They’re Off and Running in Iowa!

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Diary Of A Mad Voter:

Roger L Simon

June 8 2015

 

 

Well, when haven’t they been? But now they’re really off and running. That was clearer than ever in Boone, Iowa, a whistle stop that looks like last year’s version of The Bachelor about forty-five minutes from Des Moines. I was there over the weekend for the first big Iowa assembly of Republican presidential candidates at a new Norman Rockwellish event — Senator Joni Ernst’s (hopefully annual) “Roast & Ride.”

 

That’s roast as in bbq pig and ride as in motorcycle, something done by candidates Scott Walker and Rick Perry (with an entourage of vets, some wounded) and host Ernst.

 

The big prize — winning the Iowa caucus and possibly, even sooner, the Ames straw poll in August, another Iowa event designed to winnow out the apparently endless parade of candidates. Ames is reportedly being downplayed this year, however, and that’s a good thing. Iowa’s a fine place, but haven’t we had a bit too much of it? Isn’t it, as many have said on a bazillion subjects, time for a change?

 

No matter. The “Roast & Ride” was great fun and judged a success by all. As for the candidates, it takes a special breed of person to be president of the United States — or even want to be — and I got to do video interviews with five of them in one day in Boone and, I have to admit, liked them all. No surprise there. If these people can’t be charming and ingratiating, they should be in another business.

 

I also saw seven — count ‘em, seven — give speeches at the Ernst event and liked six of them. Aha, you’re thinking. There’s someone he didn’t like and he’s willing to admit it (good-bye the chance to interview that candidate down the line). True — and more about him (yes, it’s a him) in a second.

 

(Snip)

 

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Who doesn't he like? I give you a subtle hint...

 

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