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Updated 1:42 p.m. — A major staple of the Republican presidential nominating process -- the straw poll of Republicans at the Iowa State University in Ames -- could go by the wayside if Iowa's GOP governor gets his way.
Gov. Terry Branstad, who's currently serving his fifth term as governor of the Hawkeye State, told the Wall Street Journal that the straw poll was no longer relevant.
© Brian Frank / Reuters / REUTERS
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad speaks as U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack looks on during a news conference at the Iowa State Capitol March 28, 2012.
"I think the straw poll has outlived its usefulness,"Branstad told the paper. "It has been a great fundraiser for the party but I think its days are over."
The governor's comments earned a rebuke from the chairman of the state Republican party.
"I believe the Iowa Straw Poll is possibly the best way for a presidential campaign to organize (put in place county and precinct leaders & activate them) for Iowa’s First in the Nation Caucus," said A.J. Spiker, the party chairman. "I think it is detrimental for any campaign to skip the opportunity presented in Ames and I disagree with Governor Branstad about ending our Iowa Straw Poll."
Ronda Churchill / AP
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, left, Indiana Gov.-Elect Mike Pence, center, and Republican Governors Association Chairman and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell participate in the RGA Annual Conference on Nov. 15, 2012, in Las Vegas.
The straw poll has more often offered a glimpse of candidates' organizational strength in Iowa, which traditionally hosts the first nominating contest in a presidential contest, than a good predictor of the nominee. Candidates often spend thousands (if not more) on courting votes in the straw poll, hosting elaborate barbecues and musical acts in hopes of emerging from the event with a burst of strength.
But the winner hasn't always gone onto the nomination. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann won the straw poll this summer, earning a boomlet for her longshot bid for the nomination that fizzled weeks thereafter. Mitt Romney, the eventual Republican presidential nominee, didn't participate in the straw poll (though he stopped at the state fair during the same weekend); he lost the Iowa caucuses to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum by just a few votes, despite not having campaigned in the state.
NBC's Domenico Montanaro breaks down the history of presidents pardoning turkeys at The White House and looks at the future of the Ames Straw Poll and some comments Sen. Marco Rubio made to GQ Magazine.
"You saw what happened the last time," Branstad told the Journal. "I don’t think candidates will spend the time or money to participate in a straw poll if they don’t see any real benefit coming out of it."
The event was consequential -- in a negative way -- for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who had been thought to be a major contender versus Romney for the GOP nomination. But after Pawlenty's campaign bet almost all of its chips on the Ames event, he ended his bid for the presidency.
Still, the event is a major fundraiser for the Iowa GOP, and future candidates looking to add some momentum to their own campaigns might elect to participate anyway in the straw poll, a bit of presidential pageantry dating back to the 1980 election.
Leave a Comment:
The Ames Straw Poll is an integral prop in a political comedy show... that can humor all of us. Even Bachman is a winner.
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But a fun fact - Bachman was born in Waterloo ... so a loser written all over her face.
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Politics is serious...politics is also a reality show..to entertain us. When Bachman won the straw poll...she was beyond herself...thus having a chance to show what kind of a jackass she is...in front of the national audience. we the voters were then shocked...when she declared Hurricane Irene was god in action..People wonder who her god was...
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if it's ain't broke..don't fix
While Bachmann may have won the straw poll, she certainly drew the short end of the straw. Sucks to be a loser Bachmann. Now excuse me, I need to run into a closet to indulge in some Pray the Bachmann Away worship.
Hey..RedDevPs...I will join you in the prayer..back into the closet..pun intended?
Ames Straw Poll
From the article above:
Courtesy of Wikipedia:
Here’s an idea.
Make the Iowa Caucus in February the REAL, UNEQUIVOCAL, OFFICIAL start of all future Presidential campaign seasons.
NO CAMPAIGNING BEFORE OR ELSE!!!
LOL.
Keep the first national Primary that follow in New Hampshire as always.
Then all the other states can do their own thing for the spring and early summer.
In August, Iowa returns to the spotlight to have the Ames Straw Poll and all the great festivities with it to promote a campaigns "reality check" just before the conventions start.
Whoever the top two in each party that wins goes on to the conventions.
The losers of the straw poll get to help to clean up the Iowa State Fair.
Salud
Speaking of polls, this reminds me that the 7-11 cup poll was correct again when it pegged Obama as the likely winner.
Congrats MSNBC, your beloved PEW center has determined that you are in fact the most hate-filled, biased, and pathetic "news" site on the web:
Study: Fox News, MSNBC more 'extreme' in final week of campaign
"Fox News was much more positive about (Mitt) Romney than the press as a whole and substantially more negative about (President Barack) Obama. MSNBC was even more overwhelmingly negative about Romney and offered mostly positive coverage about Obama.
The study indicates Fox News' negative coverage of Obama grew from 47% in the first four weeks of October to 56% in the final week, while positive coverage of Romney grew eight points, from 34% to 42%, in the final week.
Meanwhile on MSNBC, positive coverage of Obama grew from 33% during the first four weeks of October to 51% in the last week. MSNBC's negative coverage of Romney increased 11 points in the last week, from 57% to 68%."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/20/study-fox-news-msnbc-more-extreme-in-final-week-of-campaign/?hpt=hp_bn3
What do you expect from a group that would edit a 911 call to make it appear racially divisive?
Enjoy it liberals, you deserve it.
By the way. How much did bachman pay to win that straw poll?
@pjam09 - are you saying that Fox is biased? What! I thought they were 'fair and balanced'! But you sound like a person who votes against their own interests with you head stuck in the mud. Let me ask you do you want more government (say preventing gays from marrying) in our lives or less government (Let people live their lives in peace and marry whomever they want)?
This straw poll is pretty much meaningless in the grand scheme of things and really should be done away with. It is non binding and decidedly unscientific in that it is simply a vote of whoever shows up, not a representation of the Republican electorate in the state as a whole. It is nothing more than a bit of useless political theater that has proven time and again is not a good predictor of who will win the Iowa caucus let alone the nomination.
That's the line from the story that says it all. It's all about the Benjamen's always has been always will be.
pjam o9
Pew? isn't that an extremist terrorists group that is a an off shoot of FOX! Being Fair and Balanced I just looked at the last 10 O'Reilly talks on FOX and can you believe it? 100% anti-liberal and attacking the election, the before and after, the candidates of the Democratic Party, the media etc. Not one of his last ten shows has been positive about anything. I guess we shouldn't be surprised. I could look back further, but it is all the same lies and excuses of the right. The republican party is one sick puppy.
why don't you quit looking back and look forward like your party said they would do? or is that just a bedtime story you tell your kids?
pig i think we have enough pigs in iowa already,thankyou but,no thanks
And yet you continue to hang around on msnbc.com
what does that say about you?
wolfhound,
Yes, you do have enough pigs in Iowa and the latest one appears to be Gov. Branstad. Look at that face. 6 terms as gov. I think there should be term limits. What about you?
pigotry, your comments are ignorant and useless. Go away, your name says it all.
Pigotry, You comments are right on and tell it like it is! Keep them coming.
anniegh, Your comments are ignorant and useless. Go away and change your your name to Sieg Heil!
The straw poll in Iowa was a full blown dog & pony show, it showed America it was a total joke when that Nutjob Bachmann won !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's face it ... FOX news is one of the reasons the GOP/TP lost the election. No rational thinking person would vote for any candidate endorsed so blatantly by a propaganda media source like that.
That tabloid news rag was the death of Mitt Romney's bid for the presidency this year and will be the death of any future GOP candidate's chances in the future.
What a pity, no straw poll? How will Michelle Bachmann launch another presidential campaign? May I suggest a launch pad to take her to Gingrich's moon colony.
GOP continues to argue about what is the best lipstick color for their pig.
@pjam09
Don't you have a bridge you're supposed to be under?
Good Ole' Boys doing much of nothing!
so...it's a Seinfeld moment...a new episode of the Show About Nothing (SAN)...?
There go the repubs, getting rid of the facts they don't like. Losers beget losers. Go Bachman!
They can't figure out that they just suck and are completely clueless!!!
We need to clean the House in 2014 and throw all the GOP trash out.
They are just a bunch of free loading worthless tools!
It will never happen. My guess is the GOP controls the House for at least the next 12 years, if not longer. One only need to look at the massive redrawing of House districts across this country that occurred over the past decades as the GOP ruled at the state and local level. A complete disaster for America. How on Earth was this ever constitutional?
yup,make sure you turn america into a one party system.better known as national socialism.sorry if that is too difficult for your little democrat mind to comprehend.
Would not be hard to understand if you had a flippen clue what Socialism is you right wing moron!!
Nice call on the election, you got sooo close to winning the White House!! Not!! The GOP loss House seats even more Senate seats, and will lose even more House seats in 2014 after they show us again what a bunch of losers they are.
A straw poll,for old straw loser men and tea bagger scum
Delete the all in 2014 ,2016
Spiker only wants to keep it so that once every four years someone at a news station says "Iowa" like it matters, and for one week Iowa gets a few tourists. Don't take that away from them!
Looser GOP please die
you first.
Oh the humanities!!! The pup-tent party pulling up stakes? Last years winner "crazy-eyes Bachman" is on the House Intelligence Committee... If that's not proof of the wrath of God then what is?
They're currently reviewing reports and allegations that man once walked with the Dinosaurs, earth is 6,000 years old, and likely to be found flat once someone finally reaches the edge.
The republican party is beyond the reach of reason at this point and thinks that "turning back" simply means hiding their true beliefs better from the electorate.
wow you are waaaaay out there in left field.Just because Bachman is crazy does'nt mean you have to be too.
“The true triumph of reason is that it
enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.”
Votaire
Yes, we can put up with the current Republican party.
Right here in River City. Trouble with a capital "T" And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for poll!
You can't get rid of the Republicans. . . .they pay taxes!!!! If you all got your wish 49 percent of the population would be gone. . . .then who would pay for all the freebies to the 51 percent???? When the rich are taxed to death your tax payers and job creators will be gone!!! Lots of luck with that one !!!! Cut nose off to spite face!!!
Will manage just fine.
Until the credit card is maxxed out.
More republicans are on government assistance than democrats. Republicans might want to think twice before they bite the hand that feeds them.
Yes Leah, we'll be just fine. You may have space sickness considering your "percentages diatribe"... Let's review... So, 51% are all "takers" and all voted for Obama. 49% are all the "makers" and all stupid enough to vote for Romney... Sounds reasonable...
Your deductive reasoning is staggering. Likely outshined only by your Mormonism, poor sprtmanship, racism, ignorance of any and all detail and history, and excessive use of the exclamation point!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In case you didn't see the turd ejected from the punch-bowl on the national stage, it was also recorded talking to it's "handlers" in yet another private conversation gone wrong shortly after that. If what you hear sounds right to you, then by all means climb the trash heap and stake out your spot now. You have nothing to offer other than the continuance of the same lies and miscalculations already rejected by the electorate.
You represent the takers. Poorly, but insistently.
Boy I bet your the life of the party!
I don't know how to break this to you, Princess but if you look to the states which receive the most Federal Funding and which states contribute the most to Federal Funding you'll find the Blues States are carrying the Red States in some cases such as Alabama by a margin of for every one dollar in taxes that Alabama contributes it gets back 1.75. In fact without the aid of the Federal Government and the nice "blue" people in the North and on the coasts some of your tragic little states would cease to exist for lack of money to support themselves.
Statistically, you're just plain wrong. If the people in the blue states quit paying taxes your lazy a** is starving. Please, leave the Union. We'd have plenty of extra cash to support our "socialist" policies and take care of everyone.
@princess leah oh please thats crap, the so called job creators have had ten years of the lowest tax rates in over half a century, and they have created nothing but bigger bank accounts and profits for themselves...further more I live in NYC...I'm originally from Mississippi....New Yorkers by far outwork southerners....I left sold Everything I had and moved here two years ago and Immediately became better off job, apt, money etc.....Mississippi and many other red states take in more federal dollars than blue ones....the real redistribution of wealth is from blue states to red states.....IE your argument is crap!
Leah/ The only success that the Republicans have had is their trickle down economics. They have done that in the normal trickle down way.The first wave was to their flunkey's,the C.E.O.s and their flunkey's,the board of directors,Then their flunkey's the purchasing agents,then the military purchasing agents then their People's Representatives who vote for the super rich tax reductions and entitelements. It can not trickle down to the ordinary people because the bucks stops there.
If i am hiring to fill a position and i have two identical resumes, except one applicant was from alabama and one was from New England... you know who is getting the job. Do you know how easy it is to get work down south as a northener? We actually work, I say this after spending a long portion of the last 3 years "working" with people from mississippi and alabama. Hell one day, they took me out to breakfast, we drove around for a while, went to lunch, started the work i had flown 1000 miles to do then they closed up before i was finished because it was quittin time. Lazy pricks.
Real democracy would not only elect directly from the popular vote, instead of the very undemocratic electoral college, it would provide a structured environment and process where all citizens across the U.S. could participate at the same time and equally in selecting the candidates for office to produce the "short list".
Real democracy would also make illegal, gerrymandering, as was done wholesale in Pennsylvania this election, as well as other material and deliberate attempts to disenfranchise the citizenry. If any are illegal now, enforcement is obviously lacking.
(c) 2012
The electoral college votes according to the will of the people 99% of the time.
The ames straw poll - increasingly irrelevant....just like the angry white GOP.
Angry white gop..LOL how funny and racist.What about that dark black democrat attitude?democrats are hardly a ray of sunshine.If you don't like this comment,fine!! If you you don't like racist comments then make sure you are not doing the same thing.I don't make racist remarks as a rule but you deserve a little of your own medicine.
Yes, Iowa's Governor was only half right. It's the GOP that has become irrelavent.
I would like to point out that the Iowa State Fair is held at the state fair grounds in Des Moines, not Ames, as the article implies.
Anyways, nitpicking aside, I wouldn't mind the straw poll going away because this state has enough internal GOP craziness as it is, we don't need outside contributors.
no need to worry about that.There are more than enough loonies in eastern Iowa to offset that.
I think it should be replaced with a tractor pull or maybe a taffy pull, anything but political pull.
Replace the Straw Poll? With what, bamboo?
The Ames staw poll is bogus anyway as there are so many people excluded from participating due to consts. Only those with money are allowed to participate. That isn't democracy!
you are right!!! it's called capitalism.No matter what politcal party you prefer they will always be ruled and undermind by capitalism.
Actually it's called fascism when money buys elections, not capitalism. Get it right.
Typical Republican strategy, if they can't win by the rules they will change the rules! Lie, cheat or steal. Whatever it takes.
Get over it! You lost - FORWARD!
for someone who claims to be going forwards you sure spend alot of time looking backwards at republicans.The Democrats did win so the ball is in their court.You can quit pointing fingers and calling foul and get moving forward like you say.Or is GOING FOWARD a punch line for a bad joke?
Actually Wolfhound you and your party are the joke and the punchline. Forward!!!!!!!
I would say that the relavance of the straw poll is that it serves as a break point for who is really serious about running. It is not uncommon to see 2 or 3 candidates drop out immediately after the poll and before actual voting begins.
So, is the turkey pictured in the article the next Republican presidential candidate??
a turkey was pardoned by another turkey today.
Congrats MSNBC, your beloved PEW center has determined that you are in fact the most hate-filled, biased, and pathetic "news" site on the web:
Study: Fox News, MSNBC more 'extreme' in final week of campaign
"Fox News was much more positive about (Mitt) Romney than the press as a whole and substantially more negative about (President Barack) Obama. MSNBC was even more overwhelmingly negative about Romney and offered mostly positive coverage about Obama.
The study indicates Fox News' negative coverage of Obama grew from 47% in the first four weeks of October to 56% in the final week, while positive coverage of Romney grew eight points, from 34% to 42%, in the final week.
Meanwhile on MSNBC, positive coverage of Obama grew from 33% during the first four weeks of October to 51% in the last week. MSNBC's negative coverage of Romney increased 11 points in the last week, from 57% to 68%."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/20/study-fox-news-msnbc-more-extreme-in-final-week-of-campaign/?hpt=hp_bn3
What do you expect from a group that would edit a 911 call to make it appear racially divisive?
Enjoy it liberals, you deserve it.
pjam09 And your point is? And to my point. I"m glad to see you are the only one who cares.
Thank You for your point.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
One was hedging their expected losses, One was celebrating the win.
Any idiot THAT didn't occur to will probably try to cover it like a news story and use bolding as highlights in a cut & paste job to represent it as something less obvious than.... Ooops! Sorry Pjamma slamma...
Great reporting btw... If you'll pay attention to what he says and what he said to his "buyers" afterward you'd surely see that there wasn't NEARLY enough negative coverage of that turd Romney even if you combine all relevant news sources. He was a loser from the get-go and it was called close only to extract Citizens United free-flowing cash up to the last minute from the billionaires trying to buy his election to the detriment of all mankind.
Political derails are against the Newsvine Code of Honor. You have been reported.
This is not the soapbox you are looking for.
More republicans are on government assistance than democrats. Republicans might want to think twice before they bite the hand that feeds them.
They don't eat that much anyway in the red states, they just exchange their food stamps for meth.
how about this? there are too many people in general on foodstamps.Why don't you just stop with the poitical crap and be an American now that the elections are over.As for your comment about red states.I somehow doubt you have ever been out of your state,much less the country.people in blue state apparently sit home on anti-depressants and get fat while running their mouths..If you don't like that,too bad.enjoy some of your own medicine.
Wolfhound, you telling other people to stop being political is just blithering stupidity. Why don't you stop spouting out Fox talking points like a little parrot before you ask others to stop being political.
Didn't you get the memo on November 6th? The electorate rejects your backwards ideology.
I'm not an angry white man. . . . but I'm angry just the same. I am angry that many people on this site have such a good time being so rude. Thank God for the people you keep dogging. They are hardworking, tax paying, responsible, educated, family oriented, . . . . . .oh. . . . I get it now. They are the reason our nation, has in the past, been successful. Until everyone is wallowing in the mire of life will you be happy. Oh. . .and Tony. . . prove it!
No they're not. And neither are you. And God has nothing to do with you. You're a minority of sell-outs demanding that the rights of others be altered to suit you while at the same time paying no attention to the fact that those you follow would strip you bare at the first opportunity. You worship Idols and fancy yourself somewhere in the middle of something you don't even understand. You have a caste society in your minds and it dribbles off your chins often enough to keep you on the wrong side of EVERYTHING... God included. It is your kind that "wallows in the mire of life".
princess leah Are you a real princess? What would a real princess know about work or working people? You know Queen Ann Romney did not know much about the commoners.
Your Highness/Why are you angry? Your chosen party,the party for the rich,was given huge amounts of money to convince the electorate that they were going to look after the super rich and make the rest of us pay for it. Although I doubted that they would lose I was pleased that they did so. Democracy is not always able to choose wisely but as long as it is vigilant in insuring that the election is honest you should be resigned even if disappointed. We still are seeing Democracy in action, which is better than a Dictatorship. You can always hope that the voters will gain enough sense to vote your way the next time.
Just google federal tax receipts by state
@ princess leah What you you talking about honey? One of the tea party founders filled for bankruptcy because she CHOSE not to have health insurance that was offered by her employer BECAUSE... she thought it was better / cheaper to have tax payers foot her family doctor bills by going to the emergency room until someone in her family had a serious illness. That's not taking responsibility for ones self... and I might add that they weren't poor either... It's disgustingly disgraceful to say the least.
For a government or a society to endure, it needs wise informed leaders.....and these are hard to find. It is easy to find leaders who go along with "transgression" or "moral decay", but a decadent nation cannot long survive. Each person's selfishness quickly affects others. A selfish employee who steals from his company ruins its productivity. A selfish driver who drinks before taking the wheel makes the State highway unsafe. A selfish spouse who has an adulterous affair often breaks up several family.
When people live for themselves with little concern for how their actions affect others, the resulting moral rot contaminates the entire nation.
..........................REPUBLICANS ARE YOU PART OF THE PROBLEM OR THE SOLUTION?........................................
could ask the Democrats the same thing along with all the other misc politicians that claim to be for the people.
For everyone's information, FOX news is not a legitimate news organization. FOX was purchased by Rupert Murdock to advance his political agenda. The regular legitimate news organizations would not act as his spokespeople. Everyone knows that Murdock and much of his staff have been investigated and some charged with crimes in England right?
Yeah, Rupert's wiretapped everyone from the royal family to celebrities to a poor kidnapped and murdered girl during the investigation into her disappearance.
The man is slime but they still worship him and repeat any lie his network spews as unquestionable truth. That's why they're stuck in their irrational fantasy world.
Well, a Republican proposal I can agree with!
Think this repub gov realizes the GOP should just take the highest bidder for their candidacy from the next billionaires pool (Mitt is worth more than just $250mill when they do the conversion of who knows how much Swiss, Caymans, Bermuda, etc. currency correctly to US dollars some day). Really, do you think they will ever run someone in the future who came from the middle class or poorer?
nope,If you are not a millionaire you either don't have the time to run or the money or both.
Yeah wolfhound, and that's why we have a president who came from a single-parent family right?