Showdown in Iowa: Will Major Events in Republican Primary Yield a Surprise?

I will be watching the debate on Thursday evening with great interest. As I did in the last debate, follow up with a review and commentary.

On Thursday evening, August 11, 2011 FOX News, The Washington Examiner and the Iowa Republican Party, will host what is destined to be a crucial debate in the Process of selecting a Republican to oppose President Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential election.The debate will take place at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Two days later that unique Republican election season undertaking called the Iowa Straw Poll will take place at the Iowa State Fair.

P>AMES, Iowa (Catholic Online) - On Thursday evening, August 11, 2011 FOX News, The Washington Examiner and the Iowa Republican Party, will host what is destined to be a crucial debate in the Process of selecting a Republican to oppose President Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential election.

The debate will take place at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.  Two days later that unique Republican election season undertaking called the Iowa Straw Poll will take place at the Iowa State Fair.

The Iowa Straw Poll has been the subject of endless debate. It has been lambasted by critics as having little value in predicting actual support for candidates. However, the mere fact that those who do not participate in it always seem to spend all their energy downplaying it only seems to actually underscore its real significance to this political observer.

The event has become an important marker in the Republican primary process since its beginning in 1979. The candidates address the crowds in a celebrative atmosphere. The entire affair puts on display our uniquely American approach to political campaigning.

The candidates will each attempt to persuade the potential delegates to vote for them in the Straw Poll. They have each secured a spot where they offer food and entertainment throughout the day. The Candidates then pay to bus their delegates to the Straw Poll location. 

Though the straw poll participants are under no obligation to vote for the candidate to whom they have pledged their support, they usually do so.

The Iowa Straw Poll has grown in importance over its 30 plus year history. It has resulted in candidates to whom the main stream media has given little coverage emerging out of the pack. Those candidates have gone forward to take a significant role in the campaign. It always serves to narrow and  winnow the field of candidates.

Six of the nine major Republican hopefuls have reserved space in Ames and are actively participating in the  Straw Poll; Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum  and Thaddeus McCotter. Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich are on the Straw Poll ballot but are not actively attempting to secure delegates.

The Main Stream Press has made much of the one who might be called the candidate "in the wings", Rick Perry. His unofficial campaign spokespersons are fanning speculation that he will announce his candidacy on the weekend of the event, at an event in South Carolina.

The Iowa Straw Poll Speaking Schedule begins at noon on Saturday. At 12:15- Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn delivers remarks. At 12:20- Governor Terry Branstad delivers remarks. At 12:30- Chairman Strawn welcomes all candidates on stage. At 12:40- Senator Rick Santorum delivers remarks. At 1:00- Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds delivers remarks. At 1:15- Congressman Ron Paul delivers remarks. At 1:40- Congressman Steve King delivers remarks.

At 1:50- Governor Tim Pawlenty delivers remarks. At 2:10- Senator Chuck Grassley delivers remarks. At 2:20- Congresswoman Michele Bachmann delivers remarks. At 2:40- Congressman Tom Latham delivers remarks. At 2:50- Congressman Thaddeus McCotter delivers remarks. At 3:15- Herman Cain delivers remarks.

The question being asked by many in the Press is "who will drop out after Ames." I suggest another question should be asked, "Is there a surprise in store in Iowa?"

I have written numerous articles about Presidential candidate Rick Santorum since the 2012 US presidential campaign began. I always make it clear that I write as a private citizen. In one of those articles I bemoaned the "deafening silence" in the media concerning the Santorum candidacy.

To use an old metaphor, Rick Santorum has been the "elephant in the room" in the campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination. However, that has happened with other candidates in the past - and what happened in Iowa has changed the entire equation.

Anyone who has read my articles on this Presidential candidate knows that I respect Rick Santorum's genuine Catholic Christian faith, his dedication to his wonderful family, his immense gifts, and his demonstrated leadership abilities.

I also admire his clarity of conviction on the issues which I believe matter most to the future of true freedom and the very survival of the American experiment. He does not fall prey to the political heresy of separating so called moral or social issues from economic or foreign policy issues.

Rick Santorum is uncompromising on his commitment to the dignity of every human life, the primacy of authentic marriage - and the family and society founded upon it - and his insistence that America has always been a moral enterprise is absolutely correct.

The vicious attacks he has undergone from certain fringes of the homosexual equivalency movement because of his defense of marriage have only demonstrated further that this is a man of courage. In an age of cowardice, we need such courage in public service.

I will be watching the debate on Thursday evening with great interest. As I did in the last debate, follow up with a review and commentary. I will also follow the Straw Poll with great interest. This is the first major event in the Republican Presidential Primary. It will likely narrow the field. The question of the hour is will it yield a Surprise?

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