Five Republican presidential hopefuls to speak at Cedar Rapids forum Saturday

CEDAR RAPIDS - Five Republican presidential hopefuls are scheduled to speak at a Cedar Rapids Forum Saturday afternoon designed to allow grass roots activists to engage presidential candidates on their plans to grow the economy.

Retired physician Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former CEO Carly Fiorina, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum will speak at Rising Tide Summit from 2 to 5 p.m. Dec. 5 at the U.S. Cellular Center, 370 1st Ave. NE. All Republican presidential candidates have been invited to attend.

The forum is jointly hosted by 1st District U.S. Rep. Rod Blum - Carson, Fiorina and Paul have campaigned for him - and FreedomWorks, which advocates for smaller government, lower taxes free markets, personal liberty and the rule of law.

FreedomWorks senior economic contributor Stephen Moore said the country needs a president with an economic agenda that puts Americans back to work and gives workers a raise.

'That means all the presidential candidates must focus on getting our economy to 4 to 5 percent growth,” he said. The forum will allow voters in Iowa know how each candidate 'is going to get us back on track to full employment and restoration of the American dream.”

Each speaker will get about 20 minutes to address summit the summit, which will be emceed by Andrew Wilkow, host of The Wilkow Majority on the Sirius XM Patriot channel.

In addition to the presidential hopefuls, Gov. Terry Branstad and 3rd District U.S. Rep. David Young are scheduled to speak as well as FreedomWorks representatives.

Ticket information may be found at http://www.ticketmaster.com/rising-tide-summit-cedar-rapids-iowa-12-05-2015/event/06004F30D223BBF5?artistid=2176199 & majorcatid=10005 & minorcatid=104 & tm_link=artist_msg-0_06004F30D223BBF5.