A Campaign in Iowa: Plenty of Pork and Politics
The GOP straw poll was the final resting place for many a pig and probably more than one campaign
The Other Winner. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is an ordained minister who knows how to party. At his tent on a much smaller slice of the Coliseum grounds, supporters ate—surprise!—barbecued pork and watermelon trucked up from the candidate's hometown of Hope, Ark. Yes, the same. (Earlier, he was introduced in the Coliseum as a man from Hope who "is not going to marry Hillary Clinton; he's going to beat Hillary Clinton." In the electoral sense, of course. )
Huckabee slung a guitar over his shoulder and joined his band, Capitol Offense, at his camp's stage. In jeans and black sunglasses, he and the band sawed their way through a stand-up version of "Sweet Home Alabama." And this was before the votes were counted, before he knew he had edged out his archconservative Christian rival Sam Brownback, who later pronounced himself "thrilled to come in close to second." Huckabee spent $150,000 on the straw poll, Brownback about $325,000.
Huckabee, in his Coliseum speech, reliably tossed out a few good one-liners:
As a Republican in Arkansas, he said, he feels like "Michael Vick at the Westminster Dog Show." And about buying votes: "I can't buy you. I don't have the money. I can't even rent you."
But to whom were you referring, Governor, when you added this: "A straw poll is not about electing a straw man." And what fellow candidates were you pointing the finger at when you said they may be engaging in false advertising, a behavior you said Jesus cursed?
The Others. You have to love the Ron Paul-ites. Loud, fervent, and looking much more like the motley crews—young and old, dreadlocked and crew cut—that frequent liberal gatherings, not conservative events in the middle of the heartland.
They marched through the grounds chanting for their guy, toting signs—example: "Abolish the IRS and Replace it with Nothing"—and crowding Paul's tent (hot dogs and lemonade, for the record) to hear the candidate's libertarian pep talks.
"He's the opposite of a politician—he's never made deals," said Jamie Kelso, a supporter from Florida who was wearing a "Gun Owners 4 Paul" button. And that was one of Paul's problems Saturday: Most of his supporters came from out of state. But no one in the Texas congressman's tent complained about his fifth-place finish ahead of former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson and three big names who didn't compete here: Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain.
But at Tommy Thompson's tent, even before votes were counted, there was the feeling of a chapter on the verge of being closed. Supporters stopped by to quietly hug the former Health and Human Services chief, offering good wishes and thanks. Thompson posed for a picture with immigrants from India, now successful business people in Iowa, while a supporter, "New York" Myke Shelby, a Harley rider in from California, suggested a Duncan Hunter-Tommy Thompson ticket. "It would attract all the liberals who would think they're voting for Hunter Thompson," Shelby said. He admitted to using the joke before. More than once. But by Sunday, the quips were history; Thompson announced he was withdrawing from the race.
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