Romney Struggles to Hold Iowa: Will His Early Investment Pay Off?

This story is a collaborative effort between Iowa Independent and HuffPost's OffTheBus. As part of our investigation, OffTheBus members spoke with more than a third of Iowa's Republican county chairs. The team was coordinated by Theresa Weathers and Steven Greenberg, and interviews were conducted by Kirsten Anderson, Mariangela Anzalone, Robin Carpenter, Adam Dancy, Kim Farris, Mayhill Fowler, Melissa Hapke, Saba Kennedy-Washington, Chris Nelson, P.S. Peete, Heidi Pickman, Constance Sere, Randall Tigue, and John Tomasic.

Throughout most of 2007, Gov. Mitt Romney was the candidate to beat in Iowa's GOP caucuses. Despite his recent downturn, he remains tied for the top position here with Gov. Mike Huckabee.

But Romney was not always the dominant force in Iowa that he became. In mid 2005, polls indicated that Romney's support was in the single digits, within the margin of error of zero. He was virtually unknown.

So he started building relationships on the ground here early, and it paid off. In a series of interviews with 37 of Iowa's 99 Republican county chairs conducted by Huff Post's OffTheBus project as part of a collaboration with Iowa Independent, it was revealed that Romney made quite an impression on key GOP activists across the state before some other candidates were even paying attention.

"The Romney campaign did an event in Fall 2005," said Mitch Hambleton, chair of the Republican Party in Dallas County, which contains many of Des Moines's heavily Republican suburbs. Romney was only halfway through his second term as Governor of Massachusetts when he gave the keynote speech at the Dallas County GOP's annual steak fry fundraiser. "He was just getting ... established in the state. I had the opportunity to meet him and share views," said Hambleton.

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Comments

[Camarosc35]

As far as I know, Huckabee leads Romney in the most recent Iowa poll, 33% for Huckabee, 25% for Romney.

[TekBoss]

I am voting for Edwards He understands what MY family needs!

[unclebucky]

This should do it.

If you could hie to Kolob - Traditional Mormon Hymn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_You_Could_Hie_to_Kolob

Lyrics

If you could hie to Kolob in the twinkling of an eye,
And then continue onward with that same speed to fly,
Do you think that you could ever, through all eternity,
Find out the generation where Gods began to be?

Or see the grand beginning, where space did not extend?
Or view the last creation, where Gods and matter end?
Methinks the Spirit whispers, "No man has found 'pure space,'
Nor seen the outside curtains, where nothing has a place."

The works of God continue, and worlds and lives abound;
Improvement and progression have one eternal round.
There is no end to matter; there is no end to space;
There is no end to spirit; there is no end to race.

There is no end to virtue; there is no end to might;
There is no end to wisdom; there is no end to light.
There is no end to union; there is no end to youth;
There is no end to priesthood; there is no end to truth.

There is no end to glory; there is no end to love;
There is no end to being; there is no death above.
There is no end to glory; there is no end to love;
There is no end to being; there is no death above.

Eeeewwww..­... Mormon god-S- (plural!)

This boy didn't stand a chance with progressives, thinking people and mainline churched people. But now he is washed up with thumpers, and man, that was the group he was reaching out to.

Haw. Kolob Ka PLOP. That is even better than Romney's flip - FLOP!!

Ugh.

--UB.

[HumeSkeptic]

On my list, Edwards is second only to Kucinich.

Go Edwards!

(Hillary is dead last and Obama is #6)

[ssg13565]

I saw one of Edward's latest appearances in
Iowa on CSPAN the other day.

I was most impressed. If he had had that fire in
2004, he would be President now. If he'd had it
in early 2007, he would be way ahead now.

I started to see the awakening in Edwards with
his Charlie Rose interview.

I never knew his "Two Americas" meant the richest 1%
who control all and the rest of us.
I had always thought he was pitting the poor
against the middle class which is a definite
loser of a strategy.

[nomobull]

I am just glad we're being reminded that there are other candidates in the race.

[Sonoita]

"Romney was only halfway through his second term as Governor of Massachuse­tts..." Really? His second term? Gee, I thought he decided, knowing he would lose to Deval Patrick, not to run for a second term in 2006.

[dgscol]

If I were from Iowa, I would feel like a stampeding
buffalo, looking for a way out of a trap, and now thinking Edwards might be the way.

[SouthpawSass]

Edwards/Biden '08!