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Passionate advocate for vets, and talkative
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Race
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| Contributor | Craverguy |
| Last Edited | Craverguy May 07, 2010 01:33am |
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| Category | Profile |
| Media | Newspaper - Des Moines Register |
| News Date | Thursday, May 6, 2010 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Before the Register editorial board interview with Bob Krause got rolling Monday, he easily made small talk in the Frank Miller conference room. Our first impression of the candidate seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate: a genial, tall man in a navy jacket, light blue shirt and yellow tie complementing his red hair. Krause mentioned he took a rare day off from campaigning Sunday. He attended church, did some writing for a campaign project and watched a movie, "The Patriot."
Our second impression: This very nice guy should have spent Sunday preparing concise answers to questions that might come up in our meeting. Long, run-on responses made it hard to get a word in edgewise to seek clarity.
He began by talking about the legitimate need to improve veterans' health care as his main reason for getting into the race. "You will find nobody else who will advocate more for the veterans," said Krause, with a 28-year career in the Army Reserve under his belt. He told how, as chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Chuck Grassley from about 2003-2006 capped veterans' health care funding. Krause spoke knowledgeably about VA policies, including how some veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars got shortchanged.
Krause went on to talk about how he sees Grassley as a "target-rich environment." "Pull the plug on Granny was a classic," said Krause, referring to Grassley's comment about end of life counseling in health reform legislation. And Krause raised the Republican senator's opposition to the public option. Then he speculated that what Grassley is doing on financial reform today would be a major issue. He wrapped up by adding Grassley has followed the "neoconservative line" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sometimes Krause cited impressive details, but sometimes it was disconcerting that he did not seem to have given much thought to issues we raised, or fell short on facts. |
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