Abraham Lincoln presenter Lance Mack dons his stovepipe hat during the Blackhawk County Republican annual Lincoln Day Dinner following the Iowa Straw Poll at the Electric Park Ballroom Aug. 14, 2011 in Waterloo, Iowa.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images
Iowa Republican Party leaders have put an end to the embattled Iowa Straw Poll after GOP presidential candidates balked at participating.
Dating back to 1979, the state party fundraiser included an informal poll of Iowa voters that in theory was to help narrow the field before the first-in-the-nation caucuses. But the poll had little predictive value and was a clear pay-for-vote scheme, with candidates paying for space at the all-day event and for tickets and buses for their would-be supporters.
Among the candidates that had pledged to skip the straw poll were former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 caucuses, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a favorite to win the caucuses, had delayed making a decision, hoping that party leaders would kill it.
In 2011, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty through all his eggs into winning the straw poll and dropped out the following day once he lost.
“I’ve said since December that we would only hold a straw poll if the candidates wanted one, and this year that is just not the case,” said Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann. “For that reason I called a special meeting to update the State Central Committee, which then voted unanimously this morning to cancel the event. This step, while extremely distasteful for those of us who love the Straw Poll, is necessary to strengthen our First in the Nation status and ensure our future nominee has the best chance possible to take back the White House in 2016.”
The decision to cancel the straw poll comes as Iowa’s position as the first state in the presidential nominating hunt is facing an unprecedented threat. Party bigwigs feel that the state’s more conservative electorate forces potential nominees to move too far to the right, making their position in the general election far more difficult.
“Many candidates are still concerned about participating in an event that carries significant media-driven expectations well ahead of our First in the Nation Caucuses,” said Kaufmann. “While we still deeply believe that the Straw Poll offers a fantastic opportunity for candidates, we need to focus on strengthening our First in the Nation status and putting a Republican back in the White House.”
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