- Iowa Caucuses « Huckabee for President Press
Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2015
MEDIA CONTACT
May 21, 2015
MEDIA CONTACT
Alice Stewart
NEWS RELEASE
Gov. Huckabee announces decision to forego Iowa Straw Poll, focus on Iowa Caucuses
Huckabee: "If conservatives are divided and we lose the Iowa caucuses next year, there will be no winners."
Little Rock, Ark. - In an editorial
published today in the Des Moines Register,
2016 presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
announced his decision to forego the Iowa Straw Poll and invest his
resources into running a well-funded and well-organized campaign for
the Iowa caucuses.
Here
is the text of the full editorial:
My
focus is on the Iowa caucuses - not the straw poll
by
Governor Mike Huckabee
I've
said
it before and I'll say it again: I love Iowa. My goal is to run a
well-funded, well-organized, and well-executed campaign to do extremely
well in the Iowa caucuses in 2016.
In
2008,
I competed and finished second in the Iowa straw poll - our first
big break on our way to winning the Iowa caucuses and receiving the
most votes ever cast for a Republican in the history of the Iowa
caucuses. But to win in 2016, it's important to learn from the mistakes
of the last few election cycles, in which conservatives were divided
and opened a path for a more moderate establishment candidate to
ultimately win the nomination, only to lose to Obama.
One
of
the decisions each Republican candidate for president will have to
make leading up to the caucuses is whether to invest the resources to
participate in this year's August straw poll. I appreciate the
Iowa
GOP for recognizing the need for some reforms, but playing to win in
the straw poll still requires a heavy concentration of staff and
financial resources.
After
consulting
with many of our Iowa volunteers and supporters, as well as
key activists whose opinion we value, I have decided to forego taking
part in the Iowa straw poll - or any other straw poll - and will
instead focus our campaign's attention and resources on the Iowa
caucuses.
Conservative
and
hard-working Iowans want a strong and principled conservative
Republican nominee for president who represents their values. I have
concluded this year's Iowa straw poll will serve only to weaken
conservative candidates and further empower the Washington ruling class
and their hand-picked candidates.
History
will
repeat itself if we don't learn from the past. It's clear that
pitting conservative candidates with limited resources against each
other in a non-binding and expensive summer straw poll battle, while
allowing billionaire-backed establishment candidates to sit out, will
only wound and weaken the conservative candidates who best represent
conservative and hard-working Iowans.
If
conservatives are divided and we lose the Iowa caucuses next year,
there will be no winners.
Past
winners
in recent straw polls didn't result in caucus victories and we
want to dedicate our resources and focus our volunteers in Iowa towards
the caucuses, which matter greatly in determining our next
president.
And if you question how important the Iowa caucuses really are, just
ask our last Republican president or the current Democratic one, who
both won the Iowa caucuses on their way to the White House.
We
know
how important it is for Iowans to pick a principled conservative
to launch the next Republican president. Iowans have a tremendously
influential role in deciding who the best Republican candidate is to
defeat Hillary Clinton and save this great republic. I will continue to
work hard to earn each Iowan's vote so we can forever bury the empty
promise of 'Hope and Change' and empower every American to go from
'Hope to Higher Ground.'
Mike
Huckabee is the former governor of Arkansas and current GOP
presidential candidate. Learn more at HuckabeePledge.com
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