Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Sukup launches a 27-city campaign kickoff swing today that he has dubbed the "Checking the Yield" tour.

That certainly feels different. (Those of you who caught my column a while back on Republican candidate Bob Vander Plaats' campaign slogan will understand exactly what I mean.)

Sukup says "Checking the Yield" refers to another agricultural catchphrase that Gov. Tom Vilsack liked to use in the 1998 campaign: "It's time to rotate the crops" — which meant that after 30 years of Republican control, it was time for a Democrat in the governor's office.

"Tom Vilsack said it was time to rotate the crops and we did and now Steve Sukup believes it's time to check the yield," Sukup said.

The Dougherty Republican is clearly playing up his rural roots for this event, which kicks off this morning at his family's agricultural equipment plant in Sheffield.

That's not a bad idea. Some Iowa political analysts have said that over the next decade, the conflicts between urban and rural interests in Iowa will be more significant than the differences between Republicans and Democrats. It makes sense for Sukup to capitalize on his farm credentials. After all, his name is plastered across a lot of the agricultural machinery around the state.

But the slogan may cause some confusion among urban voters — I imagine that most people in Des Moines think "the Yield" is that triangular road sign that means "Floor it now if you want to merge."

In the interest of fairness, we've obtained a top-secret list of rejected Sukup slogans from the same source that supplied the Vander Plaats discards a few weeks ago:

He's Round-up ready

The no-till candidate

Polling the Herefords

Born in a barn

He's so corny

A chicken in every pot, a hog on every lot

The post-emergent governor

That's no CRP.

He'll get your goat

Running like a Deere

Value-added leadership

Organically grown

USDA Prime

He can lead a horse to water

Watch where you step.

It's pronounced, "SOO-cup."

Down the road, if the Sukup campaign decides it needs to appeal to female voters, he could go with "Sowing wild oats," "He's what's good for the goose," or "What a stud!"

Anti-Vilsack ads could proclaim that the current governor is "spreading manure," "counting sheep" or "out to pasture."

Slogans can help get attention, but there's a lot more to campaigning.

Sukup will have to get his ducks in a row and bring home the bacon. He must avoid counting his chickens before they're hatched, putting all his eggs in one basket and locking the barn door after the cows have escaped.

Otherwise, he'll be governor when pigs fly.

Kathie Obradovich is chief of the Quad-City Times' Des Moines Bureau and can be contacted at (515) 243-0138 or e-mail at kathieo@dwx.com.