Terry Branstad may have a tough time winning the Republican primary for Governor in 2010. That’s not coming from Democrats who want to see Branstad fail – it’s coming from the dean of the Republican Party of Iowa!

Sen. Chuck Grassley himself, who has been watching Republican campaigns since he was first elected in 1958, has concluded Branstad has a tough sell on his hands:

Asked about the impact former Gov. Terry Branstad’s candidacy might have on the Republican slate, Grassley said the four-term Republican will have to win a primary before he is the party’s gubernatorial nominee.

“There may not be six or seven [candidates] as there are now, but he’s going to have a primary,” Grassley said. “I don’t know if he wins or not.” [Sioux City Journal, October 21, 2009.]

Grassley’s take confirms what many Republicans including Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats have been saying for months: Branstad’s battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party of Iowa may not be the cake walk his Des Moines advisors are telling him it will be.