Vander Plaats: Norris endorsement, rally brings 'energy, enthusiasm'

CEDAR RAPIDS – Actor, martial arts champion and conservative commentator Chuck Norris isn't sure what his endorsement of Bob Vander Plaats is worth.

However, there's no uncertainty in the mind of Vander Plaats, one of three candidates for the Republican nomination for governor, that the endorsement and five-city tour with Norris will bring, “energy, enthusiasm and exposure” to his campaign just at a critical time – four days before the June 8 primary election.

His assessment was spot-on when Norris spoke to loud and enthusiastic crowd of about 300 at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids June 4.

Although he has endorsed other candidates, Norris has left his ranch to campaign only for Vander Plaats.

 “When I came here two years ago to campaign for Mike Huckabee I got to know Bob Vander Plaats quite well and I realized he has a lot of the qualities that got me to campaign for Gov. Mike Huckabee,” said Norris, who writes a nationally syndicated column and is active in conservative and pro-family causes.

The more I got to know Vander Plaats the more impressed I was,” Norris said. “It's convictions, it's principles and all of the things we need in a leader not only in the state of Iowa, but our whole country.”

Although neither Vander Plaats nor the Norrises said they knew if Huckabee would seek the GOP nomination in 2012, they were key players in the team that helped Huckabee win the 2008 Iowa precinct caucuses.

Norris compared Vander Plaats to Huckabee, saying he was attracted by the Sioux City businessman's Christian, conservative principles.

“He has a lot of the same qualities that got me to campaign for Gov. Huckabee,” he said.

As in that instance, Vander Plaats said Norris' visit to Iowa this spring is about “expanding the pie beyond the base of the party.”

Norris isn't viewed so much as Republican as a patriot “and a voice of the Tea party and liberty movement,” Vander Plaats said.

“I'm basically an independent, but when I vote, I vote Republican, but I'm an independent thinker,” Norris said, eliciting chuckles, cheers and applause. He then launched into a primer on how independents can change their registration to the GOP June 8 and them back to independent.

Norris hoped the popularity of his “Walker, Texas Ranger” TV show with older Iowans and the Chuck Norris Facts with younger Iowans would “help Bob tell the story he wants as a leader of this state of Iowa.”

Sixteen-year-old Jenny Teets of Iowa City was there as a Vander Plaats supporter, but admitted that Norris was an added attraction.

“I might not have made the same effort if he wasn't here,” she said.

She wasn't alone in that sentiment.

“We're big Chuck Norris fans,” said Jeremy Ellis of Belle Plaine. “Paul can sing the entire “Walker Texas Ranger' song.”

Another friend was there “for the other stuff,” Ellis said, pointing to Vander Plaats supporter Tony Jones, also of Belle Plaine. Even Jones admitted that Norris was “icing on the cake, the final push” to get to the Friday afternoon rally.

“That Chuck Norris is here means Vander Plaats is the real deal,” added Kirkwood student Alex Swalve, who knew the candidate's sons from high school.

“We're here for Vander Plaats, but the fact Chuck Norris is here makes us more enthused,” added Michael Mehrer, a Kirkwood student who was a classmate of one of Vander Plaats' four sons.

Gretchen Aquice of Cedar Rapids, a first-time voter this year, offered an indication that Norris' presence helped at both ends of the age spectrum.

“I came with my grandparents,” Aquice said.

Vander Plaats welcomed all ages and asked that like Norris and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson that they endorse his campaign.

He asked them to asked them to “put up a yard sign in your yard, to put a bumper sticker on your car, to write a check if you can write a check, say a prayer when you offer up your prayers, make every conversation intentional for the next four days because when that happens, something special is going to happen on Tuesday.”

“We're going to trump the establishment. No more politics as usual in the state of Iowa,” he said.