The Iowa Trap

Real Clear Politics ^ | January 26, 2015 | Scott Conroy

[C19fan]

It doesn’t happen often in politics, but every once in a while, someone pulls back the green curtain on a time-honored exercise in democracy and reveals an uncomfortable truth.

Such was the case in Des Moines on Saturday when the circus came to town in the form of a dozen potential Republican White House hopefuls and the masses of journalists already following their every move.

[C19fan]

The Iowa Caucus is a joke. That process gave us the 2 worst President's of the Post-War II Era: Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. Iowa almost derailed Reagan's 1980 campaign and we could of had Bush I POTUS in 1980 instead of Reagan.

[AU72]

They also gave us ethanol subsidies thanks to King Corn being appeased every 4 years.

[cripplecreek]

What I saw was Jeb Bush signalling that he’s going to run on the Romney strategy. He intends to run and win the primary on liberal numbers. Unfortunately the result will be the same as Romney.

[txhurl]

It would be cheaper and infinitely less damaging if Americans were to buy 200lb/yr of Iowan corn for deer feed instead of supporting and encouraging this ethanol whorehouse.

[melissa_in_ga]

There’s a money quote at the very end of the article:

“...Gary Kirke, a West Des Moines businessman and longtime Republican powerbroker who the Des Moines Register called “an institution in Iowa politics.” Kirke has long been supportive of Romney and even urged him personally to run a third time, according to the Register. But last week, Kirke caught wind of a comment that Romney had made in reiterating his belief that the earth is, in fact, getting warmer.

“Romney I like a lot, but he came out with saying that he believes in global warming, and I think that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen, so I’ve knocked him out,” Kirke told RealClearPolitics. “I can’t tell you the number of emails and calls I got today. Everyone’s upset about that.”

Seems he’s pulling his support - and a lot of money that will be on the table.

[SumProVita]

Why was Ted Cruz not mentioned in this article?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We’re overrun by deer right now, thanks...

[txhurl]

He hasn’t been mentioned on FNC all day long, either, only Scott Walker. The establishment is quivering under their beds.

[TexasFreeper2009]

notice how they skillfully managed to not even mention Ted Cruz?

They are scared to death of him, and are hoping ignoring him might make him go away :)

Liberals ALWAYS telegraph who they are really afraid of.

[sportutegrl]

They also gave us ethanol subsidies thanks to King Corn being appeased every 4 years.

Oddly, this article doesn't mention the ethanol elephant in the room.

[Beagle8U]

They failed to mention Ted Cruz even once, that should tell you who they fear.

[Smokin' Joe]

We’re overrun by deer right now, thanks...

Eat more venison!

[SumProVita]

Cruz actually believes in the MIRACLE of America. The Left thinks that is a childish notion and most of the Republican politicians would find the word, MIRACLE, too strong because they really lack solid, spiritual backbone.

[IWONDR]

“What I saw was Jeb Bush signaling that he’s going to run on the Romney strategy. He intends to run and win the primary on liberal numbers. Unfortunately the result will be the same as Romney.”

i agree, but i also think Hillarious would beat Bush by even a larger margin than BHO beat romney.

[cripplecreek]

Romney ran his primary in the liberal leaning suburbs with little interest in more rural areas. Here in Michigan that strategy won Romney 26 of 83 counties and a tie according to our system (Romney and Santorum won 7 congressional districts each)

It doesn’t matter what our personal opinion of Santorum is, he still ran a far more conservative strategy of not ignoring the base. The pattern was repeated all across the country. Romney concentrated on moderate to liberal suburbs while Santorum won the rest of the state.

Rush Limbaugh nailed it when he said that Romney is winning primaries in places he couldn’t win a general election in. Its better to win a primary with your base and try to pick off those more moderate to liberal areas in the general election.

[Defiant]

Another reason that a third party makes sense. Instead of marching through Iowa promising corn farmers government money, and then heading over to a bunch of liberal states that will NEVER vote for a conservative, and asking them to select the nominee, a third party can have its own procedure. State conventions, requiring people voting for a candidate to have contributed to the party and be a registered member, for example. No more collaboration between the liberal party wizards, Democrats and the MSM to select our candidate. Assign delegates to states in a way that is weighted to their importance. In other words, what Texas voters think should get a lot more attention than what California voters think. Who cares what California thinks? Donate money and then maybe you can have some influence, but the state will never vote for a conservative, so who it wants as the nominee should be meaningless. And I'm from California as I say that.

Anyway, this Iowa crap and the open primaries, and the debates moderated by the MSM etc., will never ever change in the Republican party, and as a result, conservatives have little chance of getting the nomination or wielding influence in the party. A new party can start fresh.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

BACK TO THE SMOKEY BACK ROOM FOR A CANDIDATE! No more beauty contests!

[Pappy Smear]

Iowa Caucuses indeed gave us Jimmy Carter and 0bama. But the fact is, the D nominee would have won the general in 76 and 08. If not 0bama, we would have had Hillary.

What Iowa does do, is give underfunded candidates a shot. Setting the politics aside, Hillary had all the money in 08, but 0bama's campaign did a great job of getting grass roots money in.

The R's do it somewhat, but don't follow thru to the general. McCain came in about 5th in Iowa. Santorum won the last Iowa caucus. He is not great, but I would bet most Freepers would have preferred Rick over Mitt in the general.

Cruz is not going to get the establishment money. But he can win in Iowa if he can get a good ground game. Iowa doesn't have any super big media markets to buy. Cruz will be able to compete in Iowa. That is a good thing.