris Rants. (60 minutes)
The latest poll shows the Democrat governor is vulnerable
The latest Des Moines Register poll shows these match-ups:
- Culver (33%) vs Branstad (57%)
- Culver (37%) vs Vander Plaats (45%)
- Culver (42%) vs Rants (35%)
- Culver (42%) vs Fong (34%)
The Des Moines Register is a left-wing paper, in my opinion, so the results are probably skewed toward the Democrat.
Why policies are interesting
Some of my Christian readers are mostly interested in apologetics who haven’t thought much about politics and economics. Listening to these interviews will provide you with some ideas about the kinds of issues that Christians should be interested in. It’s not just social issues – it’s school choice, tax cuts, runaway government spending, and a host of other issues that affect the way you live out your Christian life. I like listening to what politicians can do to make my life more free, more secure and more prosperous.
Shane has a rundown of all 6 Republican candidates for the Iowa governorship here.
WINTERY KNIGHT 