Mitt Romney is cutting the budget for the Ames Straw Poll next month, since his major competitors have decided not to play. Amy Lorentzen reports for the Washington Post:
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Saturday he has scaled back plans for a straw poll in Iowa next month that two chief rivals are bypassing.He said he hopes to do well, but "we're not trying to overshoot dramatically." That means reducing the budget for the straw poll Aug. 11 in Ames and the number of supporters his campaign plans to bus in to the event.
In June, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain bowed out of the decades-old nonbinding contest. Romney has put great resources into preparing for the event, which now shapes up as a contest involving several lesser-known contenders.
Read the whole story at the link above. This seems like a reasonable strategic adjustment to me. Romney had put such emphasis on the Straw Poll early, investing heavily in building an organization to win it, that Giuliani opted out of competing. McCain immediately joined Rudy in backing off. At the time, it seemed an acknowledgment that they could not catch up to Romney's lead. Fred Thompson had hinted at joining the battle, but never took the major steps necessary to compete.
That leaves Romney with a diminished victory in any case. Beating Paul and Tancredo and Huckabee and Brownback won't carry the buzz he could have generated by winning over Rudy and McCain. It makes sense, then, not to spend the money planned if the reward will be diminished. He can divert those resources toward the caucuses themselves - a contest harder for the other contenders to blow off than the Ames Straw Poll.
This could finally spell the end for the Iowa GOP's big fundraiser, which is all Ames ever really was anyway. It almost bit the dust 20 years ago when Pat Robertson bused in hundreds of supporters from out of state to win. Since then, they have instituted some safeguards to ensure all the voters are actually Iowa residents and that each attendee only votes once.
These "reforms" prolonged its viability, but in the end it is just another "straw poll" with the same meaning as other such votes - slim to none. Iowa extracts enough cash from the emphasis on their caucuses already, and it is time to end the Ames charade once and for all.
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Filed under:
2008 Presidential Race, Iowa, Republican, Romney
Tags: Ames Straw Poll, Iowa, presidential campaign, Republicans, Romney
Comments (1)
The straw poll is definitel... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Andy | July 23, 2007 11:16 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
The straw poll is definitely not what it once was in terms of impact for 2008. If Romney wins big, then the headline is how he beat weak competition. If he backs off, then the story is how he barely beat weak competition. That article helps lower expectations somewhat for him.
1. Posted by Andy | July 23, 2007 11:16 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 23, 2007 11:16