Instead, the recently inaugurated Republican is pushing back against a report from Washington Post columnist David Broder that he has already made up his mind in the presidential campaign. Broder reported that Branstad “is generally counted” as a supporter of Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor who is widely believed to be running.
Broder’s report is ” 100 percent inaccurate ,” Branstad aides told The Des Moines Register , underscoring that the governor is staying neutral for now.
Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses are less than a year away, and Branstad’s endorsement is seen as critical to the already crowded field of potential Republican candidates.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.