Iowa GOP moving Straw Poll to Boone

DES MOINES - The Iowa Straw Poll is on the move.

Cost and a 'blank canvas that we can paint” prompted the Republican Party of Iowa to move the GOP Straw Poll from the Iowa State University campus in Ames to the Central Iowa Expo, site of the annual Farm Progress Show, at Boone.

The 2015 event will be held Saturday, Aug. 8, and RPI Chairman Jeff Kaufmann expects tickets to be available in May.

He expects as many as 20,000 people will attend the event that draws Republican presidential hopefuls to Iowa to curry favor with potential caucus voters and raise money for the state party. The last straw poll drew about 10,000.

'Iowa's agricultural background has always captured the national imagination, and we feel the Central Iowa Expo will help us showcase this heritage,” Iowa GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement accompanied by a video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6-c66JmhII

In addition to highlighting Iowa's rural, agricultural heritage, Kaufmann said he wants people to walk away saying 'these people are ready to be first-in-the-nation.”

Once the State Central Committee made the decision to hold the poll, it decided to look at various locations. Four sites submitted bids: the Central Iowa Expo, Iowa State University, Drake University in Des Moines, and the Iowa Speedway in Newton.

The state party's central committee voted unanimously for Boone.

'Cost was a factor,” he said, but 'wasn't the major factor in the decision.” Parking, also access for seniors and the physically disabled also was a consideration as well as accommodations for hundreds of members of the media.

He expects the straw poll will cost upward of $500,000 to put on, but Kaufmann said the party will work to keep the cost of participation - for candidates and the people attending - as low as possible. Tickets were $30 in 2011 and $35 at the previous straw poll.

'This venue also allows us to keep ticket prices affordable, ensuring families from across Iowa can participate in this one-of-a-kind event,”

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, formerly of Boone, praised the selection. Branstad recently called for an end to the Straw Poll, citing concerns it would run afoul of national primary election rules and threaten Iowa's position as the first state in the nation to nominate presidential candidates. The governor ultimately supported the Straw Poll after Kaufmann addressed potential concerns with the national party.

'Making this event more accessible to every Iowan is an important step in keeping the straw poll a must-attend date on the presidential election calendar,” Branstad said in a statement. 'Boone is a wonderful town and will make a fantastic host for the 2015 Straw Poll.”

Michele Bachmann won the 2011 Straw Poll. Previous winners include eventual nominees George W. Bush and Bob Dole.

The Central Iowa Expo also was chosen for U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst's inaugural 'Roast and Ride” fundraiser.