Here are a few 2012-related developments:
FOX News & Iowa GOP team up to co-host another candidate debate. This one is to be held in Sioux City — and will be “just days” before the Iowa Caucuses.
Texas Congressman Ron Paul will make the three-stops on The Family Leader’s lecture tour on Monday, March 7. The last stop is in Iowa City, a lecture scheduled to last from 4 – 4:45 p.m. That would give Paul enough time to make it back to Des Moines to be the last speaker at the Iowa Faith and Family Coalition’s Spring Event, which starts at 5:30 p.m. Paul, however, is not among the confirmed speakers at that event. Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty, Buddy Roemer and Rick Santorum have said they’ll be there.
The Iowa Faith & Family Coalition’s 2010 Spring Event featured Santorum as keynote speaker. (The group last year was known as the Iowa Christian Alliance. It has changed its name to the Iowa Faith & Family Coalition.) In the last cycle, the Iowa Christian Alliance co-hosted a five-candidate event with Iowans for Tax Relief in late June of 2007.
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has signed on to be the keynote speaker at big event in the Quad Cities on March 15. Read the GOP news release below:
Des Moines – In a bid to continue building on the recent successes of Iowa Republicans, Chairman Matt Strawn today announced that the Iowa GOP will be holding a year-long series of events across Iowa designed to support and prepare county organizations for the 2012 presidential cycle.
A key feature of the statewide fundraising campaign will be highlighting a national political leader at each event. The kick-off event will be a Chairman’s Dinner the evening of Tuesday, March 15 in the Quad Cities featuring Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.“The Iowa GOP is only as strong as our grassroots members and county party organizations,” said Strawn. “Building a statewide organization to compete with an Obama re-election machine will require unprecedented coordination and hard work by Iowa Republicans. By taking the state GOP out of Des Moines and to every corner of Iowa, we will be prepared for that fight.”
The statewide series of events will feature national political leaders headlining breakfasts, lunches, dinners or coffees all around Iowa. At every stop, those national leaders will be joined by Iowa GOP officials, local county leaders and elected officials.
In explaining the decision to kick-off the year-long series of events in Scott County, Strawn said Iowa’s third-largest county is the epitome of a rejuvenated and rebuilt Iowa GOP. “Not only did Scott County Republicans deliver for Terry Branstad in November, they won a Dem-held State House seat and swept all three county supervisor seats to hold a 4-1 GOP margin on the Board,” said Strawn, noting that only two years earlier President Obama carried Scott County with nearly 57 percent.
According to Iowa GOP officials, the final details of the March 15 Chairman’s Dinner with Governor Barbour will be released later this week. Iowa GOP officials also indicated the state party has been in contact with numerous national Republican leaders and will have additional event announcements in the coming weeks.
The Wall Street Journal profiled “rangy 47-year-old” Bob Vander Plaats.
And finally, Ron Paul was the winner of last weekend’s poll at CPAC. Paul and Romney were the only candidates to get double-digit support.
About O.Kay Henderson
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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