Observations about the 2011 Ames Straw Poll

Once again, the Ames Straw Poll reminded me of a state fair. The atmosphere and layout contributed greatly to this, but the crowds even more so. It is the cheapest state fair you’ll ever go to because all the food is free and so are the goodies.

My father and I took a roundabout way of getting to Ames. We headed up to the Twin Cities and stayed overnight at a friend’s house to catch a bus in the early hours. To our surprise, our host had purchased a ride too and some of his local friends were coming as well.

The bus load was made up of various groups who pooled their resource to rent the coach. Voices of Conservative Women, FairTax supporters (that’s us), and a bunch of Tea Party members filled the bus. Or as we described ourselves, “terrorists and hobbits.”

While I though I’d catch some Z’s on the way down, it didn’t work out that way. We were all having too much fun meeting each other and discussing politics, economics, and current events. Debates over candidates and issues were the norm with everybody in a good mood despite the dire situation our country is in.

Once we got to Ames, I switched into two modes: photographer and analyzing the ground game of the campaigns. The latter isn’t something I can stop myself from doing, so political doings are different for me than most political activists. The first thing rapidly got me separated from everyone I came with so I was on my own.

On the way in the Ron Paul and Rick Santorum signs alternated along the road. Signs don’t mean as much as people think in attracting votes, but they do show who is organized and aggressive. As I wandered the campus, it became relatively easy to identify which campaigns were the best organized. I rated them in this order:

1. Michelle Bachmann

2. Ron Paul

3. Tim Pawlenty

4. Rick Santorum

5. Herman Cain

6. Thaddeus McCotter

Which were the only serious presences with a few hopeless candidates running out of delusions of grandeur.

You may notice something familiar about that top five. Yep, that’s the poll results. So I wasn’t surprised when I heard the results, though I’d wished for better for Cain. Rick Perry came in sixth on write-in votes and McCotter was dead last in tenth. At least he had good ice cream.

The Ames Straw Poll is won by the candidate who busses in the most votes. Seriously, that is the truth of the matter. There are local voters who do come in, but it always boils down to organization.

So does the Ames Straw Poll really matter?

That’s the big question right now. Mitt Romney is the front runner and he didn’t bother to show up. Rick Perry entered the race and immediately went to number two without being there. So what point is there to having the Ames Straw Poll?

To me, it has less to do with selecting a candidate and more with getting the public exposed to the candidates. Sadly, it takes a spectacle to get the attention of the masses, therefore a media circus is needed. Yes, needed. So I’ll ding points off of Romney and Perry for skipping the event.

The media circus part of the whole thing is entertaining to watch in operation. The last thing I expected was being interviewed on camera twice. A pretty young woman came up to me while I was sitting and resting in the shade at Cain’s tent. She took me by surprise and it was only afterward that I realized I’d misheard her question. So I feel bad that she thought I had voted in the Straw Poll.

But I stand by what I said about Herman Cain. We need somebody with business experience right now, somebody who has turned a big organization around. Cain did that with Godfathers Pizza in a highly competitive and saturated market. His degrees and experience also impress me greatly. His biggest asset is he connects well with every day people and isn’t playing the elitist game. Well, that and not being a career politician. He’s authentic which isn’t something I can say about the top candidates.

The second interview was fare more interesting since it had push polling style questions based around Bilderberg conspiracy points. The fact that they were couched as questions about Rick Perry’s entering the race was fascinating. Meeting with Bilderberg types to raise money was one of the questions and the other was about the Logan Act, which I wasn’t familiar with.

Having since researched that law, I do find it a pity it isn’t enforced. But treason hasn’t been either and it is a kissing cousin to that. Basically, citizens who aren’t authorized agents of the federal government shouldn’t be meeting with foreign officials and trying to do deals. Jimmy Carter messed with Clinton that way and Jesse Jackson with Reagan. It is clearly wrong.

Even so, I don’t see any one world order conspiracy going on. It is just another candidate looking for money and trying to burnish nonexistent foreign policy credentials.

Perry being pro-amnesty and a former state campaign head for Al Gore in 1988 are tip of the iceberg problems for me. If the Republican rank and file forgive him for his various liberal positions, he is going to give Romney quite a run for the money. That’s basically what I told the two young men and I’m curious if that video will every show up anywhere.

So what do I think of Bachmann’s win?  Not much, actually. She’s already showing signs of poor decision making and not having much depth. Her vanity will probably be her undoing and Sunday’s events in Iowa showed Perry stealing support from her. He’s much slicker and more personable, while she acts like a Hollywood star. Not a good thing this election cycle.

Ron Paul won’t got anywhere, of course. His supporters will try to pack the caucuses here in Minnesota and other states, so there will be grief to be had yet.

I don’t feel sad for Tim Pawlenty, who dropped out on Sunday. Too much of his vision for the future was focused on running for President when he simply didn’t have what it takes to appeal to voters outside of Minnesota. He really should be running in the Senate race against Klochubar and I hope he does.

On a more personal note, I survived Saturday better than expected. That is despite a bad sunburn. If only I had gone to the green energy lobby’s tent first and found the free sunscreen…

The bus ride home was slightly quieter as some of us tried to rest here and there. Still, the company was fun and conversations kept going. I met some good people and am glad I went.

I hope to do it again in eight years.

Photos can be found in my other posts on Ames:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5