Has Rep. Steve King been scared off by Karl Rove?

By Richard K. Barry

Back in February, Public Policy Polling published a survey showing that Rep. Steve King (R-IA) was the overwhelming favourite to secure the GOP nomination for the open Senate seat in Iowa. In fact, he beat his closest challenger Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA) by a two-to-one margin.

And then, earlier in April, King told a group of Republicans, "I can see a path to victory that I couldn't see a week or a little more ago." At the time, he also said he was close to making a decision about whether to run.

Now, Talking Points Memo reports that a well-placed Iowa Republican is saying that he doesn't think King is going to do it:

In fact, Doug Gross, a former chief of staff to Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R), said he doubts that any of the Republicans considered to be top contenders in the 2014 contest — King, Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey — will throw their hats in the ring.

"So I don't think we know who the candidate is going to be right now," Gross, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2002, told the Des Moines Register.

Now, I don't subscribe to The Des Moines Register, which uses a paywall, so I can't comment on the reasons behind Mr. Gross's doubts, if there are any reasons. Certainly he has the bona fides to be considered knowledgeable about the situation.

It is interesting to note, as TPM does, that the prospect of King's candidacy was a key factor in prompting Karl Rove to spearhead an effort to target unelectable candidates in Republican Senate primaries.

Since we are all speculating, could his decision not to run be related to the prospect of Rove and company shovelling money into the state to stop him from getting the nomination? Maybe.

(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)