IowaPolitics.com BlogWatch

Iowa GOP Chairman Stew Iverson revealed Monday two of the big draws
for the Republican state convention in Des Moines on June 14. Former
presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who is now rumored to be a
leading VP contender, will make an appearance. Also in attendance will
be former House speaker Newt Gingrich. It looks like the jockeying in
Iowa for 2012 might already be beginning...

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Newt_Gingrich, RPI

On Saturday afternoon, I drove across Ames to the Scheman Building on
the campus of Iowa State University to participate in Newt's American
Solutions' "Solutions Day" as he had 'workshops' all over the state
and frankly, all over the country. I have no idea how turnout was in
other parts of the state, but there were about 6 or 7 people there at
the Ames one. Unfortunately, there were some pretty severe technical
problems at the one in Ames and so I and everyone else in attendance,
did not get a real good feel for the workshops. Because I wasn't
feeling the best and the fact that I had about 6 hours of bus driving
to do that evening, I opted to leave early and I went home and watched
a little more of it on my TV (they were broadcasted on DirecTV).

Labels: Newt_Gingrich

Newt Gingrich is almost as big of a flirt as Fred Thompson. However,
most people knew that Fred was eventually going to run. Most people,
however, don't know what Newt is thinking. Newt certainly is behaving
and even talking like a candidate. He's been holding some events in
early states (almost more events than some of the already established
candidates) and is getting himself a lot of media attention by
speaking to influential groups about important causes. Getting plenty
of face time at the Iowa Straw Poll last month and recently speaking
to the National Rifle Association are certainly stops that serious
candidates have to make. But Newt might also be taking advantage of
this state of limbo by promoting his books. He put out a book a few
months ago and then has a new book coming out in just a few days that
he has authored with a friend.

Labels: Newt_Gingrich

This morning I arose especially early and trucked it over to Sioux City to Fiona's Firehouse Bistro to attend Newt Gingrich's American Solutions event at 8 AM. The event started at 8 and was slated to last until about 9:30 but I stayed until about a few minutes before 9 because I had work responsibilities to tend to. I had never been to this bistro, but it is actually an old garage/shop and it is very nice inside. I was very impressed. They served up a nice breakfast to a crowd of about 50 or so and there was a pretty substantial press pool in attendance too. Newt's organization, "American Solutions", has a professional cameraman traveling with them that just takes pictures of the former Speaker and guests. They are uploading all the pictures to a Flickr home page where all the pictures can be found. I had a picture taken but they don't have today's pictures up there yet. I will add my picture to this blog posting after it is posted. I spotted some representatives from a few campaigns and also Chairman Ray Hoffman was also in attendance.

Labels: Newt_Gingrich