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Thread: Iowa Straw Poll Canceled

  1. #1

    Iowa Straw Poll Canceled

    https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/...64417373962241

    Quote Originally Posted by Twitter
    JUST IN: The Iowa Straw Poll is dead
    By unanimous vote, the Iowa GOP board just voted to kill it.



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  3. #2
    Wow! Unfortunately for them, they can't kill the caucus. Rand Paul can't be stopped.

  4. #3
    Haha. ...these guys are so predictable.

  5. #4
    Something else will take its place.

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by erowe1 View Post
    Something else will take its place.
    http://www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk/

  7. #6
    Is this just because lazy ass Jeb Bush could not be bothered to come?


    R.I.P


    Quote Originally Posted by JK/SEA View Post
    http://www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk/
    Iowa in Scotland?

  8. #7

    Iowa GOP officially cancels straw poll

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ls-straw-poll/

    So there's that.

    The Iowa straw poll, a political jamboree that has been fixture in the Republican presidential nominating process for nearly four decades but has come under criticism in recent years, was officially cancelled Friday by state GOP leaders in a unanimous vote.

    In a conference call Friday morning, members of the Iowa Republican Party's state central committee decided not to move forward with the event this summer, calling their decision an important step toward strengthening the Hawkeye State's first-in-the-nation standing in the nomination process.

    “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," said Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann."...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."

    The straw poll is an Iowa political tradition that dates back to 1979 and serves two basic purposes: raising money for the Iowa GOP and showcasing the presidential candidates and their relative strengths months ahead of the state's first-in-the-nation caucuses.

    But the summertime event has faced an existential crisis since the last time it was held, as Republican strategists and officials have questioned its utility in predicting how hopefuls will fare in Iowa and whether it's a worthwhile investment of candidate time and money. In 2011, then-congresswoman Michele Bachmann won the straw poll; she went on to finish last in the 2012 caucuses.

    It had also become expensive to compete in the poll. Candidates have had to pay for plum spots at the event, which has been likened to a county fair or a carnival. Hopefuls had to shell out big bucks to transport supporters and pay for food.

    Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) has been one the poll's most prominent critics, once saying the gathering had "outlived its usefulness." The emerging crop of White House hopefuls also showed little interest in the event.

    While representatives for seven candidates and probable contenders dropped by a straw poll planning session last month, no one from the top-tier campaigns was there.

    Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee -- who won the 2008 Iowa caucuses -- were opting out. Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) had signaled that he would not participate. And Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, seen as an early front-runner in Iowa, had been non-committal.

    Even as the effort to undermine the straw poll picked up steam, many Republicans rallied to try to save the event. In May, 156 state Republican activists took to the pages of the Des Moines Register with an op-ed urging candidates to participate.

    And in January, the state GOP central committee voted 16 to 0 to begin planning a straw poll. This year's version had been slated to take place in Boone instead of Ames, where it has been held in past years.

  9. #8
    LOL. Wonder why they would do that?



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  11. #9
    That sucks.
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno View Post
    It's a balance between appeasing his supporters, appeasing the deep state and reaching his own goals.
    ~Resident Badgiraffe




  12. #10
    They made good money doing the poll. Guess they are flush with cash.
    "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it."
    James Madison

    "It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams



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    Dum Spiro, Pugno
    Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by puppetmaster View Post
    They made good money doing the poll. Guess they are flush with cash.
    Or TPTB said, "why bother with the fundraiser when we can just funnel you the cash behind the scenes?"

  14. #12
    Jeb had too much competition there. Kasich is way ahead in the polls in Iowa so he would be a bigger threat nationally to Jeb down the road if the news media covered his win in the straw poll.

    btw - Kaisch and Rand are the only two that beat Clinton in the latest Iowa poll.
    * See my visitor message area for caveats related to my posting history here.
    * Also, I have effectively retired from all social media including posting here and are basically opting out of anything to do with national politics or this country on federal or state level and rather focusing locally. I may stop by from time to time to discuss philosophy on a general level related to Libertarian schools of thought and application in the real world.

  15. #13
    Dammit. I was all set on seeing Randy Travis.
    "And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

    "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire

  16. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by kahless View Post
    Jeb had too much competition there. Kasich is way ahead in the polls in Iowa so he would be a bigger threat nationally to Jeb down the road if the news media covered his win in the straw poll.

    btw - Kaisch and Rand are the only two that beat Clinton in the latest Iowa poll.
    Think you are confusin' Iowa with Ohio.
    "And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

    "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by CaptUSA View Post
    Think you are confusin' Iowa with Ohio.
    Yeah, just insert Walker and Paul.
    * See my visitor message area for caveats related to my posting history here.
    * Also, I have effectively retired from all social media including posting here and are basically opting out of anything to do with national politics or this country on federal or state level and rather focusing locally. I may stop by from time to time to discuss philosophy on a general level related to Libertarian schools of thought and application in the real world.

  18. #16
    Jan2017
    Member

    Iowa is less and less interesting for the national election as well now for sure - especially with only 6 electoral votes

    "Candidates have had to pay for plum spots at the event, which has been likened
    to a county fair or a carnival. Hopefuls had to shell out big bucks to transport supporters and pay for food."

    Oh well, the Fox debate is August 6, picked two days before what would have been the presumed
    August 8 date anticipated for the what had been an Ames event.



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  20. #17
    The location had already been designated to Boone instead of Ames, though.

  21. #18
    This could be interpreted as a bad thing for Rand Paul, but the straw poll was just silly, and I don't think the benefit would outweigh the cost.

  22. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Foreigner View Post



    Iowa in Scotland?
    its a global community now.

  23. #20

    The Iowa Straw Poll is dead

    http://www.desmoinesregister.com/sto...poll/71116276/

    The Iowa Straw Poll is dead, leaving a heavier burden on winnowing an oversized GOP presidential field on Iowans who will cast the nation's first votes in February in the caucuses.

    The governing board for the Republican Party of Iowa voted unanimously Friday to cancel the straw poll, a milestone on the path to the White House that had passed the strategic tipping point. It was no longer a political risk for presidential campaigns to walk away from the straw poll, and too many of the 2016 contenders had opted to skip it for it to survive.

    "We set the table and they didn't come to dinner," Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann told The Des Moines Register and Radio Iowa Friday morning.

    There were three reasons the Iowa GOP board decided to not go forward with the Aug. 8 event in Boone, Kaufmann said. There was too little interest from the presidential contenders; the fundraiser likely wouldn't have made enough money to break even; and there were concerns about jeopardizing Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses — Iowa party officials were getting blowback from national influencers for appearing to be bullying contenders to compete.

    "Am I disappointed? Yes," Kaufmann said. "But I don't say this really with any animus toward the candidates. They made decisions that were good for their campaign. I would much rather spend my time highlighting Hillary's dysfunctionality as a potential president than trying to gain a particular candidate by backing them into a corner and forcing them into Boone."

    For GOP activists in Iowa, the summertime political festival was a beloved tradition that dated to 1979. The daylong festival showcased the party's presidential candidates and to brought Iowa Republicans together for food, music and field-winnowing. But its fate rested in the hands of the presidential campaigns, who drove attendance by spending resources to haul in their supporters. Four years ago, the party sold about 23,000 tickets, and about 18,000 were purchased by the campaigns.

    Several key 2016 contenders — Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Mike Huckabee — had decided against dishing out the big bucks that it can take to win the straw poll. Party officials needed at least one legitimate player to participate, but the Iowa frontrunner, Scott Walker, declined to commit or even signal any interest.
    More at link.

  24. #21
    Bummer for the Iowa economy
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing."-Ron Paul

    "We have set them on the hobby-horse of an idea about the absorption of individuality by the symbolic unit of COLLECTIVISM. They have never yet and they never will have the sense to reflect that this hobby-horse is a manifest violation of the most important law of nature, which has established from the very creation of the world one unit unlike another and precisely for the purpose of instituting individuality."- A Quote From Some Old Book

  25. #22
    xxxxx
    Last edited by Voluntarist; 05-23-2016 at 08:05 PM.
    You have the right to remain silent. Anything you post to the internet can and will be used to humiliate you.

  26. #23
    Jan2017
    Member

    Quote Originally Posted by givemeliberty2010 View Post
    The location had already been designated to Boone instead of Ames, though.
    That was the beginning of the end game - as much a reason for candidates to shun considering it, as any.

    Net result is Iowans won't be meeting as many candidates this summer . . .
    they prided themselves into thinking that anyone could meet a presidential candidate if one wanted to -
    a winter caucus is all there is now.

  27. #24
    Cancelled why, because Rand was the projected winner?



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  29. #25

  30. #26
    Rad must be doing better in internal polls to warrant this extreme move. The straw poll is usually good at weeding out campaigns early. I guess it's hard to blackout an event results if it never happens. In the end this is just another sign the GOP has no real focus anymore. I guess the menatality is that we're getting big special money interests why mix it up with the common people? Yeah the Iowa economy is going to take a hit. I'm sure the Iowan republican governor is thrilled about this.

  31. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Kords21 View Post
    In the end this is just another sign the GOP has no real focus anymore. I guess the menatality is that we're getting big special money interests why mix it up with the common people?
    That does seem to be the message.

    It's not a winning message, but I don't think they actually care much about that these days.

  32. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Foreigner View Post
    Is this just because lazy ass Jeb Bush could not be bothered to come?

    Sort of. An establishment candidate like Bush had ZERO chance of winning. In all likelihood, Paul would have won in a cakewalk, and the establishment can't have that happening. Remember the $#@!storm that following when Ron almost won it last time around? Or when Ron was leading in the run-up to the caucus? The party threatened to take away Iowa's "first caucus in America" status.

  33. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by Kords21 View Post
    Rad must be doing better in internal polls to warrant this extreme move. The straw poll is usually good at weeding out campaigns early. I guess it's hard to blackout an event results if it never happens. In the end this is just another sign the GOP has no real focus anymore. I guess the menatality is that we're getting big special money interests why mix it up with the common people? Yeah the Iowa economy is going to take a hit. I'm sure the Iowan republican governor is thrilled about this.
    It means the leadership is laser focused, on stopping Rand, and shutting down his momentum. Why do you think there are so many heavy-hitter Republican candidates in the race? They can tell just as much as we can that the primary race is over-populated. The point was to crowd Rand out, then bury him in the bottom half of the field by blacking out those candidates from the debates. Only Rand has stayed in the upper half of the field, thus depriving them of cover in excluding him.

    In retrospect, it begins to make sense why Perry announced in 2011 the very afternoon of the straw vote. It makes sense now why not only did Bachmann "win" the last IA straw vote (she was actually statistically tied with Ron), but got interviews on all five of the Sunday shows the next morning, while Paul got nothing. The point was to bury him one way or the other---if Bachmann edged him out, the directive was to talk her up only, and if Paul won, to talk up Perry's entry into the race. But the plan was to stop Ron then, and block Rand now one way or the other.
    Last edited by Peace&Freedom; 06-12-2015 at 03:55 PM.
    -----Peace & Freedom, John Clifton-----
    Blog: https://electclifton.wordpress.com/2...back-backlash/

  34. #30
    xxxxx
    Last edited by Voluntarist; 05-23-2016 at 08:05 PM.
    You have the right to remain silent. Anything you post to the internet can and will be used to humiliate you.

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