…but why does the Iowa GOP even want to split their straw poll off from the Iowa State Fair? I can sort of get the idea that the state Republican party may be a little upset with RedState: after all, we routinely daydream about a wonderful world where agriculture subsidies and ethanol mandates are history. But shifting the time and venue of the Iowa Straw Poll so that it interferes with the RedState Gathering still seems a little… petty.
I know, I know: the Iowa GOP will undoubtedly claim that we were completely irrelevant to their decision-making process. Some of them might even believe it. But there’s a certain percentage of that state’s party infrastructure that has never forgiven RedState for upstaging them in 2012 with Rick Perry’s announcement. And, let’s face it: Iowa is bad at picking the Republican nominee. Which is something else that the Iowa GOP doesn’t seem inclined to forgive us for mentioning.