Iowa Campaign Ground Game
There were five candidates on the stage during the last debate, but how many are serious about winning Iowa? You can often tell how serious a candidate is by how many times and places they visit in Iowa. There are some clear differences in the top candidates' campaign stop history.
I have created a few maps that show the campaign stops of the top 5 candidates. This leaves Chris Christie out of the list because he has ignored Iowa in favor of New Hampshire. Eight years ago, Christie didn't do well in Iowa, so it should come as no surprise that he is not going to spend a lot of time in Iowa this time.
We start with Trump. He didn't visit a lot of places eight years ago and this time he hasn't changed his philosophy. Trump lost Iowa to Cruz eight years ago, but he has the benefit of being President. He's not doing his campaign any benefit though by not visiting the state.
Following Trump is Nikki Haley. Haley has not spent as much time in Iowa as our remaining three candidates, and what time she has spent has all been in the bigger cities. I have found over the years that candidates that don't take the time to visit Iowa's smaller towns, are not serious candidates or are not truly conservative. It is one thing to stand at a podium in a large auditorium. It is another whole thing to sit down at a diner with 20 farmers, bankers, and mothers of crying children and answer any and all questions they throw at you.
Tim Scott appears to have tried to visit places outside the bigger cities, but the number of locations he has visited still pale in comparison to our top two candidates on this list.
Then there is Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy has recently scheduled a lot of stops all across the state and this puts him ahead of DeSantis in his visits number.
DeSantis has been to more places on the west (more conservative) side of the state.
Ramaswamy has spent more of his time on the east (not as conservative) side of the state.
But both of them have spent a lot of time throughout Iowa and this is always a good thing.
A few thoughts in the last debate:
1) If you stopped watching after the "opening statements", you would have thought Vivek Ramaswamy was the winner. He started with some very strong words attacking both the moderators and even the leader of the Republican Party. Both of these were well deserved, but Ramaswamy's strength in both attacking and accepting attacks is also his weakness. He goes after candidates in a way that is not appropriate and this makes him look like he is just out to do attacks for the sake of doing attacks.
2) Chris Christie is boring.
3) Haley seems to always have a need to respond to attacks against her. Often, not responding is better. Let people see the stupidity of some of the attacks instead of trying to respond.
4) Haley attacked DeSantis a lot. Perhaps her campaign decided this is what needed to be done to edge ahead of DeSantis in Iowa, but that didn't work so well for Ramaswamy last time.
5) Tim Scott had a lot of good answers at times, but somehow he just doesn't give off the excitement that some of the other candidates give off. I think Scott would make a good VP at this point.
Changing topics back to snail mail. It has definitely slowed this past week. We only received two postcards, one in support of Haley and one against Trump.
Snail Mail Totals So Far in 2024
20 - Stand For America Fund, Inc. (Pro-Haley)
18 - Never Back Down, Inc. (Pro-DeSantis)
12 - Best of America PAC (Pro-Burgum)
12 - AFP Action (Anti-Trump)
9 - Make America Great Again, Inc. (Anti-DeSantis / Pro-Trump)
7 - Opportunity Matters Fund, Inc. (Pro-Scott)
5 - Perry Johnson for President Inc.
4 - Make America Great Again Action, Inc. (Pro-Trump)
4 - Finish the Fight (Anti-Trump)
2 - American Exceptionalism PAC (Pro-Ramaswamy)
2 - Vivek 2024
2 - And to the Republic (Anti-Trump)
1 - Doug Burgum for America
1 - Donald J Trump for President 2024, Inc
I have created a few maps that show the campaign stops of the top 5 candidates. This leaves Chris Christie out of the list because he has ignored Iowa in favor of New Hampshire. Eight years ago, Christie didn't do well in Iowa, so it should come as no surprise that he is not going to spend a lot of time in Iowa this time.
We start with Trump. He didn't visit a lot of places eight years ago and this time he hasn't changed his philosophy. Trump lost Iowa to Cruz eight years ago, but he has the benefit of being President. He's not doing his campaign any benefit though by not visiting the state.
Following Trump is Nikki Haley. Haley has not spent as much time in Iowa as our remaining three candidates, and what time she has spent has all been in the bigger cities. I have found over the years that candidates that don't take the time to visit Iowa's smaller towns, are not serious candidates or are not truly conservative. It is one thing to stand at a podium in a large auditorium. It is another whole thing to sit down at a diner with 20 farmers, bankers, and mothers of crying children and answer any and all questions they throw at you.
Tim Scott appears to have tried to visit places outside the bigger cities, but the number of locations he has visited still pale in comparison to our top two candidates on this list.
Then there is Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy has recently scheduled a lot of stops all across the state and this puts him ahead of DeSantis in his visits number.
DeSantis has been to more places on the west (more conservative) side of the state.
Ramaswamy has spent more of his time on the east (not as conservative) side of the state.
But both of them have spent a lot of time throughout Iowa and this is always a good thing.
A few thoughts in the last debate:
1) If you stopped watching after the "opening statements", you would have thought Vivek Ramaswamy was the winner. He started with some very strong words attacking both the moderators and even the leader of the Republican Party. Both of these were well deserved, but Ramaswamy's strength in both attacking and accepting attacks is also his weakness. He goes after candidates in a way that is not appropriate and this makes him look like he is just out to do attacks for the sake of doing attacks.
2) Chris Christie is boring.
3) Haley seems to always have a need to respond to attacks against her. Often, not responding is better. Let people see the stupidity of some of the attacks instead of trying to respond.
4) Haley attacked DeSantis a lot. Perhaps her campaign decided this is what needed to be done to edge ahead of DeSantis in Iowa, but that didn't work so well for Ramaswamy last time.
5) Tim Scott had a lot of good answers at times, but somehow he just doesn't give off the excitement that some of the other candidates give off. I think Scott would make a good VP at this point.
Changing topics back to snail mail. It has definitely slowed this past week. We only received two postcards, one in support of Haley and one against Trump.
Snail Mail Totals So Far in 2024
20 - Stand For America Fund, Inc. (Pro-Haley)
18 - Never Back Down, Inc. (Pro-DeSantis)
12 - Best of America PAC (Pro-Burgum)
12 - AFP Action (Anti-Trump)
9 - Make America Great Again, Inc. (Anti-DeSantis / Pro-Trump)
7 - Opportunity Matters Fund, Inc. (Pro-Scott)
5 - Perry Johnson for President Inc.
4 - Make America Great Again Action, Inc. (Pro-Trump)
4 - Finish the Fight (Anti-Trump)
2 - American Exceptionalism PAC (Pro-Ramaswamy)
2 - Vivek 2024
2 - And to the Republic (Anti-Trump)
1 - Doug Burgum for America
1 - Donald J Trump for President 2024, Inc