DES MOINES – Throughout his career, Jim Nussle has had a habit of being in the right place at the right time and he’s demonstrated the ability to take advantage of his good fortune.

“I’m certain that it’s always better to be lucky than good,” said Nussle. “I do think you make your own luck.”

Nussle, 45, credits the start of his political career to a chance meeting when he was a freshman at Luther College in Decorah. A professor there was Rolf Craft, who once served as chairman of the Iowa Republican Party. He suggested they head to a town meeting with then-Rep. Tom Tauke.

“Rolf and I were the only two people who showed up,” Nussle said. That led to an intense, evening-long talk about politics and political involvement that would eventually lead to Nussle inheriting Tauke’s seat in Congress. Much would happen before then.

After graduating from Drake University’s law school, Nussle headed for Manchester to open law practice, with one eye on politics.

“For me, it was watching other leaders I had contact with and seeing the difference they were able to make,” Nussle said.

That led to a bid for his first elective office as Delaware County prosecutor, a part-time job that put him in the forefront of local politics in a heavily Republican section of the state. The good fortune had just begun.

After grounding himself in local politics, Nussle was positioned when Tauke decided to launch a challenge to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, opening up a congressional seat in what was then the state’s 2nd District, an 11-county district in northeast Iowa.

Nussle wasn’t supposed to win. The district was heavily Democratic and Eric Tabor, of Dubuque, was the favored candidate.

In the last week of the campaign, news broke that some of Tabor’s staff had been importing voters who didn’t live in the district, and the story dominated the final weekend of the race.

Nussle won by 1,642 votes, out of 166,106 ballots cast, sending him to Congress.

The twists and turns were still coming, however. After the 1990 census, the Legislature redrew congressional districts, and the new map tossed Nussle and then-Rep. David Nagle, D-Iowa, into the same district.

A former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, Nagle was the clear favorite in that race. What wasn’t known at the time was that Nagle was battling a problem with alcohol. His campaign was erratic.

Nussle won a 3,000-vote victory out of nearly 270,000 ballots cast, and it would be the last serious challenge to his congressional seat.

More good fortune was to come.

Democratic leaders in the U.S. House found themselves embroiled in a running series of scandals, which Republicans aggressively exploited.

That led to the stunning 1994 Republican takeover of leadership of the House.

“I was part of a very small group that made that happen,” Nussle said.

The effort brought him close to Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., who would become Speaker of the House.

Gingrich tapped Nussle to chair a transition committee, which Nussle parlayed into the chairmanship of the powerful House Budget Committee. However, Nussle’s term is ending.

He conceded that’s part of the reason he decided to make a run for governor, but said there are also significant differences between being in Congress and being governor.

“In Congress, you are one of 535 people who spend most of the day pushing a boulder up the hill,” Nussle said. “When you are governor, you decide where the boulder goes.”

In seeking the nomination, Nussle has managed to garner the backing of the GOP establishment, forcing rival Bob Vander Plaats from the race and onto his ticket as running mate, and key players see no party fractures.

“I’ve known Jim Nussle for a long time and Jim Nussle is a winner,” said House Majority Leader Chuck Gipp, R-Decorah.

“That is the type of leadership we need.”