Presidential candidate makes a 'meet and greet' tour of Iowa (November 16, 2007)

Cap Fendig, a Republican candidate for president in 2008, was in Muscatine on Thursday.

“We’re in the area and we’ll be back,” Fendig, a Georgia County commissioner, said of his and his wife Catherine’s travels in Iowa.

During a brief visit to the Muscatine Journal Thursday, Fendig said he is on a “meet and greet” tour of Iowa this month and in December.

According to his Web site, he began Thursday in Burlington before visiting Muscatine and ending the day in Davenport, where he will also spend today.

Fendig is the owner of a small business and a 30-year U.S. Coast Guard Master Captain, according to campaign literature.

“I am a true conservative Republican, a Christian man who is happily married with three children and three grandchildren,” he says in the literature.

Fendig supports family values legislation, placing domestic security first and ending illegal immigration, and reforming the education, criminal justice and tax systems.

Fendig won’t appear on the ballot for Georgia’s primary on Feb. 7, but will be included in New Hamphire, according to an article from The Brunswick News in Georgia.

“Garandgal” wrote: “The radio stations up here actually gave him air time (for whatever reason)....he blathered on about how he and his wife had ‘sold everything’ to run for the Presidency on the Fair Tax platform; ‘the right thing to do’ and all. Whatever...”

Exactly what’s behind the venomous anti-Fendig prejudice at Free Republic and Fox News anyway?

GO, CAP, GO!! GO, CAP, GO!!

:-)

http://www.thebrunswicknews.com/open_access/news/290475540363140.php

How Cap Fendig is stalking the Iowa vote
December 8, 2007

By Brandee A. Thomas
The Brunswick News

As the first test of strength for presidential candidates, the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses can launch or cripple runs for the White House.

And even though his name is rarely mentioned in the same sentence with those of Republican front-runners Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani – or even Mike Huckabee who is surging out of the second-tier candidates – Glynn County Commissioner Cap Fendig is pushing ahead on his dream in Iowa.

Like others in the party trying to get a jumpstart with a win there, Fendig is spending a lot of time in the nation’s Corn Belt. If he’s beginning to feel like he lives there, it’s no wonder.

“We spent three and a half weeks visiting 55 cities and towns in Iowa,” Fendig said, speaking about the campaign for the Oval Office he launched this past September. “Our strategy was to campaign in towns with a population of 7,000 to 10,000.

“We felt these smaller communities would be more responsive to our message,” he said. “Communities of this size also make up the majority of voters in Iowa.”

Unlike Georgia, where ballots will be cast by individuals in either the Democratic Primary or Republican Primary, Iowa holds presidential caucuses.

At the caucuses, local delegations choose the candidate they would like to nominate for president. They then pick the individuals to represent their selections at district, state and finally national party conventions. The political test of strength – or as some say, the ability to sit on a folding chair for several hours – is to see which candidate can get the most people to turn out for the caucuses.

Fendig hopes to be among the top candidates. How well he fares will depend on his strategy: Going and stumping where people are known to gather.

“In each town we went to, we found the favorite gathering places – the coffee shops, restaurants and town centers – and walked around handing out brochures and talking to people,” he said. “Word of mouth marketing is really the strength of small town campaigning.”

It has been an enlightening experience.

“What we already knew was just reconfirmed – people, for the most part, are very unhappy with both parties in Congress,” he said. “The polls are going to reflect what we saw and that’s going to be a very tight race on both sides.”

Running for national office is expensive, and Fendig must watch his dollars closely.

With Romney and Giuliani toting around treasuries in the $10,000 range, the less than $100,000 Fending has to spend is only slightly more than the $85,000 a day Romney has reportedly been pumping into television advertising alone in Iowa.

“We’ve raised around $70,000 to $80,000, which includes money that I’ve contributed,” Fendig said. “We’ve pretty much spent most of that – mostly on advertising.”

With the big-budget and big-name campaigns grabbing the attention, Fendig has found his quest frustrating at times.

“I would say that the national media’s refusal to provide access to lesser-known candidates is a lot stronger than I thought it would be,” he said.

“With a presidential campaign, what most Americans don’t understand is that you don’t get to hear the full debate and voices of all serious presidential candidates.”

The national media is not the only spotlight that is not focusing on Fendig.

The Georgia Republican Party declined to put him on the ballot for its Feb. 5 primary. So did Florida.

He is on Republican ballots for the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary and the Jan. 26 South Carolina vote.

“We have (requests) pending in other states, where it is the sole discretion of the state’s Republican party or secretary state,” he said. “Many of them base their decision on national poll rankings and/or national media exposure.”

The fact that his own home state did not put him on the ballot has weakened his position.

“(While campaigning), when reporters talked to us, they were very aware that Georgia left us off the ballot,” he said. “That has cut some of our credibility and hurt us some.”

Fendig said he is unsure whether he will appeal the Georgia Republican Party’s decision. It’s a matter that would have to be decided in court, he said.

“I’m just not sure if we are inclined to do that,” he said.

This weekend marks Fendig’s return to the campaign trail, after a week-long return to Glynn County.

“We’ll be leaving for New Hampshire this weekend and then we’ll put our focus on South Carolina. (In the presidential elections) Iowa is No. 1 – which is why we put most of our money there – New Hampshire is No. 2 ...,” he said.

“If this David and Goliath campaign is going take ground, it’s going to happen inside those ... primaries.”

Being on the road would be a lonely experience for Fendig, save for his wife Catherine, who has been with him every step of the way.

She’s his biggest fan.

“What Cap is saying really resonates with people,” Catherine Fendig said. “People are saying they feel powerless and apathetic. Many say they aren’t going to vote or that they are just going to vote for the lesser of two evils.”

From what he has seen so far on the campaign trail, Cap Fendig thinks there is a chance that a lesser known candidate could rise to the top.

“The Republican side is still wide open and undecided, and I think our message and platform is dead center with how mainstream America feels,” he said.

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.