“Ahhh, the 80s.” So begins the first official Web Ad of the 2010 election for Governor.

“We’re posting the ad today after getting confirmation of what we have been saying for weeks, that Terry Branstad is forming an organization to run for Governor,” Kiernan said. According to published reports Wednesday, Branstad’s law partner and confidant Richard Schwarm today will file paperwork with the state allowing Branstad to officially start raising money.

In addition to pointing out Terry Branstad’s record on taxes as Governor, the spot highlights a simple point: There are many things from the 1980’s of which we may have a sort of fuzzy, fond recollection, but that we would never want to bring back today.

“We are going to continue to remind people of that in the election for Governor,” he said. “We need to keep Iowa moving forward, not return to the failed policies of the past,” Kiernan said. “This ad is very lighthearted — sometimes a sense of humor is the best way to get a message across, and humor is very much called for in this case.”

Iowa Democratic Party officials have not made a decision whether to air the spot on broadcast television at this time.

Here’s the ad: