Joe's basically saying Iowa is a bunch of bible-thumping social conservatives, who'll vote for the preacher (Huckabee, Pat Robertson), so why run if you're a serious candidate? You'll just lose. And Iowa is no longer relevant - winners don't win.
You heard it here first. Joe Scarborough will run, but he'll skip Iowa, and start with New Hampshire, and then sail right into Florida. 2 for 2. And the next GOP nominee for president.
It shouldn't be that easy. But it is.
Scarborrough: In the past, Iowa caucus, have selected a lot of people that didn’t move past Iowa. Mike Huckabee last time. The religious right has a very strong foothold on the Republican Party. You’ve now got Mitt Romney saying what John McCain said four years ago, I’m just going to skip it.
How do you make sure that Iowa remains relevant and, more importantly, mainstream to the national Republican Party?
Strawn: Well, I think the first takeaway when you look at the results four years ago it was who finished first and second? It was Gov. Huckabee and it was Gov. Romney. Now, what was the common denominator between the two? They spent time in the state. They went around the state, talking to our farmers and co-ops, talking to our voters in coffee shops. That’s the Iowa caucuses.
Scarbourough: You know what else they have in common? They didn’t win. So, how do you make sure people don’t say, you know what, all the social conservatives are going to win Iowa. We’re going to ignore it and start in New Hampshire. Has the party looked at that? Have you been concerned about that?
Strawn: I don’t see a problem with Iowa Republicans, when you look at where we were just last November. No question it was the state that launched Barack Obama on the path to the White House. But think about it, we elected a Republican governor for the first time in 12 years, we won the Iowa House back. We won a net gain of over 100 county-level seats in eastern Iowa, which was Obama country. So I think we’ve proven you can elect electable Republicans in the state of Iowa.
Scarbourough: No doubt about it. I’m just talking about the caucus. And again, I’m know knocking social conservatives. They elected me in 1994. I’m just saying, there is a perception even among Republican candidates now that the most socially conservative person wins Iowa so if you’re not socially conservative, like Romney, on all the issues you skip it and and go to New Hampshire.
Strawn: Yeah, but I think each individual caucus has its own issue set. And if you look at the challenges facing the country right now — let’s take a look at what our candidates plans are for balancing the budget? What are our candidates’ plans for getting serious with entitlement reform? We had Gov. Barbour in Iowa on Monday and he made some headlines with some tough talk on entitlement reform.
Scarbourough: By the way, I think Haley’s finding some space there, Mark Halperin. I think Haley’s going to find space talking like Chris Christie.
Halperin: If he does get in, he will be all-in in Iowa. He’s a social conservative but he’s also going to stress economic issues. I think the chairman’s right. Social conservatives will play a big role. But the party is so focused now on economics, that that’s going to be a bigger part of the debate than usual there.
No comments:
Post a Comment