Tonight, the Iowa State College Republicans met on campus and had a crowd of about 75 people show up, which was lovely. It was fantastic to see so many new faces and so many fellow younger people who are hungry for the Republican Party to right some of their wrongs.

When college students face a fierce liberal slant every day in classes, many desire a conservative outlet for which to rally around.

Beside some of the announcements and upcoming events and representatives from campaigns getting a chance to address the crowd, two very special guests addressed the group.

Yes, I'm a proud College Republican and promoting Republicanism on campuses is something that I strongly believe in. It is necessary now more than ever for our party to help cultivate and nourish these young Republicans on our campuses all over the state. Yes, there are some chapters that are stronger than others but there are also county organizations that are much stronger than other county organizations too.

Republican Party of Iowa Co-Chairman Leon Mosley, who just recently got out of the hospital because of an injury on his side and back, was clearly still in pain but that didn't stop him from giving a rousing speech. I've heard Leon literally countless times and his oratorical flourish absolutely warms your heart. It is not only inspiring but very motivating. In all actuality, he was there to promote Steve Rathje, who is running for the US Senate, hoping to win the nomination and thus face Tom Harkin.

This is really the second time I've heard Rathje speak as the first was when he did some introductions at the Lincoln Day Dinner last April. Rathje was extraordinarily impressive tonight and there were many people, afterward, who were very excited about his candidacy. Rathje noted that he has been busy coalescing prominent Republicans all over the state to his cause. Whether it be State Central Committee members, legislators, or even Congressman Tom Latham, Rathje appears to be making all the right steps right now.

He also said that he has been ambitiously travelling the state meeting as many people as he can and noted that one day he logged over 1000 miles alone. I applaud Rathje for taking this race seriously and I think he found himself a VERY favorable audience tonight with the ISU College Republicans. His message was very clear and very focused and he really did a good job commanding the room. I sat there thinking...where has this guy been for previous races (not just Senate...but anything).

Obviously Rathje will need to raise a lot of money and his name I.D. is pretty low right now, but he's certainly taking the right steps at the moment, in my opinion, and I think that as soon as the caucuses are over and people get a chance to focus on something other than the presidential wannabes for a bit, they'll take a good look at what Steve offers and I certainly believe they'll find someone that they can get behind and back.

Rathje definintely has the pedigree to be a very credible candidate and because of his lack of public record would make Tom Harkin's job of destroying his personal credibility a lot more difficult and certainly less protracted.

Posted by Don

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