Iowa — The pace of the current GOP presidential campaign hasn’t yet reached the level of the last one eight years ago, but South Carolina Senator Tim Scott officially entered the race Tuesday and is in Sioux City Wednesday, plus former Vice President Mike Pence is making stops in Des Moines and Ottumwa.
Gloria Mazza, chair of Polk County Republicans, says it’s sort of like watching the candidates and potential candidates play chess right now. “You know: When do they make this move or that move?” Mazza says.
Pence has said he hasn’t decided yet whether he’ll run for president, but last night at a Polk County GOP fundraiser Pence urged the crowd to ask hard questions of the people who are official candidates. “Men and women of Iowa, do your part. Do freedom’s work. We’ll keep you posted on our plans, I promise,” Pence said.
Bud Hockenberg, a veteran of innumerable Iowa campaigns, isn’t giving odds on how well Pence might do in the Iowa Caucuses. “I can’t speak for other people,” he said. “It’s kind of an open process and it’s quite early.”
Dylan Engelbrecht, president of Drake University Republicans, says it was good to hear from Pence, but he expects to hear many other candidates on Iowa college campuses in the coming months. “We’re just welcoming everyone, no matter who they are, just to hear their ideas,” Engelbrecht says, “and that’s what the Caucuses are ultimately about.”
