Posted on 12/19/2011 9:03:18 AM PST by mnehring
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad warned against Democratic caucus crashers who could try to influence the Iowa selection system as a way to nominate the weakest Republican candidate to face off against President Obama.
“That’s been tried from time to time and you know what happened four years ago? A lot of independents and even some Republicans actually got involved and that actually helped Obama beat Hillary Clinton and guess what? They actually got Obama for president,” said Branstad, a Republican. “Now some of those people are having second thoughts about it.”
Branstad made the comments today when asked about the issue from reporters. He emphasized that he hopes people choose to register Republican and participate in the caucuses for the right reasons instead of with the intent to hijack the caucuses.
“Instead of playing the political game, we ought to look at who can be the best and strongest candidate,” Branstad said.
Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds plan to participate in Saturday’s Ames straw poll event but declined to say who they would be voting for.
Branstad called the event an expectation game.
“It’s certainly designed to be a fair, objective deal,” Branstad said, noting that Iowans must show identification to be able to vote in the Republican fundraiser.
He continued: “Now remember, it’s not scientific and you have to go to Ames and it costs $30 to participate but it’s a lot of fun.”
He responded to questions about the straw poll’s relevance.
“I think the straw poll is an important first test,” Branstad said. “It’s not just who wins it, it’s about who beats expectations. . . It’s an expectation game. It’s not only who wins but who beats expectations.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60878.html#ixzz1h05DvB00
Iowa's governor warned about this a few months ago.
They’re going to vote for Romney.
How in the hell did the GOP ever get talked into letting DEMOCRAPS vote in our primaries?????????????????????????
And where is “Reince” Prebus on all this? What is his actual job anyway?
I’m seeing another candidate’s camp recruiting a lot of D’s and actually having an Iowa outreach for them.
Of course they will.
Want to make Repubs look as bad as possible. especially if the anti-semite, Racist Paul gets first place.
Dummies are desperate, better have a heads up.
Frankly it’s time for the Iowa Caucuses to go AWAY.
Seeing lots of blog reports of Democrats and Independents registering for the Iowa caucuses and they can do that up to the day of the caucus.
I am sure that they will do this a lot in all the states. I was not in agreement with folks here who were part of Operation Chaos in 2008 and I don’t agree with Democrats doing it this round. However, it is hard for the Republicans to tell the Democrats to not do it after they did themselves last round.
I don’t understand why Iowa doesn’t do something to fix this if they realize it’s a problem. Allowing someone to register as an R up to the day of the caucus is an invitation for nonsense.
They’ll be voting for Ron Paul.
Paul?
This is kinda how we ended up with McCain. Open primaries where liberals and Dems selected McCain as the Republican candidate.
This is a stupid way for a party to select its nominee.
Yep. Ron Paul. Makes you wonder about Democrats. Politics used to be about getting the best person for the job and that was the person who would get the most effective and efficient use out of the hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Now, for the Democrats, it’s win at any price. Wonder why that is.
Not a chance. It's Paul for them. Paul is worst candidate that is in the current field. Paul would absolutely guarantee Obama’s 2nd term.
People like me would truly not vote in November if Paul was on the ticket.
Demon-crats are simply awful individuals.
Same for NH independents can vote in primary...
Iowa actually has Closed Primaries. You must be a registered R in order to vote. The snag comes with the BS about Same Day Registration,, they can change parties at the polls. In order to prevent them from messing with us, we need to make sure there are good Democrat challengers to EVERY D Incumbant. They keeps them 'home' on election day.
Well people like me truly would not vote for Romney.
If the dems really want to hurt us in a national election they’ll vote for Bachmann.
No problem. There are sooo many to choose from...................
I agree. Republicans and Democrats should not be voting in each others primaries.
It can make the process a mockery.
These are party events. If one wants to participate; they should be member of that party by a date ahead of the event
Why do you think conservatives continue to ultimately get RINOs as our candidate??????
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.