The International Olympic Committee's vote last week to eliminate wrestling from the 2020 Games invoked fury in global centers of power like Moscow.And Des Moines. That's right: Iowa. It may not be the center of American politics. But wrestling is so central to Iowa culture that from the governor's office to the congressional delegation, and from both sides of the aisle, Hawkeye State politicians are vowing to fight the IOC decision."Wrestling is to Iowa as basketball is to Indiana or football is to Texas," said Republican Gov. Terry Branstad. Iowa without wrestling, said Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley, would be like "eggs without bacon."Gov. Branstad and the state's lieutenant governor last week started an online petition,and lawmakers introduced separate U.S. House and Senate resolutions that would give the IOC decision official congressional disapproval.In Iowa, nothing in recent memory has stirred so much public umbrage or spurred legislators to such swift, bipartisan action. In a state without a major professional sports team, high-school grapplers on the mat are important sports figures in towns small and large.Last year, Iowa played host to the U.S. Olympic wrestling trials, and this year it will host college wrestling's national championship. Its schools and universities are proud to say they produced gold-medal-winning legends such Dan Gable and Cael Sanderson.Yet that the cries come loudest from Iowa, a state of three million people with little name recognition outside the country, won't necessarily help the sport of wrestling overcome the argument that it is boring.An IOC spokesman last week said proponents for other sports, such as archery and fencing, have taken steps to make them more exciting. The Summer Olympics have added newer, TV-friendly sports, such as beach volleyball and BMX cycling, in past years. They plan to include golf in the 2016 Games.Iowa leaders are quick to point out that wrestling is popular at many schools in the Big Ten and Big 12 athletic conferences, as well as many foreign countries.Lawmakers said they hoped the U.S. Olympic Committee would cooperate with other Olympic committees, such as those in wrestling-crazy countries such as Iran and Russia, to lobby to keep the sport on the Olympic program."I would hope that foreign politics and international relations and the conflicts of international relations doesn't stop us from having peaceful sports," said Sen. Charles Grassley, who on Thursday introduced his resolution saying that the U.S. Senate "disapproves the proposal of the International Olympic Committee Executive Board to eliminate wrestling."The online petition started by Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds had more than 11,000 signatures as of Monday evening. The leaders wore "Let's Keep Wrestling" T-shirts as they introduced the campaign, alongside the wrestling great Mr. Gable, at the state high-school wrestling tournament on Friday.The keep-wrestling drive is being funded by the governor's campaign committee, Ms. Reynolds said. She said that was to get the online campaign up and running as quickly as possible, and noted that it was a bipartisan effort.Not that supporting wrestling hurts any politician in Iowa. "At a minimum, someone who's running for office should know something wrestling in the state of Iowa," said Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack.