What's The Purpose of the Iowa Straw Poll? (Ron Paul, Huckabee, voters)
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"Here is a list of the winners of the Ames Straw Poll since it started: George HW Bush (1979), Pat Robertson (1987), Bob Dole and Phil Gramm (tie) (1995), George W Bush (1999), Mitt Romney (2007). Notice anything? Only 2 candidates won the nomination that election cycle. Moreover, only 1 1/2 of them went on to win the Iowa Caucus that cycle (Dole ‘96, W Bush ’00)...Only once when there wasn’t an incumbent Republican president has Iowa picked the eventual nominee in both the straw poll and the caucus.
The article points out there's no momentum coming from the straw poll and some candidates are sinking a lot of money into Iowa but why not closer to the caucus instead of the straw poll? Anybody have any ideas?
"Here is a list of the winners of the Ames Straw Poll since it started: George HW Bush (1979), Pat Robertson (1987), Bob Dole and Phil Gramm (tie) (1995), George W Bush (1999), Mitt Romney (2007). Notice anything? Only 2 candidates won the nomination that election cycle. Moreover, only 1 1/2 of them went on to win the Iowa Caucus that cycle (Dole ‘96, W Bush ’00)...Only once when there wasn’t an incumbent Republican president has Iowa picked the eventual nominee in both the straw poll and the caucus.
The article points out there's no momentum coming from the straw poll and some candidates are sinking a lot of money into Iowa but why not closer to the caucus instead of the straw poll? Anybody have any ideas?
It is simply, like most straw polls, bragging rights for the winner or even the second place finisher. AS most of us realize, straw polls don't mean too much.
"Here is a list of the winners of the Ames Straw Poll since it started: George HW Bush (1979), Pat Robertson (1987), Bob Dole and Phil Gramm (tie) (1995), George W Bush (1999), Mitt Romney (2007). Notice anything? Only 2 candidates won the nomination that election cycle. Moreover, only 1 1/2 of them went on to win the Iowa Caucus that cycle (Dole ‘96, W Bush ’00)...Only once when there wasn’t an incumbent Republican president has Iowa picked the eventual nominee in both the straw poll and the caucus.
The article points out there's no momentum coming from the straw poll and some candidates are sinking a lot of money into Iowa but why not closer to the caucus instead of the straw poll? Anybody have any ideas?
Ron Paul looks at it like another opportunity for national media attention where they HAVE to report what happened. It also shows him, like was the case when he went to New Orleans that he can go to an area of the country, do a good job getting his message out and people will like the message and take the time and energy to vote for him in the straw poll.
Here's a good article in the Washington Times. This isn't so much about winning the straw poll as much as it is to at least make some noise:
Quote:
That’s approximately when the Republican Party of Iowa is scheduled to announce the final results of the upcoming Iowa Straw Poll, an event that in the past has winnowed the field from pretenders to contenders despite what its detractors claim about its irrelevance.
Just ask Lamar Alexander and Elizabeth Dole if the Iowa Straw Poll matters. Poor showings in Ames back in 1999 cost them their campaigns. Even four years ago, after front-runners Rudolph. W. Giuliani and John McCain backed out of the event, it still mattered enough to eliminate Sam Brownback following a third-place finish behind Mike Huckabee’s surprising second-place surge.
The Iowa Straw Poll matters because it’s the first real test of the two things that matter most in the first-in-the-nation caucus state: organization and star power. A candidate must have either the organization to get supporters identified and to Ames or the star power to draw them on their own. Rarely does a candidate have both, as George W. Bush did in 1999
It means nothing, just a bunch of people talking in a corn ot weatfield, media coverage up the....... always a slow news day when you talk about Iowa ....
It's a testing ground to prove to the big money people who has the ability to inspire the voters to turn out and who has the best organized team. If you can do that, then the big money people are more likely to support your campaign which, in this day and age, is extremely important.
It's a testing ground to prove to the big money people who has the ability to inspire the voters to turn out and who has the best organized team. If you can do that, then the big money people are more likely to support your campaign which, in this day and age, is extremely important.
Would you care to tell us who has done well in Iowa in the past and gone on the become our Presideant Ms Know it all.../??
Would you care to tell us who has done well in Iowa in the past and gone on the become our Presideant Ms Know it all.../??
Nita
I realize you were directing your question at another person, but I’m going to jump back in if you don’t mind.
Per the article above I posted to from the Washington Times, I don’t think anyone has illusions that the straw poll will pick the next Prez (even though it did in 1999 with GW Bush). But rather, it weeds out the lesser candidates (rightly or wrongly).
The argument should be: is this straw poll in the best interest of the GOP in the long run?
To get a report from the trenches -- I’m not exaggerating to say as a registered Republican in Iowa, I get no less than 2 - 3 calls PER DAY at home right now related to the straw poll. Our TV is littered with political ads. I doubt this is the case anywhere else in the country right now (pls correct me if I’m wrong ) . Bottomline: if the straw poll didn’t’ matter, why are these candidates calling me?
Finally, I’m going to go to the State Fair on Friday. If interested, I can see 5 GOP candidates speak on the “soapbox” for 20 minutes/a piece if I’m interested . I can walk up and talk to any of them and ask questions.
You may not like the straw poll and you may think it is wrong, but you are naïve IMO to say it doesn’t matter….and if it doesn’t, you better get a hold of your fav GOP candidate and tell them to stop wasting their resources because a lot of them are spending a lot of time and money trying to get me to Ames, Iowa to vote for them.
Last edited by capitalcityguy; 08-08-2011 at 01:52 PM..
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