Appearing on Simon Conway’s WHO radio program this afternoon, former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker announced that he is “taking steps to run” for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat. You can listen to the podcast here. Whitaker plans to file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission this week and formally launch his campaign at a public event on June 3. His Senate campaign website is under construction. The Iowa Democratic Party is already poking fun at Whitaker’s first legislative proposal.

Also, today, Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds told journalists that she has encouraged State Senator Joni Ernst to run for the U.S. Senate. You can listen to the audio at Radio Iowa, beginning several minutes into the clip. Reynolds said that she had encouraged Ernst to run for Montgomery County auditor nearly 10 years ago, and to run in the Iowa Senate special election to replace Reynolds.

At this point, I’ll be surprised if Ernst decides against running. Sean Sullivan reported at the Washington Post’s blog today that her “stock is high among Republican Gov. Terry Branstad’s allies.” Sullivan noticed an approving tweet about Ernst from Brad Dayspring of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, though that’s far from a formal endorsement.

Ernst has little fundraising experience, but if Branstad activates his donor network, she could raise a lot of money for a Senate campaign. By the same token, Whitaker has strong fundraising potential even though he’s never been a candidate for office before. CORRECTION: I forgot that Whitaker ran for state treasurer in 2002. Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz would almost certainly be at a financial disadvantage in the Republican primary compared to Whitaker and Ernst, if he goes for Senate rather than for re-election to his current office. Then again, he is probably better known among the Iowa GOP base, which loves his drive for voter ID laws.

Any comments about the IA-Sen race are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: Added more news after the jump.

Jennifer Jacobs reported for the Des Moines Register,

Whitaker said on WHO radio that he intends to be like [U.S. Senator Rand] Paul, of Kentucky, and Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and hold government accountable. He also called for “a debate in every county or as many counties as we can.”

I’m sure Bruce Braley and the Iowa Democratic Party would like to see as many Republican primary debates as possible. Clips from those will become good fodder for a general election campaign.

Also from Jacobs’ blog post today:

A lawyer from Ames, Paul Lunde, announced Saturday that he intends to seek the GOP nomination to replace U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, who is retiring in 2014. Lunde ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1992, losing to Democrat Neal Smith, 62 percent to 37 percent.

I can’t see how Lunde will become a factor in a GOP primary.