Posted on 12/15/2014 3:06:55 AM PST by iowamark
DES MOINES — Gov. Terry Branstad says he would support a statewide Republican fundraising event in Ames next summer where GOP presidential hopefuls are invited to speak as long as no vote is taken as had been the practice during past straw polls that have been the focus of controversy.
Branstad added that he did not want to see Iowa face possible sanctions that could cost delegates to the 2016 Republican national convention for conducting a poll in advance of the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses that could run afoul of new party rules.
“I’m willing to agree to a statewide meeting that would give all of the candidates that came in a chance to speak and have tents and have similar things, but just not have a vote,” said the GOP governor who recently won election to serve a record sixth, four-year term when he is inaugurated next month.
Branstad has previously stated that the Iowa GOP straw poll, first held in 1979, “has outlived its usefulness” and he had suggested replacing it with a series of regional fundraisers. The governor now says he would be agreeable to have a “big event” in Ames where GOP presidential candidates could address Iowans, organizations, entertain and get national attention but not have the party conduct an official vote.
Iowa Republicans’ straw poll in the August preceding the state’s kickoff presidential precinct caucuses has become a two-edged sword by drawing competing candidates, party activists and widespread media coverage along with criticism that the event is a meaningless, moneymaking gimmick that doesn’t accurately measure the sentiments of rank-and-file party members, prompting some top contenders to skip it.
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., won the last straw poll held in August 2011 before fading as a presidential contender. Past lackluster showings torpedoed the candidates of Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander in 1999, Wisconsin’s Tommy Thompson in 2007 and Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty in 2011.
“What I don’t want to do is have a lot of people mad and say we won’t participate in Iowa. I want to instead make them feel that they’re all welcome and it’s going to be fair,” Branstad said.
To that end, the Iowa governor said he probably will join top leadership and staff of the Republican Party of Iowa who have pledged to remain neutral in the caucus process in early 2016 that kicks off the presidential nominating process.
“I think it’s more likely that I will remain neutral and try to be a good host and encourage candidates to come and visit,” Branstad said. “My advice to the candidates is pretty straight forward: come to Iowa often, go to all 99 counties, meet with a lot of people, spend a lot of money here — it’s good for you and it’s good for the Iowa economy here.”
If they could seal off the Ill of noise border, it might just be a fair deal.
Having never been to such an event...do straw polls do much of anything constructive except provide chatter to dimwit journalists...forcing them to mention so-and-so more often than the lesser guys?
In this case, the straw poll was a scam set up by the Iowa Republican Party. You have to have “delegates” to the event to vote, and each delegate has to pay like 50 dollars - so the campaigns would have to raise the money to “pay” their straw voters.
Iowa is full of itself and full of “it” as well.....
I recall Crazed Lefties and the
Paulbot literally bullied there way into these events seized control last time.
It ended as a disaster .
Look for Mitchy’s best pal Rand to pull the same crap with the same lefties and Paulbots.
So each of these guys who show up to pretend to be in the running...mostly have to have a faithful and very loyal pay-master to help pay up forty or a hundred folks to pay $50 at the door to enter? Man, that’s a four-star scam. Why can’t the Republicans in Alabama run something like this?
If I may suggest it...can we just get a data-stream of the speeches, and have a free straw-poll off Youtube?
Because this could only happen in Iowa, which is first up - and where a tiny percentage of the people decide who wins these stupid caucuses. Because Iowa has an outsized influence, this straw poll is considered a necessary show of strength.
But it's all a bunch of smoke. Iowa's Caucus ends up having very little impact, and the Ames Straw poll having little impact on the Caucus. Last time Bachmann won the straw poll, but was about dead last in the Caucus. But the Iowa GOP made their money!!
IA seems ready made for the third Bush and HRC.
not really - the estab candidates have lost in Iowa recently - both parties. It’s ready made for the niche candidate with no chance of ever having a national following on the GOP side....Huck and Santorum have won the last two of them.
It is a circus and everybody likes a circus. It is a news event because the candidates choose to make it an event. As the article noted, Lamar Alexander, Tommy Thompson, and Tim Pawlenty were forced out of the race because they failed to meet their own Ames expectations. Rick Perry stole some of the Ames’ thunder in 2011 when he announced his candidacy in SC on the same day as the straw poll.
Aren't they the exact SAME niche candidate? Santuckabee or Huckatorum?
good point....:)
You nailed it....folks need to watch the paulistas very carefully.
I just see the voters waiting for a familiar name to lock on to.
I understand, but that happens less in Iowa than in any other state......that’s the whole point of the tiny odd ball caucus population and procedures.
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