With a key straw poll looming next Saturday, the field of Republican presidential candidates continued to focus on Iowa this week, the site of the first caucus.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the current front-runner in the Republican pack, has been downplaying the straw poll, which is being held by the Iowa Republican Party in Ames, giving the rest of the field an opportunity to garner some momentum in the race.
On Wednesday, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who has been surging in the polls over the last two months, released a television ad running across the Hawkeye State as she looked to solidify her credentials as the leading conservative threat to front-runner Mitt Romney. In the ad, Bachmann takes aim at President Barack Obama on the economy and repeats her opposition to raising the federal debt ceiling.
Bachmann is pulling out all the stops to win the event. While Minnesota neighbors Iowa, the congresswoman is hoping her roots in the state -- she was born in Waterloo -- will help propel her to victory in Ames. On Tuesday, the congresswoman unveiled an ambitious entertainment event she is backing at the straw poll, ranging from activities focused on the Paws and Effect organization, which provides service dogs to wounded veterans, to a concert lineup headlined by country music icon Randy Travis.
"I am a huge Randy Travis fan and I am honored he will be with us on Aug. 13 to help make this day fun and meaningful for our supporters and their families, as well as to encourage all straw poll attendees, regardless of their candidate of choice, to come together to help support Iowa's returning military veterans," Bachmann said. "It is humbling to think my supporters are willing to take a big part of their Saturday to join us at the Iowa straw poll. We want to make it an enjoyable destination for members of Team Bachmann and their families. We also want to be sure to give something back to Iowa's finest by asking straw poll attendees to support the Paws and Effect organization."
Supporters of Texas Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Paul also focused on Iowa on Wednesday. Revolution PAC, which is backing Paul, announced on Wednesday it was buying a full page ad for its candidate in the Ames Tribune and putting up billboards across the state.
"The ads we've placed distinguish Ron Paul from the pack, and don't portray him as just another plain vanilla conservative Republican," insisted prominent libertarian writer Thomas Woods, who serves on the board of Revolution PAC. "Our emphasis leading into the Iowa straw poll is on Dr. Paul's extraordinary record over the course of 12 congressional terms. Iowans are not going to find another candidate who has never, in 24 years in office, voted for a tax hike, an unbalanced budget, or an increase in the debt ceiling. In Ron Paul, they will find a man who refuses to speak in bumper-sticker slogans and who simply tells them the truth regardless of what it costs him politically."
"We're just dipping our toes in the water, taking the temperature of freedom," said Gary Franchi, the president of Revolution PAC. It's going to be a hot election.
"Our ads remind voters that only Dr. Paul -- at a time when other Republican candidates were foolishly assuring Americans that everything was fine, totally oblivious to what was about to hit us -- predicted the financial crisis that has caused so much devastation, added Franchi. That's yet another reason we consider it so urgent to communicate this great man's ideas to the American public."
While Paul and Bachmann are expected to do well in Ames, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose campaign has plummeted during the summer, is playing catch-up. Gingrich insisted on Wednesday that Iowa had lessons for the rest of America.
I was struck by two conversations I had in Iowa on Saturday, noted Gingrich on Wednesday. At the Mitchell County Fair a farmer told me about the dramatic increase in corn production per acre over the past few decades. In his lifetime, science has increased the yield from 73 bushels per acre in 1970 to 162 bushels per acre in 2009. The same day, a county commissioner in Decorah, Winneshiek County, told me the sheer weight of the corn harvests have been beating up the roads and bridges. He was faced with a crisis because the cost of building roads and repairing or building bridges had gone up dramatically (and even had doubled in some cases).
The county commissioner said two major roadblocks to improving the infrastructure are the huge layers of state and federal red tape and the failure to develop new productivity-increasing, cost-saving materials and techniques. We still build most roads and bridges the same way we have for decades, continued Gingrich. Here was a contrast between scientific progress raising productivity and the standard of living, while bureaucracy and red tape raised costs and drove down the standard of living. This contrast between scientific progress and government failure led me to reflect on the implementation phase of the new debt-ceiling deal. The lesson is that this can't be just more of the current incompetent, inefficient, and job-destroying bureaucracy.
Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota is looking to revive his campaign, which is lagging badly in the polls and performing under expectations, with a strong showing in the straw poll. On Tuesday, Pawlenty announced the names of 29 county chairmen across Iowa.
I am honored to have such strong leadership at the grass-roots level, which will be crucial to the success of my campaign in Iowa," Pawlenty said. I'm grateful to these individuals for serving as leaders in their communities and for sharing my vision to rein in federal spending, reduce job-killing regulations and repeal President Obamas costly, government-mandated health care legislation.
Pawlenty announced on Wednesday that he was embarking on a tour of Iowa starting on Friday, covering almost 1,400 miles and visiting 21 counties before the straw poll.
"As I have traveled across the state over the last two weeks, Iowans have voiced their frustration with President Obama and his failure to tackle our nation's fiscal problems and create jobs," Pawlenty said. "I'm working hard to meet as many Iowans as possible to share my record of conservative success in Minnesota. I believe Iowans are ready for a president with the courage to not just talk about solutions, but who actually has a record of results. At every stop of this tour, I will offer substantive solutions to overcome our nation's economic hurdles."
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
