Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush does not plan to attend the Iowa Straw Poll. As the Des Moines Register first reported, Bush will instead address activists at a RedState.com event hosted by Erick Erickson in Atlanta, Ga., on the same date.
Jeff Kaufmann, the chairman of the Iowa GOP, took to Twitter to express his disapproval with Bush’s decision. “We hope Governor Bush rethinks his decision and realizes that grassroots will only grow in Iowa if he waters them,” Kaufmann tweeted. “The RedState Gathering is a four day event and other candidates have already indicated that they will be attending both. We don’t buy this excuse and neither will Iowans.”
While formal invitations have not yet been sent out for the Iowa Straw Poll, several candidates have already agreed to attend the RedState.com gathering. “The fact that Erickson already has commitments from five presidential candidates is a bit of a concern,” wrote Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Iowa Republican Party, on his website the Iowa Republican. “It’s one thing when one candidate opts to attend an event that is competing with the Republican Party of Iowa’s premier political event, but having five candidates do it would deal a blow to the Iowa GOP.”
The Iowa Straw Poll has become an increasingly unreliable predictor of who will win Iowa, especially in recent presidential campaigns. The last two Republican presidential nominees did not win the straw poll or the Iowa caucuses. Mitt Romney won the straw poll in 2007, while Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., won in 2011.
