WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- An icy wind scoured the parking lot of the Hy-Vee supermarket, ruffling Mitt Romney's perfect hair as he urged about 500 rain-soaked people to stand up for him in Tuesday's Republican caucuses.
"I need your help, you guys," Romney said Friday over the gale. "This is a real battle - it's a battle for the future course of America. I don't want politicians running America anymore. I want to make sure that we have citizen leaders going to Washington ... fighting for the soul of this great country."
Whether the fight is for the nation's soul remains to be seen. Much will happen between now and November. But on Tuesday, the battle over which Republican will challenge President Barack Obama begins here in earnest.
In a volatile GOP presidential race driven largely by conservative distaste for Romney, the latest twist is this: Polls show the former investment banker and Massachusetts governor could win the first balloting of the nomination contest in Iowa, where evangelical activists have dominated.
Many conservatives fault Romney, now in his second campaign for president, for switching stances on abortion rights and same-sex marriage, moving to the right over time along with prevailing opinion in his party. As his rivals keep reminding voters, he also pushed through a measure in Massachusetts requiring people to buy health insurance, a feature of Obama's national health-care law.
But with the weak economy the overriding issue - the national unemployment rate is 8.6 percent, and growth is anemic - and with Obama's approval ratings still at near-historic lows, GOP establishment leaders argue the party should emphasize jobs and downplay issues such as abortion. They don't want to scare off independent voters who, in an era of waning loyalties to the major parties, hold the keys to a national victory.
"I'm a moderate Republican - we're not all evangelical idiots in Iowa," said Sarah Kehlenbeck, 61, of West Des Moines, who turned out for Romney's Hy-Vee rally and backs him as the most electable. "I want the government out of my life and out of my bedroom." She thinks the nation has swung too far toward an "entitlement society," a theme Romney stresses.
"The Bible is a wonderful book," she said. "Just keep it in church and at home, not in the government."
Dave Ashby said that it "couldn't be more important" to beat Obama and that Romney was probably the strongest bet to achieve that goal.
"But I couldn't vote for somebody who's absolutely pro-choice," said Ashby, 72, a retired school principal from Gilbert, Iowa. "I'm just not sure where Romney stands. It seems like he's making himself sound good for everybody." Ashby is also considering Rick Santorum and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
A party divided? Tensions between social and economic conservatives, insurgents and the establishment, have been a GOP storyline for decades. Though evangelicals are a smaller bloc in other early-voting states, analysts warn against discounting Iowa's narrow slice of the Republican pie. They say the conflicts playing out there will continue.
"Instead of pitting social conservatives against fiscal conservatives, the Republican Party has to come to terms with both camps," said Catherine Wilson, a Villanova University professor who specializes in religion and politics.
After staying away for most of the year, Romney has been pushing in Iowa, buoyed by the latest polls and hoping for a victory that - combined with a Jan. 10 win in New Hampshire, where he is heavily favored - would give him a commanding lead. In a fractured field, he needs to hold on to the 25 percent share he got in Iowa four years ago in a losing effort.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/30/2567797/some-gop-voters-in-iowa-hope-nominee.html
hurd christopher hitchens ron paul 2012 zynga stock zynga stock sam houston state university sam houston state university
No comments:
Post a Comment