During this morning's meeting of Iowa's delegates to the Republican National Convention, state Sen. David Hartsuch spoke on behalf of U.S. Senate candidate Christopher Reed. Stephanie Laudner, Reed's campaign manager, also addressed the crowd.

Hartsuch said Reed's campaign was low on cash. Republicans, he said, "have been used to kind of, well, basking in the money," but "when you're in the minority all of a sudden the money isn't there."

Hartsuch said the activist base is excited, but getting the donor base involved "is kind of like starting a fire in the rain."

To regain the majority, he said, the party needs to "kind of ramp up our activist base," asking activists to distribute literature, make phone calls and talk to their neighbors about GOP principles.

Laudner also lamented the low cash flow of the Reed campaign -- she said his primary debts were paid off but he only had about $6,000 in the bank -- and said it would lead the campaign to rely on a grassroots strategy.

The plan is for Reed to visit two to three counties a day between the end of the convention and election day, aiming for at least one stop in every county. She asked delegates to contact the campaign with ideas for event locations in each county.

Laudner told the assembled Republicans that she had been in touch with the Iowa Farm Bureau and said the group is staying neutral in the U.S. Senate race, endorsing neither Reed nor U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin.

Listen to the remarks from Hartsuch and Laudner

-- By Mike Schramm

Labels: RNC2008