Hard Work and Positive Message Key to Republican Victories

Senator Tim Kapucian, Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, and Representative Peter Cownie were the speakers at the Conservative Breakfast Club Tuesday morning. Attendees were asked to write their names down at the door for Department of Homeland Security records, joked Republican Party of Iowa Treasurer Darryl Kearney.

Senator Kapucian of Keystone led the group of speakers. He decided to run for office last year after being approached by former Senator John Putney who decided not to run for re-election. Kapucian lives and farms right where he was born and raised. In 1993 he served as the President of the Iowa Pork Producers Association. Like so many newly elected Republican legislators he contributes his successful senate bid to hard work and the positive Republican message he ran on.

Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey followed. He ran in 2006 because he did not think the Department of Agriculture was getting the attention it needed. In 2002 Iowa agricultural sales equaled $12 billion dollars. In 2008 sales increased to $20 billion making Iowa number two in the nation behind California. Secretary Northey pointed out that business and agriculture are clearly the industries of the state yet this administration’s focus has been on growing government and not prosperity. While emphasizing the need for a Republican governor and new leadership at the Capitol, he clearly stated that he like the position he was in and "was not making any announcements."

Representative Cownie ran for office because he wanted to see more young people stay in the state as Iowa’s population has become stagnant and growing older in recent years. He is one of about 9 children and is sad that only a few of them are left in Iowa. He says that if the jobs are here, our college grads will stay here and others will come back home. Cownie and his wife Mary, who was also his campaign manager, knocked on every door in his district and lit-dropped extensively. Although Obama won the district and a third-party libertarian opponent took 500 votes, Cownie still won through hard work and a positive message.