Iowa Democratic governor hopeful open to independent appointee if Grassley vacates

Rob Sand floating an independent appointment for Grassley's seat is a nice piece of theater for Labor Day weekend, and that's about all it is. Grassley is 92 and hasn't announced any plans to leave office before his term ends. So Sand is answering a hypothetical about a vacancy that doesn't exist, from a man who isn't governor, about a senator who shows no sign of going anywhere. That's not a policy position. That's a talking point dressed up as statesmanship.

The move is obvious enough. Iowa isn't a state where "I'll hand Republican power to a Democrat" plays well, so instead you get "I'll hand it to a mystery independent," which sounds moderate and costs nothing because it will probably never come up. It lets Sand, who has built his brand as the un-partisan auditor guy, keep that image intact without actually promising Republicans anything real. If Grassley did retire tomorrow, does anyone believe a Democratic governor picks someone who caucuses with the GOP? We'd bet against it.

None of this is really about Grassley. It's about Sand trying to thread a needle in a state that still elects plenty of Republicans statewide, using a scenario he gets to define however he wants because there's no actual vacancy to test it against. Voters should hear this for what it is: a low-cost promise about a low-probability event, offered up because it sounds reasonable at a Labor Day picnic. Talk is cheap when the seat isn't actually open. Iowans deserve to know what Sand would actually do with real power, not what he'd hypothetically do with someone else's.