Lundby and the Republicans blink first:
The confirmation of three appointees to the state Board of Regents was in jeopardy until Republican senators on Thursday agreed to support them in exchange for written assurances from Culver, a Democrat, that the next person he names to the high-profile board will be from western Iowa.
That opportunity will come in 2009 when the terms of three regents expire - or sooner if there is a resignation.
The Senate math looks good enough that in `08 the Dems may pick up the four seats they need to make the GOP irrelevant to the confirmation process. Also, by that time the four new Regents will leave their mark on the process, the coaching controversies will settle down, and the UI might even have a president.
Republicans overplayed a hand that was weak to begin with, not even so much on these nominations but on Gene Meyer’s appointment to lead the Iowa Department of Public Safety. They ate their own on that one, and West Des Moines Republicans were up in arms at the rejection of their popular ex-mayor. Todd Dorman at the QC Times writes at some length about this.
And yes, I called it wrong. That was based on the line-in-the-sand posturing of the initial rhetoric. So they madde two mistakes: they staked too much on this, and then once they had done so they backed down too easy and settled for an IOU.
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