Posted on 06/12/2015 8:50:43 AM PDT by Kaslin
After much controversy and a lack of interest from candidates and voters, the 2015 Iowa Straw poll has been cancelled after a vote from the Republican Party of Iowa’s State Central Committee. The poll was originally set to take place on August 8.
The following statement was released by Central Committee Chairman Jeff Kaufmann.
“I've said since December that we would only hold a straw poll if the candidates wanted one, and this year that is just not the case. For that reason I called a special meeting to update the State Central Committee, which then voted unanimously this morning to cancel the event. This step, while extremely distasteful for those of us who love the Straw Poll, is necessary to strengthen our First in the Nation status and ensure our future nominee has the best chance possible to take back the White House in 2016. Through the whole process we’ve listened to Iowa activists and our Republican candidates. We listened in January when a groundswell of support prompted the Central Committee to continue the decades-old tradition. We listened when we moved the Straw Poll location from Ames to Boone to lower costs. We listened when we passed those savings on to our candidates by getting rid of the expensive lot auction and reduced costs even further by planning to bring more outside food vendors," Kaufmann said. "Now, we’re listening again. Many candidates are still concerned about participating in an event that carries significant media-driven expectations well ahead of our First in the Nation Caucuses. While we still deeply believe that the Straw Poll offers a fantastic opportunity for candidates, we need to focus on strengthening our First in the Nation status and putting a Republican back in the White House. Canceling the event is not a decision anyone on the State Central Committee took lightly, and I commend them for the thorough, thoughtful job they’ve done. Iowa is First in the Nation because of our strong grassroots tradition and because we believe in a process that gives equal chance to all candidates. We also believe in hosting a process that puts our candidates in the best position possible to win the White House in 2016."
Meanwhile, while the Iowa Straw Poll has been cancelled, the RedState Gathering is on in Atlanta from August 6-9. You can register here. The next president will be there. Here's the running list of confirmed speakers:
-Carly Fiorina
-Gov. Scott Walker
-Gov. Jeb Bush
-Gov. Bobby Jindal
-Gov. Rick Perry
-Gov. Mike Huckabee
-Sen. Marco Rubio
This post has been updated with additional information.
HMMMM—
Where’s Ted?
Does that mean that Iowa the champion of Ethanol production, no longer matters?
Interesting
Good question.
Especially since the last paragraph says that the ‘next president’ will be at the upcoming Atlanta Red State Gathering.
Hope so.
Ted Cruz has said he would try to eliminate ethanol mandates. Would piss off the ethanol producers, but gain him huge support from everyone else will lowered gas and food prices.
Apparently not running with the RINOS. He didn’t Kiss Romney’s ring either.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3299127/posts
On to the hugely important state of New Hampshire!
Glad to see this, now lets surprise them with a new “First in the nation”.
Ted was planning on being in Boone, which is why he isn’t on the Atlanta list.
That's nothing but spin. The fact is that our governor wanted it gone, he got the committee and the chairman he wanted, and now it's gone.
This is common knowledge among grassroots activists in Iowa.
I should clarify that Cruz had not committed to being in Boone. but you can see the scheduling conflict which apparently was planned by RedState because candidates were looking for an alternate event
So the RINOs are holding their own straw poll and got the historical, long standing, but unwinnable for them straw poll canceled?
What an elite/establishment thing to do. Rig the process, early and often.
Personally I don’t think any state should be consistently first for straw polls or primaries.
We should get rid of straw polls altogether and have a lottery among the states to choose 4 separate primary dates.
Texas Tribune claims Cruz was already YES for Atlanta
“Both Cruz and Perry have RSVP’d for the RedState event from Aug. 6-9 in Atlanta.
RedState Editor-in-Chief Erick Erickson told the Tribune on Monday it looks like the two Texans will address the gathering Aug. 7. That means they could still peel away for the straw poll the next day — if they choose to.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/19/cruz-and-perry-noncommittal-straw-poll-talk-heats/
The RedState Gathering was planned before the date for the Iowa Straw Poll was picked. There was commentary at the time that the Iowa Republican party staff was picking a bad date, which was also two days after the first TV debate August 6.
I think you’re confusing “straw polls” with “caucuses”. Iowa will still be the first caucus. Many, many states and organizations will have straw polls between now and the Iowa Caucus.
excellent.
some state GOP would be smart to organize a big event, with cheaper tickets ... straw poll in the fall.
but as far as Cruz:
doesn’t look like he needs straw poll victories and won’t benefit from them.
the rules of the past no longer apply. (if they did, Michele Bachman would be the president)
the media can now posture early victories such as Bachman, Huckabee, Santorum and avoid the big splash that early winners used to get.
the Huckabee-Santorum strategy was flawed ... (I realize they had limited resources)
the Giuliani strategy also is severely flawed.
RonPaul did some effective things
I am sure that people are working on such plans as we speak.
I think straw polls are a big waste of time ,effort and money....come to think of it I feel the same about the caucuses!!!
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