Christian group renews pledge to sit out campaign over Branstad nomination

The Iowa Family Policy Center is prepared to make good on its threat not to support former Gov. Terry Branstad‘s campaign to unseat incumbent Gov. Chet Culver, and have sent an e-mail message to supporters encouraging them to do the same.

…The Iowa Family PAC has been clear about what we are looking for in political candidates. We owe it to God, and to those who sacrificially give to support the work of [Iowa Family Policy Center] Action and the Iowa Family PAC to hold fast to the standards that we established.

If and when a political party provides a candidate we can support, we will be happy to unify around that candidate. We do not, however, accept the notion that voting for one candidate makes us responsible for the election of another. We answer to God, so if there are no candidates worthy of our support, that is the problem of the political parties, not ours. …

In January IFPC Chairman Danny Carroll announced that his organization was endorsing businessman Bob Vander Plaats in the GOP gubernatorial primary, and that his group would sit out the 2010 governor’s race if Branstad was the nominee.  In Tuesday’s primary election, Branstad was declared the victor while Vander Plaats collected 41 percent of the vote.

… While we would rather have won the day, please don’t miss the fact that 41% of primary voters stayed true to godly constitutional principles when they went to the polls. There are more of us than the establishment thought, and together we can continue to work to see change in the political system.

Our calling as believers is to honor God. When we do that, and trust Him for the ultimate outcome, we can enjoy a peace no matter who wins on election night. We are eternity-minded, and while we like to win elections as much as anyone, today we begin the process of preparing for the next opportunity God provides. …

In an interview with The Iowa Independent after Vander Plaats lost the nomination Tuesday night, Carroll said Branstad would have to “convince us he has had a change of heart” to win their support. IFPC spokesman Bryan English echoed those remarks to the Mason City Globe-Gazette, saying holds out hope that Branstad will have an “awakening of the Holy Spirit.”

The group continues to single out same-sex marriage as a key issue in the e-mail message, and promises to “restore political power to the people and put the court back in its place” on marriage, abortion, taxation and “government intrusion into the lives of citizens.”

According to figures from the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, Democratic voters in Iowa outnumber Republican voters 710,017 to 607,567. In Iowa only members of a specific political party can vote in that party’s primary elections, and nearly 93,000 Iowa Republicans supported Vander Plaats on Tuesday. Even if only half of those voters agree with the Iowa Family PAC and sit out the gubernatorial election in November, Branstad will need to overcome a roughly 150,000 vote disadvantage.

Of course, the largest chuck of Iowa voters are not registered with either party, but historically those individuals have often broke in percentages similar to the separations by party.