Monday, June 25, 2012
Ron Paul supporters have picked up some delegates, including an impressive number in Iowa, heading to the Republican National Convention. But will this support for Paul disrupt Mitt Romney from building a winning coalition of Republicans?
Texas Congressman Ron Paul has amassed an impressive amount of Republican state delegates, including 23 out of 28 in Iowa who will attend the GOP national convention. Is this good news or bad news for Republicans? The Paul supporters, many of them proclaiming they are a part of the Liberty Movement, say they are working to move the Republican party toward the Congressman's values of fiscal conservatism and the end of foreign intervension. Despite their promises to fall in behind Romney at the convention, Patch's recent Red Iowa political survey found that Paul supporters in Iowa are still not sold on Romney as a candidate. So, will this division between Paul supporters and other Republicans hurt Mitt Romney in Iowa, one of the …
Friday, May 11, 2012
The Kentucky sentator spoke to a conservative Christian group in Iowa, where supporters of his father, Ron Paul, have taken over leadership in the state Republican Party. The younger Paul spoke in Waukee Friday about his journey as a Christian.
Rand Paul, Kentucky senator, Tea Party leader and possibly heir to his father Ron's libertarian movement, told about 300 conservative Iowa Christians that America needs to recover and find its moral bearings. "There is a sickness out there that needs more than political leadership. It needs spiritual leadership," he said. "In that cause, I'll do the best that I can." As the keynote speaker for the spring fundraiser for the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, an influential group in Iowa Republican Party politics, Paul gave the least political speech of the night. He followed speeches by Iowa politicians Sen. Chuck Grassley, Rep. Tom Latham and Rep. Steve King. Ralph Reed, the founder and chairman of the national Faith and Freedom Coalition, …
Monday, March 5, 2012
As Republican county conventions meet in Iowa four days after Super Tuesday, there still may be some candidates who are fighting for their share of Iowa's unbound delegates.
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Monday, March 5, 2012
By Lynn Campbell Iowapolitics.com DES MOINES — Iowa’s influence in choosing presidential nominees generally diminishes after its first-in-the-nation caucuses. But this year could be different because of the lack of finality in who will be the Republican nominee. “I think we’re in a different election cycle than we’ve ever seen before. Historically, the nominee has already been chosen. Clearly, we don’t have a chosen nominee yet,” said Republican National Committeewoman Kim Lehman of Johnston. “That goes back to a trend that’s happening where people are not allowing the political gurus to make the decision for the grassroots voters.” Voters in 10 states will cast their votes on Super Tuesday. It’s considered the biggest single day of the …
Saturday, February 11, 2012
A.J. Spiker will fill the remainder of the vacancy left by Matt Strawn's departure.
From the Republican Party of Iowa The Republican Party of Iowa State Central Committee elected Ames resident A.J. Spiker, 32, as their new chair on Saturday. Former Chair Matt Strawn announced he would step down in January after some criticized his hesitation to declare Rick Santorum the winner of the Iowa Caucus. Spiker, a real estate agent at Freidch-Iowa Realty in Ames, will fill the remainder of Strawn's term which expires in Jan. 2013. “I am honored to be elected by my colleagues on the Committee and look forward to serving as Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. I will work diligently with fellow Republicans across the state to energize voters and work to elect our candidates," Spiker said in a prepared statement. Spiker is a…
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Missing political news? Here is coverage of the New Hampshire primaries from our Patch colleagues out East. And we want to know: Do you miss the attention, Iowa?
Editor's Note: The Iowa caucuses are now behind us. The presidential candidates are no longer barging into our coffee shops to shake our hands, or usurping our TV commercial time. Still, after months of attention, I confess I miss writing and hearing about the race for the GOP nomination on an hourly basis. In case you missed, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney walked away with a big win Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary. It was expected, but many feel he now is firmly the man to beat for the nomination. Texas Congressman Ron Paul finished a solid, but distant, second place. This comes a week after Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum finished in a virtual tie for first in the Iowa Caucus. Paul finished a few points …
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Caucus Rewind: Truly, we loved having you here. But we’re not all that sorry to see you go.
Goodbye, you and yours. By you, we mean the candiates, and by yours, we mean the national and international press corps, who move with the candiates amoeba-like, changing in shape and size as campaign intensity heightens. And by we, I mean Iowans. That no one was trampled to death during the Caucuses surely must count as one of this rich Iowa tradition's successes. One last time, some favorite images from the Iowa Caucuses. View the gallery – with editorial comment. There was a moment the other day at a Ron Paul rally when, trapped in the media vortex, I seriously wondered if "The Who" concert in Cincinnati meant anything to any of those people. Probably not. This was a young crowd. Wedged against a portable cube-shaped riser one of the …
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Iowans picked polar opposite candidates, but will that hurt its standing as first-in-the-nation Caucus?
Iowans offered the nation something less than a clear path forward with Tuesday night’s razor-thin finish, which gave the rest of the country a vastly disparate trio of top candidates in the Iowa Caucus. Republican consultant Chris Drummond, who ran U.S. Sen. John McCain’s South Carolina campaign in 2008, told a Charleston, SC news station, “This is obviously step one for the process. For us here in South Carolina, it means absolutely nothing.” It raises an interesting question: Did Iowa hold up its end of the bargain as voters prepare to hit the polls in New Hampshire on Jan. 10 and in South Carolina on Jan. 21 and so on throughout the nation? Political watchers in Iowa and elsewhere backed Iowa’s first-in-the-nation performance this time…
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Experts say Mitt Romney did what he had to do in Iowa, and is on a clear path to the nomination. Paul and Bachmann among the losers.
Political watchers say Mitt Romney did what he had to do in the Iowa Caucus and has a clear path to the Republican nomination for president. While former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum virtually tied Romney Tuesday, he lacks the general appeal to truly contest the former Massachusetts governor, experts say. Meanwhile, for third place finisher Ron Paul, the results were a setback. Now Romney heads to New Hampshire. Santorum may—or he could just focus on South Carolina. Romney continues to stay clearly in the lead in New Hampshire. A University of New Hampshire Christmas Day poll had Romney well in front with 39 percent of support followed by Gingrich and Paul, who were tied at 17 percent each. In two polls released on Dec. 29 and Monday, …
Santorum and Romney both gave victory speeches as their backers celebrated, while things were somber at Perry, Bachmann parties. With almost all of the vote counted, Romney and Santorum are tied, while Ron Paul takes third.
As the votes were being counted Tuesday night in a tight Republican caucus battle, supporters gathered at parties scattered throughout the Des Moines area to watch the results come in — and to wait to hear from their candidates. Because of the closeness of the race, backers of candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum had to wait hours before the two men addressed the crowd. The other four running in Iowa — Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry — took the stage earlier in the night to thank their supporters. The mood at the candidate parties ranged from jubilant to somber, depending on how each candidate fared in the voting. Here is a look at what the scene was like Tuesday night at the candidate parties: Rick Santorum: …
Santorum, Romney in closest race in GOP caucus history.
Mitt Romney lost the support he had four years ago in huge swaths of rural Iowa but managed to win big in the state's largest population centers to claim victory by a mere eight votes over Rick Santorum in the closest GOP race in the storied history of the Iowa caucuses. Ron Paul finished a strong third. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who finished a poor fifth, behind former U.S. Speaker Newt Gingrich, said he would return home to "assess the results," politicial speak for his probable decision to drop out of the race. Iowa native Michele Bachmann, who failed to win even one of the state's 99 counties, finished in sixth, just ahead of Jon Huntsman, who did not compete. In percentages, the results showed Romney and Santorum with 25 percent each, …
Galen Richards
6:58 am on Sunday, August 26, 2012
This Ron Paul supporter and registered Republican of twenty years has absolutely no intention of voting for Mitt Romney. He is too much like Obama in all that he stands for and I can not vote for him in a clear conscience. After all the Romney campaign and the RNC have done to silence Ron Paul and our support, I will also be leaving the GOP , registering as a Libertarian and never voting for … more ›