Mitt Romney Bows Out of Iowa Straw Poll to Focus Resources Elsewhere
EmailABC News' Emily Friedman reports:
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney will not attend the Iowa Straw Poll this August, an event long known to be one of the first indicators of how a campaign might fair in the crucial Hawkeye State.
And Romney's aides said tonight that the former governor will not only bow out of the Iowa Straw Poll but will not take part in any straw polls during his campaign, a nod to their vows to run a "wiser" and "leaner" campaign this time around.
Campaign manager Matt Rhoades said tonight in an email statement, "Our campaign has made the decision to not participate in any straw polls, whether it’s in Florida, Iowa, Michigan or someplace else."
"In the last presidential campaign we were both strengthened as an organization and learned some important lessons by participating in them," wrote Rhoades. "This time we will focus our energies and resources on winning primaries and caucuses. We look forward to bringing Mitt Romney’s strong pro-jobs message to every part of the country."
In his 2008 White House bid, Romney won the Iowa Straw Poll but was largely criticized for millions of dollars spent to attract voters to the event. Despite the money he spent on the event, Romney later came in second-place in the 2008 Iowa caucuses to Arkansas Republican Mike Huckabee in 2008. So far this campaign Romney has made several remarks indicating that his campaign will use their resources more sparingly.
Romney will still participate in the Fox News debate scheduled to be held in Ames on August 11, just days before the straw poll.
Statements by former GOP chairmen in Michigan, Iowa and Florida released by the Romney campaign tonight lauded the presidential hopeful's decision to focus his resources on other campaign efforts and not straw polls.
"The campaign is making a smart decision to not compete in the upcoming series of straw polls," said Brian Kennedy, former Iowa GOP Chair. "Mitt's focus is on winning the nomination, not the straw polls."
Former Florida GOP Chairman John Trasher added, "The campaign's decision to not participate in any straw polls makes strategic sense. Florida is an expensive state to campaign in. As a candidate that has already proven his organization strength and support in Florida, it's smart for him to focus his time and resources on winning the actual primary."
Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn seemed less pleased about Romney's decision in his own release in which he wrote, "I’ll leave it to the pundits and voters to assess the wisdom of skipping an event of tremendous importance to tens of thousands of Iowa Republicans and caucusgoers.”
“More than ever, Iowa Republicans are energized and motivated to utilize the Ames Straw Poll as a catalyst toward building a 99-county organization to deny President Obama a second term," said Strawn.
Romney's announcement that he will not attend the straw poll in Iowa later this summer comes on the heels of a multi-stop trip to the state late last month, during which he spoke at length about how much he values Iowa voters.
“You’ll have plenty of opportunity to see me,” Romney said in May. “I care about Iowa.”
Biden Reflects on Grief, Suicidal Thoughts 
Is Congress Sounding Dumber?
What?
No “Magic Underpants” candidate in the straw poll.
Man, what’s the GOP coming to these days.
.
Posted by: us1776 | June 9, 2011, 9:33 pm 9:33 pm
He’s bows out a lot, when he’s under pressure. Looks
like he hasn’t changed his style much since he was
Gov. of MA.
Posted by: spacerook1 | June 9, 2011, 9:50 pm 9:50 pm
He is the republican version of Obama. The platforms are so similar that it is hard to tell the difference. Pretty pathetic!
Posted by: W. Wallace | June 9, 2011, 11:54 pm 11:54 pm
Looks like Romney is afraid of a weak showing for himself, and likely he is also concerned about the potential for growing momentum and a good showing from the campaign for Congressman Ron Paul.
Posted by: Jeff | June 9, 2011, 11:58 pm 11:58 pm
Romney’s giving up because he doesn’t want to look bad. Ron Paul will likely win. He will end the four wars (Iraq, Afghan, Libya, War on Drugs) which will allow us to spend those multi-billions of dollars on disasters here in America. We’ve got tornadoes, floods, crumbling infrastructure, failing school and prison systems, and a whole lot more that needs fixing. The left-right political party paradigm is a fallacy that only serves corporate interests that both the GOP and Dems are subservient to.
Vote for Ron Paul if you believe in fiscal conservatism, a reduction in Federal beauracy and oversight, and an increase in States rights and individual freedoms being restored, like killing the piece of trash call the “Patriot Act”. Educate yourself people, purge your ignorance and wake up to reality.
Posted by: Mark702 | June 10, 2011, 12:02 am 12:02 am
Yet another flip-flop by Romney. He changes his position on everything. 2008 – straw polls are great. 2011 – straw polls are bad. What a complete fraud.
Posted by: Jan | June 10, 2011, 1:03 am 1:03 am
Before flip flops there was a concept called learning from your mistakes. As they said in the article, spend millions, win a poll, or spend millions to win the primary,
Seems like a no brainer to me, must be why you missed it Jan.
Also for Ron Paul supporters, he’ll need those billions in savings when he deflates the economy by returning to the gold standard.
Posted by: DewyB | June 10, 2011, 1:51 am 1:51 am
GO RON PAUL. Why so many of the news magazines ignore him, I do not know. He is the only one with any sense, and the only one who you can trust not to philander [women he's not married to], and the only REAL genuine person who can run this country.
RON PAUL ! ! ! !
Posted by: Vik | June 10, 2011, 2:06 am 2:06 am
Yes, Ron Paul is boss! Forget all these power-hungry nitwits. Vote for Dr. Paul if you want to keep your freedom… AND your money.
Posted by: Rob | June 10, 2011, 2:07 am 2:07 am
Herman Cain is second choice… not sure yet.
Posted by: Rob | June 10, 2011, 2:09 am 2:09 am
c’mon now, someone has to run against the mighty obama. or is the nation ready to crown obama king of the usa for life? if you love obama then by all means vote for him but if you don’t then give someone who has a chance of beating obama to run against him. donate 10% of your annual income to the person you support, man up.
Posted by: david | June 10, 2011, 5:29 am 5:29 am
LOl…LOL…LOL…evidently the “extremists crowd” is getting very interested and excited in what is going on in a “non-issue State” (unless you are a social or religious wing nut) and think that the “old, old man” Ron Paul will somehow benfit from Romney’s absence. And therein lies the GOP problem. They cannot control their wing nut fringe thinkers which will destroy them on the national stage. LOL…LOL….Looks good on them for ever “pandering” to that type of mentality anyways.
Posted by: CND FOX | June 10, 2011, 7:25 am 7:25 am
Ron Paul is too old. He would be 76 or 77 come inaugaration day if elected. We have already had a President who possibly suffered from alzheimers while in the Oval office and there is no need to run that risk again.
Posted by: MyTakeOnThis61 | June 10, 2011, 11:56 am 11:56 am
Ron Paul’s ideas on how to fix this country’s ailments are certainly attractive. Getting out of the Middle East ASAP is the key to fiscal recovery. Pulling our troops out of ‘ally’ countries is also the way to go, unless these countries want to pay for our presence and protection. I agree with others comments pertaining to fixing our country’s problems with education and failing infrastructure. We also need to tackle health care seriously, and release the strangle hold insurance companies have on US citizens. The problem I see with any of these proposals is the GOP’s main funding comes from the elite and large corporations, who are not going to go quietly into the night on any of these issues. Romeny will be the talking head of the party, and he will lose to Obama.
Posted by: RohnertPark1 | June 10, 2011, 12:25 pm 12:25 pm
Ron Paul is a Republican Cancer and no friend to America…. As a candidate he has attempted to splinter the party and his supporters threaten a third party run if he doesn’t win the nomination (which will most assuredly happen)… If he runs as an indy he will be the 2012 version of the 1992 Ross Perot assuring the most liberal and most inept President this country has ever had (Barack Obama) a second 4 year term….
I don’t trust the guy and I don’t trust the people who support him…. It was these people we can thank for losing the Senate Positions in DE, NV, CO and AK in 2010…. It’s these people that we can thank for making sure that the Senate followed the Obama/ Reid Political Agenda 2011 and 2012 instead of the Political Agenda of Mitch McConnell. In short, these people will prove to be Obama’s best friends in 2012.
Posted by: poyman | June 11, 2011, 1:17 am 1:17 am
Vik posted “GO RON PAUL. Why so many of the news magazines ignore him, I do not know.”
It is simple; the rich don’t want him in office. They control the media and therefore control how much publicity a candidate receives. They know if they don’t cover Ron Paul that he will never win. In 2008 we were TOLD Ron Paul wasn’t a real candidate and everyone believed it.
The land of the free – that’s become a fairy tale. It has become the home of the rich, the home of the sheep.
Posted by: Faurtz11 | June 11, 2011, 6:25 pm 6:25 pm
All you Ron Paul folks – even if his program was the way to go (I personally think it’s an economy-crippling disaster) what makes you think he has a magic wand that will push laws through Congress?
Obama couldn’t even get the Democrats to vote for healthcare reform until he made a deal with Big Pharma’s top lobbyist, Billy Tauzin, not to go after the 50% too-high prices Americans pay for meds in return for Big Pharma telling their puppets, like Kerry, to vote for the reforms.
When every member of the Senate Banking Committee -both parties- except one has received tens to hundreds of thousands in contributions from the banks, we basically have NO regulations to keep from repeating 2008. S&P’s stock reports on the new banks basically say the government’s still stuck with rescuing the banks if they fail.
And now Ron Paul, who has no support from either party, is going to cure everything.
What we need is someone who knows where all the skeletons in the closet are among Congressmen who wants to pass things that will help people. We need a Lyndon Johnson.
Posted by: The_Mick | June 12, 2011, 9:38 am 9:38 am
“We need a Lyndon Johnson.” HA – Iraq and Afghanistan would turn into Vietnam, more death, debt, and destruction.
JOIN THE RON PAUL REVOLUTION 2012!
Posted by: Bill | June 12, 2011, 6:58 pm 6:58 pm
I guess Romney’s getting tired of being humiliated by Ron Paul.
Posted by: gpjax | June 13, 2011, 12:53 am 12:53 am