Iowa GOP chief: Straw poll or not, party will have pre-caucus event

CEDAR RAPIDS - No decision has been made whether the Iowa GOP will host a straw poll in 2015, but state party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann is promising a 'family-centered event” in August 2015.

'I can't tell you what it will look like or what will happen,” Kaufmann said recently. It may look a lot like a straw poll, 'but there's still a lot of conversations to have” before that decision is made.

The Republican Party of Iowa's straw poll in the August preceding Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses has drawn candidates for the party's presidential nomination, large numbers of activists, and national and international media coverage.

Party leaders have disagreed on whether it has been the moneymaker it was intended to be. Kaufmann indicated whatever event the party chooses for August 2015 it will have to help improve the GOP's finances.

Since Kaufmann became chairman in June, the party has been working its way out of lean times. He's set a goal of raising $1 million in 2015 starting with a $100,000 goal for the party's annual breakfast on the first day of the legislative session. That will be Jan. 12, 2015.

The state party is coming off a successful campaign this fall that saw Republicans re-elect Gov. Terry Branstad and 4th District Rep. Steve King; replace retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin with state Sen. Joni Ernst; and elect Republicans Rod Blum and David Young to fill open seats in Iowa's 1st and 3rd congressional districts, respectively.

Kaufmann said the party is looking to hire a new political director and press secretary in the near future as well as additional staff to coordinate efforts in each of Iowa's four congressional districts.

Kaufmann said said the party, headquartered in Des Moines, also is considering opening satellite offices in Cedar Rapids and somewhere in western Iowa, perhaps in a larger city like Sioux City.