During the last election cycle, The Des Moines Register Iowa Poll released October 5, 2007 showed Romney leading Fred Thompson 29 to 18 percent. Mike Huckabee had 12 percent support in that poll, essentially tied with Rudy Giuliani, who had 11 percent. Read the details of that October 2007 poll here. Margin of error was +/- 4.9 percent, same as the Iowa Poll just released tonight. (In case you’re just joining us, Huckabee won the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, Romney was second; Fred Thompson was third.)
DMR Poll shows (another) statistical dead heat
October 29, 2011 By
The just-releated Des Moines Register Iowa Poll shows a statistical dead heat between Herman Cain at 23 percent and Mitt Romney at 22 percent. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4.9 percent.
Ron Paul has secured the third spot in the poll with 12 percent and Michele Bachmann, who was in the statistical dead heat position with Romney early this summer in the paper’s June poll, has fallen back to fourth place, with 8 percent support in this poll, which was taken Oct. 23-26. Newt Gingrich & Rick Perry are tied for fifth. Rick Santorum — the candidate who has spent the most time in Iowa — was in seventh, with five percent. Jon Huntsman — the candidate who has spent the least time here (his only visit was in August to participate in the FOX News debate in Ames) — got 1 percent.
Bachmann accuses US AG of “wilfull blindness”
October 29, 2011 By
GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s name is in lights at the Smokey Row Coffeehouse in Oskaloosa. There’s an old “Rivola” movie marquee inside this room, with Bachmann’s name as a coming attraction; the other side of the marquee notes “open mic night is Nov. 5.”
Some of the folks who came to hear Bachmann ordered drinks which required the coffee grinder, so there was noise as she began speaking. Bachmann noted the sound. “Don’t worry about that. That’s the sign of the economy working,” she said.
“We must make a course correction in 2012 because I think this election is it for the country. We have to get a grip,” Bachmann said.
Bachmann touted her work as a “tax attorney” and the small business she and her husband started. “I knew a lot about the real world and how the real world works,” Bachmann said, contrasting that with what she sad was the ”Fantasyland” she found in Washington, D.C. when she went to congress.
“It is not Monopoly Money, which means real people have to work real jobs and pay back all that debt,” she said. Bachmann said the so-called “super committee” is tasked with coming up with $1 trillion in cuts over a 10 year period. “We should cut that out every single year,” Bachmann said.
Bachmann said people were concerned about the Federal Reserve’s actions, and “rightly so” she said. “The Federal Reserve is out of control with the money supply.”
Next up, border security and Bachmann’s vow to make English the official language of the United State government, which drew applause from the crowd.
Bachmann accused U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder of ”wilfull blindness” through a rewrite of FBI training manuals.
“This week Eric Holder, the attorney general, made a decision that the FBI training manuals that are used for terrorism, he made a decision that those terror training manuals will not tolerate any FBI agent linking terror to Jihad or radical fundamentalist Islam. I’m not making this up. This just came this week, so you have a 900-pound gorilla in the room and you’re not allowed to notice anymore. This is an issue,” she said. “…It’s time that we take off the politically-correct glasses and call this out for what it is and stand up for the American people.”
The crowd applauded. She made similar comments yesterday, which the AP concluded were an exaggeration.
More from the event later.
Ron Paul @ NFRA
October 29, 2011 By
The National Federation of Republican Assemblies is having a “presidential preference convention” in Des Moines today. “We believe in conservatism…a lot of us believe in the more libertarian strain of that,” said NFRA president Ron Martin, who opened the event at 9:12 a.m. He said the group’s goal is to “take back the Republican Party from the establishment….Enough is enough. The elites have had their say…It’s time for a change.”
GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul took the stage first, at about 9:20 a.m. Nearly all in the crowd stood to applaud his entry into the room. “Glad to see everybody up and ready to go this morning,” Paul began, telling the crowd he had a “soft spot” for the NFRA.
“I consider this the constitutional wing of the Republican Party,” Paul said. “…Our goal right now has to be the defense of liberty…and make sure those individuals in Washington live within the law,” he said.
Anita Perry worries HPV debate will hurt immunization rates (audio)
October 28, 2011 By
Texas First Lady Anita Perry is in Iowa, campaigning on her husband’s behalf tonight and tomorrow. During a late afternoon interview with Radio Iowa, Mrs. Perry said the race is “still not settled” and that “we need to spend a lot more time in Iowa.”
Mrs. Perry is the daughter of a physician and a nurse by training, so I asked Mrs. Perry what her thoughts were as she watched her husband field questions about the HPV vaccine.
“I’m very pro-immunization,” she said. “I did not know about the HPV executive order until after it was already done and it was an opt-out which, perhaps if it had been an opt-in that people would have accepted it a little more, but you know it never passed our legislature. It never became law, but I’m very pro-immunization and this is the one reason why and with this particular virus and along with the hep B, when someone tells me, a college student tells me that she’s going to school on a conservative college campus and four out of her friends have the virus, then that’s disturbing. Also, we’re seeing a rise in young males and I guess you saw that, you know, the CDC has come out now and they’re recommending it for males, too.
“It wasn’t to promote sexual promiscuity at, in any form. To me, I saw it as a way to prevent cancer and Rick, you know, we — nobody wants cancer. Nobody wants their families to get cancer. He admitted he made a mistake on the way that it was implemented and, like I said, it never became law.
“…I hope it doesn’t, but it may hurt us on our immunization rates and…hep B is transmitted in the same way, and people don’t know that, but they think it’s o.k. to get the…hep (vaccine), but for some reason — you know, he admitted he made a mistake (about the HPV vaccine), he said he was wrong and it never happened.”
Listen to the AUDIO of Anita Perry’s remarks on the HPV debate.
As for the debate about debates, “there are too many of them and it’s hard to meet people when you’re preparing for the debates,” according to Mrs. Perry. Her advice to her husband? “Be himself. Be authentic. Just be Rick Perry. He’s genuine and so I just think that needs to show a little bit more.”
Mrs. Perry said there is “an exhaustion factor” and a “scheduling factor” influencing the Perry camp’s decision regarding debate participation. “It gives an opportunity for infighting within the party. It doesn’t look good for the party,” Anita Perry said. “…Yes, it gives you an opportunity, but you don’t have enough time to spend doing what you need to be doing if you’re always debate prepping…I just think it’s overkill.”
The hiring of new advisors is a “natural transition to a campaign that is growing” according to Mrs. Perry. “We needed a national level, you know, and these are people that Rick had worked with before and we felt very comfortable with,” she said. “I feel great about ‘em. I’m excited they’re there and we know what our job is.”
Governor Scott Walker’s visit to Iowa
October 27, 2011 By
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was in Iowa last night, but he did not grant media interviews and The Heritage Foundation — sponsor of the event at which Walker spoke –made it a private event. Tickets were $65 for Heritage members; $75 for non-Heritage members and $250 for students. That’s not a typo. Student tickets were exponentially more expensive than tickets for adults. West Des Moines police were dispatched to the Sheraton Hotel property to keep protesters, reporters and photographers from stepping on the parking lot or approaching the hotel’s front door.
Kevin Hall from The Iowa Republican was a paying guest in the room and wrote a blog post about Walker’s speech. Here’s the story about the protesters gathered outside the hotel.
I had a rather strange exchange with the spokeswoman for the Wisconsin GOP yesterday morning as I tried to get Walker’s side of the story. First, Walker’s press secretary had emailed that the trip was not official state business and the Wisconsin GOP was handling everything. Nicole Larson, deputy director of communications for the WisGOP, called me back after I left a voice mail message.
“His schedule’s actually completely booked while he’s in Iowa,” Larson told me. “But what we can do is, I mean, since you’re radio I’m sure this might not be helpful, but we can send you the statement from his office.”
I asked: “The statement from his office, that’s not handling his trip?”
“Well, technically, I’m doing his communications,” Larson said, pausing before she added: “Because I am. We can send you a statement, but that’s all we can do because he’s booked.”
She emailed the following statement:
“Governor Walker was invited by the Heritage Foundation to be its keynote speaker at a dinner in Des Moines, Iowa. The Governor looks forward to sharing the successes seen in Wisconsin as a result of the recently enacted budget reforms as well as his plans to help Wisconsin’s private sector employers create 250,000 jobs with fellow conservative grassroots supporters.”
At about 2:30 p.m. in the afternoon Iowa Governor Terry Branstad was asked about Walker’s upcoming evening appearance and the charge from protesters that both Branstad and Walker are “anti-worker.”
AUDIO of Branstad’s answer to a question posed by Andrew Duffelmeyer of The Iowa Independent. Here’s the transcript of what Branstad said:
“I think that’s certainly an unfair and inappropriate characterization. He, like me and a lot of other governors, inherited a really financial mess and is making tough decisions to try to get his state on the right track and I think the people of Wisconsin can make their judgment on their governor,” Branstad said. “And I feel confident to stand for the people of Iowa and point out what we’re doing in the state of Iowa to bring more business and jobs and to increase opportunities for workers in this state.”
Santorum, referring to rivals, asks: “Can they be trusted?”
October 22, 2011 By
GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum was the last of six candidates to speak this evening at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition banquet in Des Moines. “Are you numb yet?” Santorum asked when he got behind the microphone. “…”This is my 5433 trip to Iowa – just a little exaggeration.”
Santorum noted he has visited 78 of Iowa’s 99 counties and soon suggested this is the choice for Iowa Republicans who are evaluating the candidates: “Can they be trusted?”
Santorum suggested “a lot of policy prescriptions” had been offered by the five other candidates this evening, but Santorum asked: “Did they fight those fights when they had the opportunity?”
Paul cites Bible to make case on monetary policy
October 22, 2011 By
GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul is the fifth of six candidates scheduled to speak at tonight’s Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition event. He began by talking about kings.
“We have drifted in the direction of accepting a king in Washington, D.C. and I would like to undermine this,” Paul said. “….We need more family values, more governance by the family, not by the United States Government.” The crowd applauded that declaration.
Paul quoted from I Timothy 5:8, where it says anyone who doesn’t care for his own family has denied the faith and “is worse than an unbeliever.”
“There are dozens of quotations in the Bible telling us we should have honest money.” Paul said.
When asked (as all the other candidates have been) about “abortion on demand” and traditional marriage, Paul said: “Traditional marriage is obviously between a man and a woman and I have supported the Defense of Marriage Act.”
“…As an OB doctor, I know when life begins.” Paul also touted his “We the People Act” which he has filed in congress to remove the jurisdiction on “all these issues from the federal courts.”
“I know it’s tempting to wait for the courts to be changed and the amendment to be passed, but it’s taking too long,” Paul said.
Gingrich seems to get loudest applause of night
October 22, 2011 By
GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is the fourth candidate to speak tonight at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition event, and the crowd seemed very engaged by his remarks.
Gingrich repeated his call for seven, three-hour-long debates with President Obama. “To be fair, I would agree that he can use a teleprompter,” Gingrich joked. The crowd laughed and applauded. “After all, if you had to spend an entire three-hour debate defending ObamaCare, wouldn’t you want to have the help of a teleprompter?”
When asked about “abortion on demand” Gingrich referred to a policy paper at www.newt.org about the judiciary and “activist” judges.
As one of the hosts of the event posed his question (in the same way he has to the previous candidates), Gingrich joked he had heard the question before. There was laughter. State Senator Jerry Behn, the fellow asking questions on behalf of the Iowa Energy Forum, offered up an apology, said he was just trying to be fair to the candidates.
“You’re not some news guy,” Gingrich quipped.
Gingrich got a huge response from the crowd at the end of his remarks.
Perry pokes at Cain on abortion issue (audio)
October 22, 2011 By
GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry used a portion of his remarks at tonight’s Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition event to articulate his actions, as Texas governor, on the abortion issue. But Perry also characterized Cain’s remarks about abortion earlier this week on CNN as “pro-having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too.”
“It is a liberal canard to say I am personally pro-life, but government should stay out of that decision. If that is your view, you are not pro-life,” Perry said of Cain, without directly saying Cain’s name. “You are pro-having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too.”
AUDIO of Perry’s remarks on abortion issue.
Perry began with this declaration: “As governor of Texas and throughout my career I have taken an unwavering stand in defense of life.” Just before he launched into Cain, Perry said: “Being pro-life is not a matter of campaign convenience. It is a core conviction.”
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
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