Iowa to Rerun That '70s Show this Summer and Fall

After the Iowa primaries Tuesday night, it looks like it will be a rerun of That '70s Show this summer and fall going into the November 2010 general elections. At least that's the way it looks in the two big races for Governor and U.S. Senator.

In the U.S. Senate Race, Democrat Roxanne Conlin has been nominated to take on sitting Republican Senator Charles Grassley.

Grassley made his name in Iowa politics as the only Republican Congressman in Iowa to survive the 1974 election after Watergate and President Nixon's resignation. He has sat in the Senate seat for 30 years, and hopes to add 6 more.

Conlin made her name as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, getting appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. In 1982 she ran unsuccessfully for Governor.

In the Governor's race, sitting Democratic Governor Chet Culver will be challenged by former Republican Governor Terry Branstad.

Chet Culver's father John got elected U.S Senator for Iowa in the 1974 Democratic landslide and served one term before losing to Charles Grassley, who still holds the seat. Chet would like to extend his Governorship to two terms, and break the family curse.

Terry Branstad got elected Lieutenant Governor in 1979, and after one term in that office went on to serve as Governor for 16 years. After several years off, he wants to make it 20 years as Governor.

And how does Iowa feel about That '70s Show? Cedar Rapids, Iowa native Ashton Kutcher is said to be "pleased, punk'd, and looking forward to the residuals."

Republican primary voters were asked about the anti-incumbent Tea Party movement. "I'll have to double check with the local chapter of the DAR," one said. "That's Daughters of the American Revolution," she explained, "but I am sure we are still boycotting that British tea."

Actually, Tea Party candidates did win some Republican primaries in local races across the states. The Iowa Family PAC, which had hoped to elect candidates to repeal gay marriage, did not fare as well. So it seems Iowa is moving away the social conservatism that dominated the 1980s and 1990s and back to a more pocketbook conservatism, albeit with all the glacial slowness that formed its rolling hills.