Spencer Daily Reporter: Local News: Gronstal: King 'chicken' to run for governor (04/10/09)

One of the state's leading Democrats raised some eyebrows Thursday when he found a provocative way to predict U.S. Rep. Steve King would sit out the 2010 governor's race

"Steve King is too chicken to run for governor because he knows he'd get his butt beat," Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal said.

Gronstal is from Council Bluffs, which is a part of King's 32-county, western Iowa district. The remarks came during what was described as an impromptu press conference near his office on the third floor of the capitol. The senator's comments were confirmed by multiple news agencies covering politics in Des Moines.

King, four-term Republican from Kiron, has hinted that he would be more likely to run for governor in light of last week's ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court. The ruling strikes down an Iowa law that limits marriage to one man and one woman.

About 300 gay marriage critics rallied outside the Statehouse Thursday in an effort to jump start the process for amending the constitution. If approved by lawmakers in two consecutive General Assemblies, voters would decide the issue in a statewide election.

Gronstal has said the Legislature is in the closing stretch and doesn't want to inject the volatile issue of gay marriage into the mix.

"Senator Gronstal is afraid to allow a vote on marriage," King said, in his response to the "chicken" comment.

Gronstal knew that King was right in the statements that he made. make you wonder why gronstal blocked a vote on the gay marrage issue as im sure he knew that the majority of the people vote on it would vote no. makes u wonder what kind of man he is

-- Posted by igman on Fri, Apr 10, 2009, at 9:23 PM

Gronstal is right, King won't run. Why would he give up his the sweet gig he has right now to lose a gubernatorial race?

King is terribly unqualified to be a member of Congress and doubly unqualified to be governor of our state.

I applaud Gronstal and the Democrats for focusing on issues that actually effect Iowans. Let's focus on creating and saving jobs, not writing discrimination into our constitution.

-- Posted by sajohnson on Fri, Apr 10, 2009, at 9:49 PM

Wow, how childish can you be? Gronstal's statement reeks of a junior-high mentality to me. These are the people we have running our state? Pathetic.

-- Posted by notinia on Mon, Apr 13, 2009, at 10:41 AM

As juvenile as Gronstal's words might seem, they pale in comparison to the shocking things that Rep. King has said during his time in Congress. You might read some of King's quotes on Kingwatch.com and say, "this is the person we have representing us in Congress? Pathetic."

http://www.kingwatch.org/main_page.html

-- Posted by sajohnson on Mon, Apr 13, 2009, at 11:28 AM

sajohnson, I am not arguing King's competency at his position. Regardless of that, and whether or not Gronstal's words would "pale in comparison" to something King said in the past, Gronstal's statement was juvenile. I am not looking to read propaganda and inflammatory statements from either side, thank you. I stand by my original opinion that the antics in this situation by both sides have no place in a leadership position.

-- Posted by notinia on Mon, Apr 13, 2009, at 7:15 PM

Steve King may not be suited to be Governor, only he knows for certain. But one thing is for sure, King has done a fine job keeping tabs on discretionary spending. For that I'm grateful.

-- Posted by Culture Warrior on Wed, Apr 15, 2009, at 7:44 PM