Terry Branstad

Former Gov. Terry E. Branstad, 45, was walking around his room Tuesday at Iowa Methodist Medical Center after suffering a heart attack Monday. Doctors said he was in fair condition. Branstad, a Republican, became the state's youngest governor when he was elected in 1982. He served in the job for 16 years.

SATURDAY Good Morning America (N) 7 a.m. KABC The Chris Matthews Show The 2012 elections; New Year's resolutions for the media: Major Garrett, National Journal; Kelly O'Donnell, NBC; David Ignatius, the Washington Post; Gloria Borger, CNN. (N) 5 p.m. KNBC; 5:30 a.m. Sunday KNBC McLaughlin Group (N) 6:30 p.m. KCET SUNDAY CBS News Sunday Morning (N) 6 a.m. KCBS Today New Year's celebrations. (N) 6 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America (N) 6 a.m. KABC State of the Union Iowa caucuses: Presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)

Texas Gov. George W. Bush has picked veteran political operative Eric Woolson to head his communications operation in Iowa, aides said Tuesday. "He's got a good reputation in Iowa," Bush aide Mindy Tucker said. "He's dealt with the press and [has been] in politics for a long time." Woolson was spokesman for ex-Iowa Gov. Terry E. Branstad and worked as a journalist in the state. The move is an expansion of Bush's effort in Iowa.

Gov. Terry E. Branstad announced plans to visit Dubuque, Iowa, to try to start healing the city from the scars of cross-burnings and racial tension. The visit on Thanksgiving eve will be "a symbol of my commitment and support for the good folks of Dubuque," who are being overshadowed by a small number of racists, the governor said. Branstad said he plans to attend a nondenominational prayer service during his visit.

Former "Love Boat" actor Fred Grandy won election to Congress, and fellow Republicans Sen. Charles E. Grassley and Gov. Terry Branstad won second terms in the face of a sour farm economy. Grassley defeated Democratic attorney John Roehrick and Branstad turned back a challenge by Democrat Lowell Junkins. Branstad and Grassley distanced themselves from President Reagan's farm policy and maintained that the economy was beginning to improve.

Maybe it would come down to a veto. A bill before Iowa lawmakers would have the unintended effect of enforced chastity at the governor's mansion. "I think that might be a problem," said Eric Woolson, a spokesman for Gov. Terry Branstad, who has a wife and three children. It started innocently when some legislators worried about prostitution rings at interstate rest stops introduced a bill intended to block sex acts in certain public places.

A plane carrying South Dakota Gov. George Mickelson crashed Monday while trying to make an emergency landing at the Dubuque airport, killing the governor and seven other people, officials said. The Iowa governor's office said the plane, en route from Cincinnati to Pierre, S.D., developed engine trouble and slammed into a grain storage silo and barn about 15 miles southwest of Dubuque, bursting into flames. Dick Vohs, an aide to Iowa Gov.

More than 200 teen-agers were evacuated today from a summer camp because of toxic chemicals spilled into the Des Moines River by a train blown off a 190-foot-high bridge by 60-m.p.h. winds, officials said. "All indications are the train was hit by extremely high winds or a tornado," Chicago & Northwestern Vice President Jim Foote said. None of the train's four crew members were injured, he said. Eighteen cars of the 31-car westbound train jumped the tracks about 11 p.m.