For Republicans at Campaign Kickoff, Sideshows Precede Big Show

DES MOINES, Iowa — -- It was billed as the kick-off to the 2016 cycle, a chance for an A-list of presidential contenders -- Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Scott Walker among them -- to introduce themselves to Iowans a mere 53 weeks before the caucuses.

But Saturday's Iowa Freedom Summit quickly and frequently got sidetracked. There were familiar diversions, even more familiar intra-party battles, brief heckling episodes, and a few famous faces who are only tangentially involved with national politics these days.

The result was that at a showcase moment for an energized Republican Party, with a deep bench of talented presidential aspirants, the fault lines of policy and personality that have defined the GOP during the Obama era made themselves known yet again. The clear signal was that they're unlikely recede amid the most wide-open field in modern history.

It started with Donald Trump, who revived his quadrennial flirtation with presidential ambitions in time to draw an iPhone and media scrum wherever his famous hair went inside the cozy theater venue in Des Moines.

His aides passed out photos of Trump shaking hands with Ronald Reagan as quickly as Trump himself tossed off insults. He said Mitt Romney "choked" in 2012, and that "the last thing the country needs is another Bush."

"You just can't have those two," Trump said to cheers, referencing the men whose last names have adorned all but two GOP presidential tickets since 1980. Both Romney and Bush skipped the gathering in Iowa, which drew a dozen others -- including Trump -- who are considering candidacies.

Sarah Palin made the trip, fresh off of telling ABC News earlier this week that "of course" she's interested in running in 2016, too.

The former Alaska governor weaved through a speech hitting predictable subjects like Hollywood liberals, the mainstream media, and Hillary Clinton to train some fire on "RINOs" -- Republicans in name only -- whom she said want "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants.

She praised the event's main host, Rep. Steve King, for being "one of the brave, one of the few, to actually pull the lever" and oppose House Speaker John Boehner in an ill-fated and barely planned coup attempt earlier this month.

Talking about the upcoming GOP race, she paraphrased Ronald Reagan, in a line often used by Sen. Ted Cruz as well.

"Now is the time for bold conservative colors, not establishment pale pastels," Palin said. "I am not in the mood to give politicians a pass just because they have a certain party initial next to their name."

Lesser-known speakers echoed the Trump/Palin critique of the party establishment, if not with the same quotability. Most respected the event organizers' wishes that potential candidates not attack each other directly.

Still, Bush's support for immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship and the Common Core education standards were frequent snicker lines. So was Romney's losing campaign against an unpopular -- especially in this crowd -- President Obama.

The noise threatened to overshadow a well-received speech by Walker, who weaved biography and policy into a message he promised to bring back to Iowa often. He included a short story on how he learned to shop on the Kohl's discount rack -- a riff that, it's fair to say, neither Bush nor Romney could threaten to copy.

"If you are not afraid to go big and bold," the Wisconsin governor said, "you can actually get results."