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Tag: 2012 republican presidential candidates

Finally Here, Ames Straw Poll First Test Of 2012

AMES, Iowa (AP) — After months of laying the groundwork, the first test of the Republican presidential candidates’ viability is finally here.

Saturday’s Iowa Straw Poll marks the first time Republican voters weigh in on the GOP presidential field with ballots and comes just as Gov. Rick Perry of Texas was to enter the campaign during a visit to another early nominating state.

The nonbinding results in Ames, Iowa, were likely to foreshadow the coming months here in the leadoff state.

“The Iowa Straw Poll is the first measurable proving ground for our Republican candidates for president,” Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn said.

After that, just four months remain before the leadoff Iowa caucuses.

Mitt Romney leads national polls and many states’ surveys for the chance to challenge President Barack Obama next fall. But there is no shortage of rivals looking to emerge as the top alternative to the former Massachusetts governor, who lost the GOP nomination in 2008.

The candidates with the most to lose were Minnesotans who were competing to fill the role of a Romney alternative: Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Rep. Michele Bachmann. The pair clashed during Thursday’s debate in Ames: Bachmann said Pawlenty “sounds a lot like Barack Obama if you ask me”; Pawlenty said his rival posts “a record of misstating and making false statements.”

Pawlenty, who has been languishing in early Iowa polls, is out to prove he’s a strong player in the GOP race with a victory, while Bachmann hopes to build on momentum she’s enjoyed since entering the race this summer.

“For some people, this is make or break,” tea party activist Ryan Rhodes said.

Nine candidates are on the ballot in voting that runs for six hours during the daylong political festival on the campus of Iowa State University that doubles as a fundraiser for the Iowa GOP.

They include Romney, who won the straw poll four years ago but isn’t actively competing this time, and former Utah Gov. John Huntsman, who has been bypassing Iowa almost entirely in his hunt for the nomination. Neither was scheduled to be in the state; both spent Friday in New Hampshire.

Perry and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — who made a splash Friday when she visited the state fair — aren’t on the ballot, but their supporters are waging write-in campaigns that could outpace candidates who have spent months trying to line up supporters to participate.

Others on the list, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and businessman Herman Cain, hope for surprise showings.

“Part of it is whether the message resonates, but the bottom line is you better be pretty well organized,” Iowa Christian Alliance head Steve Scheffler said.

On the Iowa State campus, a circus-like atmosphere was in the making, with campaigns putting up giant tents for live music and tangy barbecue to court activists. Between the entertainers, candidates had one last shot to pitch for votes.

Republicans wouldn’t speculate how many people will spend $30 each to attend the event, but turnout in past has ranged from 14,000 to 23,000.

The straw poll has a mixed record of predicting the outcome of the precinct caucuses.

In the last election, Romney won the straw poll, but the big news was the surprising second-place showing of Mike Huckabee. Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses, but dropped from the race soon after. John McCain, who eventually won the nomination, didn’t compete in the straw poll and finished in 10th place.

Poor showings usually force some candidates — mostly those who are not well-known and are struggling to raise money — to abandon their bids, and that could happen this year, too.

“What it is, is a winnowing process and that might happen to Pawlenty if he doesn’t do well,” said Republican strategist Rich Galen. “It sort of serves as a filter to clean out the candidates who probably shouldn’t be there in the first place.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

GOP Debate Highlights

On Thursday night, eight Republican presidential candidates (Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum — Rick Perry was noticeably absent) gathered in an auditorium at Iowa State University for a debate sponsored by Fox News and the Washington Examiner. Saturday is the famous Ames straw poll, an essentially meaningless vote that observers tend to think will provide an early clue as to which candidate will win the Iowa caucuses and perhaps the Republican nomination. Here are the highlights from the debate:

Romney, bizarrely indicating his opposition to the debt deal: “Look, I’m not going to eat Barack Obama’s dog food, all right?”

Pawlenty, criticizing Obama and hinting at his next career move: “Where is Barack Obama’s plan on Social Security reform, Medicare reform, Medicaid reform? In fact, I’ll offer a prize tonight to anybody in this auditorium or anyone watching on television: If you can find Barack Obama’s specific plan on any of those items, I will come to your house and cook you dinner. Or, if you prefer, I’ll come to your house and mow your land. But in case Mitt wins, I’m limited to one acre. One acre.”

Pawlenty, on fellow Minnesotan Bachmann: “Look, she has done wonderful things in her life, absolutely wonderful things, but it is an indisputable fact that in Congress her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent.”

Bachmann, on Pawlenty: “You said the era of small government was over. That sounds more like Barack Obama, if you ask me.”

Pawlenty, on Bachmann: “She’s got a record of misstating and making false statements.”

Pawlenty, on Bachmann: “She fought for less government spending, we got a lot more. She led the effort against ObamaCare, we got ObamaCare… If that’s your view of effective leadership with results, please stop, because you’re killing us.”

The most serious sparring between Pawlenty and Bachmann occurred when they discussed a Minnesota cigarette tax they both voted in favor of, back when Pawlenty was governor of Minnesota and Bachmann was a State Senator. In order to get conservatives to accept the tax — which he felt necessary to balance the budget — Pawlenty bundled it with an anti-abortion provision that forced doctors to scare pregnant women out of abortions by asking whether they wanted to anesthetize the fetus. The anti-abortion measure convinced Bachmann, who said in the debate that she voted in favor of the tax bill because, in her words, “you can get money wrong, but you can’t get life wrong.” Unfortunately, she misspoke during the debate, claiming that the cigarette bill “stripped away” anti-abortion provisions rather than increased them. This upset and confused Pawlenty, who responded to Bachmann’s answer with, “Yeah, what is wrong in the answer is the answer,” and “Her answer is illogical. Her answer is illogical!”

Gingrich, wary of “gotcha questions” from Fox: “I’d love to see the rest of tonight’s debate asking us about what we would do to lead an America whose president has failed to lead, instead of playing Mickey Mouse games.”
Chris Wallace, moderator: “Speaker Gingrich, if you think questions about your records are Mickey Mouse, I’m sorry.”

Gingrich, when asked about his flip-flopping on Libya: “This is a good example of a gotcha question.”
Brett Baier, moderator: “No, it is not.”
Gingrich: “Yes, it is.”
Baier: “But Mr. Speaker, you said these two things.”

Chris Wallace, moderator, to Huntsman: “Some people have suggested that maybe you’re running for president in the wrong party.”

Cain: “America has got to learn how to take a joke.”

Brett Baier, moderator, surprised: “They all raised their hands. They’re all saying that they feel so strongly about not raising taxes that a 10 to one [spending cuts to tax increases] deal, they would walk away from.”

Pawlenty on Romney’s healthcare plan: “I called it Obamneycare, and I think that’s a fair label, and I’m happy to call it that again tonight.”
Romney: “I think I like Tim’s answer at the last debate [when he refused to criticize the plan, despite doing so a day earlier] better.”

Romney tried to defend his health care plan with a federalist “states’ rights” argument based on the 10th Amendment. The problem with Obama’s health care plan, Romney argued, is not that it requires people to buy health insurance if they can afford it (which is why most Republicans dislike it), but because it forces people in all states to buy health insurance. Romney wants to let the states develop their own health care plans. Ron Paul, though he clearly disliked the health care plan, is an adamant supporter of states’ rights, so he reluctantly agreed with Romney.

Romney, supporting states’ right when it comes to health care: “The right answer for every state is to determine what’s right for those states and not to impose Obamacare on the nation.”

Romney, opposing them when it comes to gay marriage: “I believe the issue of marriage should be decided on the federal level… and the reason is because people move from state to state of course.”

Santorum, on hypothetical abuse of the 10th Amendment: “We have Ron Paul saying, oh, what the states want to do — whatever the states want to do under the 10th Amendment’s fine. So if the states want to pass polygamy, that’s fine. If the states want to impose sterilization, that’s fine. No, our country is based on moral laws, ladies and gentlemen.”

Paul, trying to find an even more outrageous example: “That is sort of like asking the question if the states wanted to legalize slavery or something like that. That’s so past reality that no state is going to do that.”

Baier, stalling for time while his assistants find Bachmann: “Are we actually missing a candidate on the stage? We are. She’ll be right back, Congresswoman Bachmann. There she is. That’s OK.”

Paul, on Rick Perry’s entry into the campaign: “I’m very pleased that he’s coming in, because he represents the status quo… He’ll just gather all [my opponents’] votes.”

Huntsman, on why he didn’t hire American workers: “If you want to build a facility in the United States, you can’t because of the EPA’s regulatory reign of terror.”

Bachmann, on her BFF: “I like Sarah Palin a lot. We are very good friends.”

Pawlenty’s foreign policy: “People killed Americans. We needed to go there, find them, bring them to justice or kill them.”

Paul, putting himself in Ayatollah Khamenei’s shoes: “Why wouldn’t it be natural that [Iran] might want a weapon?”

Wallace to Bachmann: “Could you please tell Congressman Paul why he’s wrong?”

Bachmann, secretly: “I sit on the House Select Committee on Intelligence. I can’t reveal classified information.”

Santorum, on Iran: “[The Iranian people] are under a mullah-cracy that tramples the rights of women, tramples the rights of gays.”

Santorum, on gay marriage: “Seven justices forced gay marriages on the people of Iowa. I was the only one on this panel who came to Iowa last year and made sure that those three justices were defeated.”

Bachmann, on another kind of marriage: “I have an absolutely unblemished record when it comes to this issue of man-woman marriage.”

Bachmann, on her own marriage: “What submission means to us, if that’s what your question is, it means respect. I respect my husband.”

Santorum, simultaneously supporting the death penalty and opposing abortion: “The Supreme Court of the United States on a recent case said that a man who committed rape could not be killed, could not be subject to the death penalty, yet the child conceived as a result of that rape could be.”

Cain, on why companies should get tax breaks even if they don’t create jobs: “If a company were to decide that they want to take some of that money and pay a bigger dividend, so what, it is their money. The people receiving the dividends might be happy with that.”

Gingrich, skeptical of the Fed: “I think that it is a scandal that the Federal Reserve is secret.”

Paul, solving the deficit crisis: “We owe the Fed $1.6 trillion in treasury bills. Where’d they get the money to buy it? They created it out of thin air.”

Santorum: “Disagree with most of what Ron Paul said. Just because he’s mostly wrong, doesn’t mean he’s always wrong.”

Romney, praising job holders even though he’s unemployed: “I think in order to create jobs, it’s helpful to have had a job.”

Pawlenty, possibly referencing Spiderman: “With great blessing comes responsibility.”

Huntsman, sounding like an attack ad: “This nation is hurting, it is scared, and it is bankrupt. We have a cancer growing in this country called debt.”

Cain, inadvertently quoting the theme song from Pokemon: the Movie 2000: “A poet once said, life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it’s never easy when there’s so much on the line.”

Bachmann, Pawlenty Trade Barbs At Debate

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Minnesota rivals Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann sparred bitterly Thursday night during an eight-candidate Republican debate, trying to break out of the GOP presidential pack ahead of an Iowa test vote with huge consequences. Each seeks to become the main challenger to Republican front-runner Mitt Romney.

Their efforts were newly complicated by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who stole some of the spotlight from afar by making it known hours before the debate that he was running for the GOP nomination.

Romney, a multimillionaire businessman who casts himself as a jobs creator, made his own stir earlier in the day when, at the Iowa State Fair, he declared that “corporations are people,” drawing ridicule from Democrats.

Those were just the latest twists in the most consequential week yet in the 2012 Republican presidential nomination fight.

In the two-hour debate, the squabbling by Pawlenty and Bachmann allowed Romney, the GOP front-runner making his second presidential bid, to remain above the fray and emerge relatively unscathed by his rivals.

Though every debate participant assailed President Barack Obama, it was clear from the confrontations between Pawlenty, a former Minnesota governor, and Bachmann, now a member of Congress, who had the most on the line ahead of Saturday’s straw poll that could well winnow the field.

On stage just a few minutes, Pawlenty, who is struggling to gain traction despite spending years laying the groundwork for his campaign, accused Bachmann of achieving nothing significant in Congress, lacking executive experience and having a history of fabrications.

“She’s got a record of misstating and making false statements,” Pawlenty said.

Bachmann, who has risen in polls since entering the race this summer and has eclipsed Pawlenty, quickly responded with a list of what she called Pawlenty’s liberal policies when he was Minnesota’s governor, including his support for legislation to curb industrial emissions.

“You said the era of small government is over,” she told Pawlenty. “That sounds a lot like Barack Obama if you ask me.”

Much of the rest of the debate was heavily focused on the Democratic incumbent, with Romney and his seven rivals each seeking to prove he or she was the strongest Republican to take on Obama.

“I’m not going to eat Barack Obama’s dog food,” Romney said when asked whether he would have vetoed the compromise legislation that Congress gave to the president that raised the debt ceiling. “What he served up is not what I would have done if I’d had been president of the United States.”

Notably absent from the eight-candidate spectacle were Perry, who was in Texas preparing for a weekend announcement tour to early primary states, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who isn’t a candidate but was stoking presidential speculation anew with a visit to the Iowa State Fair.

The nation’s teetering economic situation shadowed the debate, with stock market volatility and a downgrade in the U.S. credit rating giving Republicans ample opportunities to criticize Obama. The Democratic president will get his shot to counter the criticism next week during a Midwestern bus tour that will take him through this state that helped launch him on the path to the White House four years ago.

On Thursday, he, too, tried to align himself with a public fed up with economic uncertainty and Washington gridlock. “There is nothing wrong with our country. There is something wrong with our politics,” he declared in Michigan, where he was touring an advanced-battery factory

In Iowa Thursday night, the Republicans commanded the spotlight.

Seven candidates — Pawlenty, Bachmann, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and businessman Herman Cain — sought to separate themselves from the packed field and emerge as the chief alternative to Romney.

Pawlenty, who hesitated in a June debate to criticize the former Massachusetts governor, this time accused him of sharing views with Obama on spending and health care. “We’re going to have to show contrast, not similarities” with the incumbent president, Pawlenty said.

He sought repeatedly to tie Romney and Obama together by poking at both.

“Where’s Barack Obama on these issues. You can’t find his plans on the most pressing issues in this country,” Pawlenty said, promising audience members and TV viewers he would “come to your house and cook you dinner” if they could find Obama’s proposals. “Or if you prefer I’ll come to your house and mow your lawn … In case Mitt wins, I’d limit it to one acre.”

Romney, who has several homes, smiled and took a pass when given a chance to respond, saying: “That’s just fine.”

He kept his focus on Obama, saying: “Our president simply doesn’t understand how to lead and how to grow the economy.” He also criticized Democrat Obama on the downgrade of the nation’s credit rating.

Appearing in his first presidential debate, Huntsman acknowledged he had not yet presented an economic plan, but he cited his economic record as governor of Utah as evidence of what he would accomplish as president. He defended his service as ambassador to China under Obama as a patriotic act.

Huntsman, who is not competing in the Iowa caucuses where social conservatives dominate, also tried to differentiate himself from the rest of the field. He defended his support for civil unions and offered no apologies for other moderate positions he holds.

Gingrich, pressed on the implosion of his campaign amid financial strife and infighting earlier this summer, chastised the Fox News panel for “gotcha questions.” He said Republicans including Ronald Reagan and John McCain had staff defections during their campaigns, and he said he intended, in his words, to “run on ideas.”

Roughly 45 minutes into the debate, Santorum raised his hand and said: “I haven’t gotten to say a lot.”

Showing the wide diversity of opinion, Paul gave a staunchly libertarian answer to nearly every question from the economy to foreign affairs, essentially saying the United States should have friendly relations even with countries that violate human rights and not interfere in their internal affairs. “It’s about time we talk to Cuba,” Paul said at one point. He also said the United States had created the hostile relations between itself and Iran.

Even before the debate began, it was a campaign day to remember.

At an appearance early in the day, Romney was badgered by hecklers at the state fair. In response to chanting about corporations, he said that “corporations are people,” a comment Democrats predicted would be a defining moment of his campaign.

Romney, who has struggled with an aloof and elitist image as he tries for the GOP presidential nomination a second time, made the remark while outlining options for reducing the federal deficit and overhauling entitlement programs.

Despite tea party outrage that sometimes focuses on banks and auto companies, Romney has said to applause from GOP audiences that the rights of business are being trampled under Obama to the detriment of the struggling economy. But in Thursday’s audience, the line encountered resistance.

A few hours after Romney’s awkward moment, Perry spokesman Mark Miner confirmed that the Texas governor would announce that he was running for president while in early primary states on Saturday.

Perry’s candidacy is certain to upend the race, and he could challenge Romney for the role of jobs-focused candidate.

The conservative governor is seen as a potential bridge between the party’s social and economic wings.

Asked about Perry’s candidacy during the debate, several of his opponents welcomed him to the race — and used the opportunity to criticize him. Cain called Perry “one more politician,” while Paul said he was pleased Perry was joining the field because “he represents the status quo.”

Republican Contest Comes Into Focus

This is a key week in the Republican nominating process, as a Thursday debate in Iowa will precede the Ames Straw Poll in that state this weekend, traditionally a test of grassroots backing, organization, and fundraising that historically has propelled unknowns to win the first-in-the-nation caucuses the following winter.

Mitt Romney, who won Ames in 2007, eventually lost the Iowa caucuses to Mike Huckabee, who finished a surprisingly strong second at Ames and never lost the momentum. This time around, Romney isn’t playing in the straw poll for that very reason.

Michele Bachmann, the Iowa frontrunner, needs to do well to maintain her image as a populist with wide Tea Party backing.

Tim Pawlenty, who has done over 100 events in Iowa but remains stuck in the single digits in polls, needs to at least exceed expectations and probably place in the top two to get any buzz heading into New Hampshire. Having predicated his whole candidacy on this state, a poor showing probably dooms his candidacy.

The Herman Cains and Ron Pauls of the world would need a breakout performance that jolts media perceptions of the viability of their candidacies to get anything useful out of the event.

Look for sharper contrasts than we’ve seen thus far in Thursday’s debate as the candidates jockey for the social conservative base that will likely determine the nominee to take on Obama next fall.