There’s no mahogany-finished conference table or merciless billionaire firing volunteers, but that hasn’t stopped Donald Trump’s presidential campaign team from recruiting caucus leaders in Iowa with Apprentice-like competitions.
Shortly after Tana Goertz, a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” was named Iowa co-chair of Trump’s campaign, she began thinking of unorthodox ways to expand support for the Republican front-runner in the state.
The mother of two has worked with businesses to host similar contests since her stint on the televised business competition ended and believes think-on-your-feet tasks can be a “very successful” determinant of how dedicated individuals are to a business or cause.
“So I thought, well let’s just do this for caucus leaders,” Goertz told the Washington Examiner.
And that’s exactly what she did.
In a giant blue tour bus embellished with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, Goertz and other full-time campaign staffers have been traveling to several counties in the Hawkeye State in search of “the best of the best” to lead caucuses and garner additional support for the leading non-politician candidate.
“The response has been unbelievable,” says John Hulsizer, senior adviser for the Trump campaign in Iowa.
Both Hulsizer and Goertz expressed disbelief regarding the groundswell of support they claim to be witnessing in Iowa. As previously reported by the Examiner, a crowd of about 2,500 Iowans turned out last week to hear the New York businessman speak in Dubuque.
“I’ve never seen anything like this and it’s not even the general election,” Hulsizer said.
Goertz says she and her colleagues have hosted “five or six” mock Apprentice competitions so far and have about 10 individuals designated as caucus leaders, including some who volunteered before the contests began.
She declined to describe the assignment volunteers are tasked with, saying “some people won’t come to do it if they hear what it is,” but said each contest aims to determine who is the most competitive, outgoing, creative, and greatest communicator and negotiator among those participating.
“It’s just like the real thing — like what Donald Trump was looking for on his show,” she said, adding, “I give them a tasks and it’s timed and judged and then my team of staffers decides who the winner is and that person gets to be the cause leader for that county.”
Those who’ve been selected as caucus leaders so far include a 20-year-old college student enrolled at the University of Iowa and a 43-year-old Davis County man who made his cable news debut on CNN Monday evening to discuss his work for the campaign.
“We need 99 rockstars on February 1st and I’m out to find them,” Goertz said, referring to the date of first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.
According to Goertz, most people who come ready to compete are “yuge” fans of “The Apprentice,” political junkies, or “they just want to compete in a unique way.”
“They look at it as an opportunity to make a difference,” she said.
Fortunately for those who don’t make the cut, Trump’s catchphrase, “you’re fired,” has been omitted from the mock competitions. Instead, volunteers who are not selected as caucus leaders are assigned other tasks like distributing “Trump 2016” yard signs or managing crowds at campaign events in the state.
“Some come and are just shy, hence why they’re not the caucus leaders,” Goertz said. “But everyone who signs up to be caucus leader who doesn’t become one is still utilized in some way.”
When asked how Trump’s ground game in the early primary state compares to his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s, Hulsizer said the real estate mogul and his team are avoiding “politics as usual.”
“Clinton’s organization is bringing people in, they’ve got a lot of interns, while we’re focused less on us as paid staff and more on the volunteers since they are the ones who are going to make this happen,” Hulsizer said.
“You can hire as much paid staff as you want and for her it’s 40-something guaranteed votes, but unless you have these people, these volunteers, out there spreading the word and generating excitement, you’re not going to have enough to win,” he added.
Goertz was in the middle of explaining how successful her team has been so far in getting their volunteers to amass additional support when her former mentor rang through on the other line.
“When Trump calls, I answer,” she later said.
