Plan B For Matt Schultz

One day left before the final filing deadline in the single term of lame duck secretary of state Matt Schultz, and he stole the headline from his office.

It's official... pic.twitter.com/Q2ncYgUIlM
— Matt Schultz (@VoteMattSchultz) August 14, 2014

A Madison County Republican convention nominated Schultz Tuesday for county attorney, as opposed to the 3rd District convention which eliminated Schultz first among the serious candidates. He'll face Democratic incumbent Julie Forsyth in November. A rumor that his campaign slogan will be "More Felons = Less Voters" was unconfirmed at press time.

Schultz's elected office prior to his upset 2010 win over Mike Mauro was 119 miles west of Madison County, on the Council Bluffs Council. (Almost as bad as Iowa City City Council. Or Iowa City, Iowa, City Council?) He listed a Madison County address for his congressional campaign. He finished third in the county in the congressional primary. Madison County was the only county carried by eventual convention winner David Young.

Schultz also announced an 8:30 a.m. "press conference regarding the Iowa Constitution" tomorrow.

Compared to the Schultz announcement, the filings in his office today are anticlimactic. The top of the Libertarian ticket, Lee Heib for governor and Douglas Butzier for US Senate, filed.

Ruth Smith of Lamoni has the unique distinction of losing races to both Kim Reynolds and Joni Ernst in the same Senate district. Those runs, and a couple prior lossess for supervisor, were as a Democrat. She's filed for US Senate as an independent, so she gets to lose to Ernst again.

Smith appears to have become disaffected with the Democrats sometime after her loss to Ernst in the early 2011 special election to replace new Lt. Gov. Reynolds. In 2012 she ran as an independent, despite the lack of a Democrat in the race, against Rep. Joel Fry. Her amateurish web site emphasizes campaign finance reform.

Watch tomorrow for the nominee in tonight's House 8 Republican convention to replace Henry Rayhons, a couple more Libertarian US House candidates, and any other under the radar surprises.