Is the right man for the GOP a Brod?

Apparently Gary and I are on the same wave-length.

For some would-be gubernatorial candidates at the GOP State Central meeting, there couldn’t have been more of a desperate sales pitch than if Shelley Levene was running for office.  With the early glut of Republican candidates including such recognizable names as Marty Seifert, Steve Sviggum and Pat Anderson, the jockeying for support was tougher than the last leg of the Kentucky Derby.  Between Anderson’s coyness, Sviggum’s hot-blooded boilerplate and Seifert’s mini campaign machinery, delegates were treated to an early edition of the 2010 convention.  And for whatever limited value it holds, former Minority Leader Marty Seifert won the day’s media prize by finishing with a commanding lead in the Taxpayers League’s “poll”.

But for veteran Republican activists and Capitol followers, the real interest among those listed in the Taxpayers League poll wasn’t who finished in “win” or “place” but “show” – Rep. Laura Brod. One constant theme of the nascent Republican contest has been conservative activists dismissing Rep. Brod’s chances at securing the endorsement – and supporting her bid nonetheless.  A growing number of conservative influence-makers and prominent activists have informally signed aboard Brod’s emerging (but as of now, unofficial) campaign.  Imbuing the four-term New Prague house member with Sarah Palin-like appeal among the party’s base, Brod’s backers may be also projecting a Palin-like goal of settling for being the GOP’s 2010 runningmate.  More than a few of Brod’s supporters privately express the hope that her candidacy will not only push any eventual nominee to the right, but push Brod into the political limelight, if not the lieutenant governor’s slot.

Brod is most certainly an attractive woman and articulate politician, but hardly seems a likely vehicle for conservatives anxious to either move the nominee to the right or hold the governor’s office.  Brod’s lifetime rating from the Taxpayers League is a healthy 80%, but pales in comparison to fellow gubernatorial dreamers like Rep. Paul Kohls (90%) or Sen. David Hann (97%).  Indeed, Brod’s numbers are exactly the same as Sen. Geoff Michel, a potential 2010 candidate deemed as possibly ”too moderate” by activists and pundits alike to win endorsement.  Throw in Brod’s absent presence on the override veto and her vote in support of the Twins Stadium, and some of the luster of Brod’s conservative shine is undoubtably lost. 

What Brod is – as opposed to what some activists might wish to make of her – is a fairly mainstream conservative Republican politician.  In a very Tim Pawlenty-esque fashion, Brod is credibly able to shift from talking about taxes, abortion and supporting military families (conservative bedrock positions) to the environment and renewable energies (traditionally liberal bailiwicks).  If Brod can prove herself as effective on the stump and among fundraisers as she’s been on communicating the party’s positions on the floor of the House, Brod shouldn’t be viewed as a sort of spolier - but potentially as the frontrunner.

Republicans need a mainstream conservative nominee that they can get excited about.  In a rumored field lacking a first-tier candidate, activists can be easily drawn to whichever contender throws the most red meat, regardless of how electable they might be.  But the GOP needs a more balanced diet in order to attract the necessary independent voters to win.  A candidate that has Laura’s…don’t say it…broad appeal within the party’s conservative grassroots and can still dissent on a few issues to look moderated in the eyes of the electorate is precisely the sort of new blood the Grand Old Party needs.