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- Chet The Wet: Chet Culver, the Democratic candidate for governor, and his running mate, Patty Judge, are airing a television commercial criticizing Republican candidate Jim Nussle's support for the rain-forest project.

The two are standing under what is supposed to be a driving rain. It's an attempt to be funny, but it backfires. Culver looks foolish and certainly not very gubernatorial.

Can anyone imagine Bob Ray or Harold Hughes making a TV ad where someone squirts water over them? You never saw Big John Culver doing ads like that, either. And Tom Vilsack wears goofy hats only at his wife's children's reading programs, never in his TV commercials.

- The Governor Has A Prior Commitment: Culver is right about one thing. The rain forest is unpopular with a lot of people. But it represents the sort of big-picture thinking that mossback Iowa needs if we're ever going to attract more people to live and visit here. Which is why it takes real leaders willing to buck public opinion instead of pandering to the naysayers for short-term political gain.

It's supposed to be built in Marion County. That's not exactly a Democratic stronghold, so Culver probably figures he's got nothing to lose by dumping on the project.

If it is constructed, one assumes a Gov. Chet Culver will be gracious enough to stay away from the ribbon-cutting. Assuming he's even invited.