Evangelical Republican may challengeMike Gronstal in Iowa

Bayliss Park Oculus, Council Bluffs
Waterbearer Images, Flickr

Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register reports that Al Ringgenberg, 53, a retired Air Force prosecutor, has announced that he may run for Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal's seat, even though he admits he doesn't currently live in the district. Riggenberg is unhappy that Gronstal has failed "to get the ball rolling" on a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

“My wife loves her house but it’s a decision that we’ve arrived at together, that if this is God’s calling for us, we have a duty to fulfill and we will make the sacrifice,” Ringgenberg told the Register.

Council Bluffs, population 62,230, is Iowa's seventh-largest city; it grew by almost 7% from 2000-2010. Hardly an economically depressed area, it has three bustling casinos, a new Google data center, and is next door to prosperous Omaha, Nebraska and its low unemployment.

Despite this, Ringgenberg says that "government spending and taxation policies" — for which Gronstal is presumably responsible — are "currently inhibiting and holding back economic development in Council Bluffs.”