A Return to Election Politics for Swati Dandekar?

A friend says former Democratic state Sen. Swati Dandekar, of Marion, hasn't made up her mind about a congressional run, but a website seems to suggest her thinking is a little further along than she is letting on.

The Gazette first reported about the website, http://swatidandekarforiowa.com (Re: Swati Dandekar for Iowa). At this point it's just a black screen, the URL and a message in small type, "is coming soon."

If she does seek Bruce Braley's first district congressional seat, she may face questions about a controversial move a couple years ago to resign her state senate seat for an appointment by Republican Gov. Terry Branstad to a lucrative post on the Iowa Utilities Board.

The vacancy could have cost Democrats the majority in the senate, which would have put key issues in jeopardy, but former news anchor in a special election, and then re-election.

No harm, no foul?

Not so fast.

Some Democrats are already raising doubts about her candidacy.

"If Swati is moderate, we certainly don't want to see conservative. She is against civil rights for same sex couples," Johnson County Democratic Supervisor Janelle Rettig tweeted.

Her colleague on the Board of Supervisor, Rod Sullivan, added, "No Swati. Don't make us explain it. Just no."

However, the Gazette reports there is growing support for a Dandekar congressional run.

“She hasn’t decided, but a lot of people are pushing on it,” Charlie Kress of Marion, a longtime friend and treasurer of her state Legislature campaigns, told the Gazette.