GALLERY: Time to change course, Branstad says in C.R. stop

It had all the trappings of a victory tour, but former Gov. Terry Branstad insisted he's taking nothing for granted a week before the Nov. 2 election.

The enthusiasm and grass roots involvement he's seeing on his “Road to Victory” tour only indicate that Iowans are ready for a change, but the election isn't in the bag.

“We've got to finish it strong,” he said Oct. 26 after a rally with more than 100 supporters, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, at the Kirkwood Hotel in Cedar Rapids.

“The reason we're singing to the choir, why we're speaking to the choir, is because they've got to sing to their friends, neighbors and relatives and get them out to vote,” Branstad said.

Iowa can't afford to “stay the course” with first-term Democrat Gov. Chet Culver, said Branstad, who was flanked by the entire Republican slate of statewide candidates.

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Based on what he's seen and heard over the past year on the campaign trail, Branstad said it's time to chart a new path toward more jobs and less government, towards restoring Iowa's leadership in education and toward raising family incomes.

“The choice Iowans face is our vision and our goals versus our opponent's stay the course, status quo approach, which hasn't worked,” Branstad said. “There is one thing I know, we can't afford to stay the course. It's not sustainable. We're going in the wrong direction. We need to change course,”

“It's time for change,” Sean Kincaid agreed. The 19-year-old Cedar Rapids resident said the “change we can believe from two years ago went a direction I don't believe in.”

Besides, he added, Branstad had a great record in his four terms as governor from 1983 to 1999 “And I hope he can repeat it.”

That experience attracted RaeJean Elson from Marion even if there were a few bumps in the road during the Branstad administration.

“I'll take the minuses I had with Branstad over the minuses we have now, “Elson said. “Branstad has been there before and knows what to do to fix our problems.”

It's rare that voters have such a “such a clear-cut choice.” according to Romney, who was making his second visit to Iowa since the 2008 presidential election.

“In this case, it's not like one person saying they are going to do something and they've never done it before and somebody else saying they're going to do something else and you have to hope one of them will actually deliver what they promise,” said Romney, who was the runner-up in the Iowa precinct caucuses in 2008.

“In this case, you have two people who've both been governor and you can compare the records of the two people,” he said, telling the crowd Branstad was someone who came in “during high unemployment, who created jobs and kept government small.”

He predicted that Nov. 2 will not only bring Branstad's leadership back to Iowa, but nationwide there will be a “remarkable rejection” of the policies of President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and their liberal policies.

Romney, who had appearances scheduled for Branstad in Dubuque, Maquoketa, DeWitt and Bettendorf, made no mention of his 2012 plans. He signed autographs and posed for pictures after the rally, but did not take questions from media.

That didn't stop Steve Rhinehart of Cedar Rapids from speculating that Romney's visit might have been as much an election two years from now as the election next week.

“Today's probably the kick-off for 2012,” he said.

Culver was in Iowa City to talk about Iowa receiving a $230 million grant to develop a high-speed passenger rail connection to the Quad Cities and Chicago. He also had campaign stops planned in Washington, Knoxville and Fairfield.