Top GOP candidates snub forum
PBS likely to pull plug on nationally televised event
By Bret Hayworth Journal staff writer(c) 2007 Sioux City Journal | Posted: Friday, October 19, 2007
No Rudy Giuiliani. No Fred Thompson. No Mitt Romney.
And now, it appears, no nationally televised Divided We Fail forum in Sioux City on Oct. 25.
The forum slated for the downtown Orpheum Theatre is on life support after campaign officials with the three top-polling Republicans said Thursday their candidates would not take part. The campaigns of Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul also confirmed they won't participate.
To make matters bleaker, Sam Brownback, one of three confirmed participants, pulled out of the presidential race entirely Thursday. Only Mike Huckabee and John McCain are confirmed to attend.
With six days until the event, AARP Iowa state director Bruce Koeppl, who is affiliated with Divided We Fail, said the forum will likely be scaled back to a format to be determined today. Also unclear is the participation of Iowa Public Television, which was to produce a nationally televised broadcast of the debate on PBS. The Sioux City Journal was a sponsor for the debate.
"It is likely not going to be picked up nationally, whatever format we use," Koeppl said.
The decisions by the big three GOP candidates weren't well-received by Northwest Iowa GOP activists.
Sioux County Republican Party chairman Mark Lundberg said he could not understand why the candidates wouldn't want to speak before "diehards" in prime GOP Northwest Iowa territory.
"I'm kind of disappointed in the campaigns that they wouldn't make an effort to come to Northwest Iowa so close to the caucuses. I think it is very short-sighted," Lundberg said. "It doesn't make any sense."
Lundberg, one of more than 1,300 people who already had tickets to attend the forum, commended McCain and Huckabee for their decisions.
Divided We Fail, Together We Can Do Anything was formed in late spring to put health care and economic security issues before candidates campaigning for the Iowa caucuses and in other states with early primaries. Divided We Fail sought the six top-polling Democratic presidential candidates for a similar September forum in Davenport and got the participation of John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd. Barack Obama did not attend.
"We are surprised and very disappointed. The fact is that Iowans, western Iowans, folks across the country, want to hear about these top two issues, health care and financial security," Koeppl said. "This would have been a prime opportunity for the candidates to do that."
Divided We Fail's senior campaign coordinator, Pete Jeffries, said the debate didn't falter because of lack of support from Siouxlanders. Jeffries said a get-Thompson-Giuliani-Romney push resulted in 2,000 phone calls to the three candidates, including 1,200 to Thompson alone.
"This was a very tough opportunity for the candidates and their campaigns to miss. They have chosen that, and they will have to move on knowing that they took a pass on talking directly to one in three likely, reliable caucusgoers in Iowa," Jeffries said.
The candidates who are bypassing the forum cited scheduling conflicts as the primary reason.
Tim Albrecht, the Iowa campaign spokesman for Romney, said he wasn't sure if the Divided We Fail forum's proximity to Sunday's Florida Republican Party, to be broadcast by Fox News, factored into the decision.
Thompson's Midwest political director, Andrew Dorr, said he informed Jeffries about 1:30 p.m. Thursday that the U.S. senator from Tennessee wouldn't take part. Dorr said Thompson will participate in the Florida debate but not the one in Sioux City. Like other campaign staffers, Dorr said Thompson will soon be back to Northwest Iowa for campaign events.
Giuliani spokesman Jarrod Agen said the campaign team made the decision not to attend the Sioux City forum a few weeks ago. Giuliani will take part in the Florida debate.
"He'd like to attend as many debates as possible, but the schedule does not allow it. He was in Iowa yesterday," Agen said.
Koeppl said claims of scheduling conflicts were puzzling.
"We've been talking to these campaigns since March, and they've known about this date for a long time," Koeppl said. "One has to wonder when they suggest the reason they're not there is scheduling conflicts."
Sioux Cityan Ray Hoffmann, chairman of the Republican Party in Iowa, said he had no indication the forum would fall apart.
"I knew from Day 1 that Mitt Romney wouldn't be here," he said, but other than that, Hoffmann heard from various candidate campaigns that "we are working on it" and figured more would commit.
Perhaps he could have done more, Hoffmann mused, then added that he had a full plate as the Iowa GOP was moving the date of the caucuses from Jan. 14 to Jan. 3. He said Divided We Fail was the group setting up the candidates but that he made a few calls to candidates touting the Sioux City event.
He said there could be fallout for those who don't attend.
"That is really disappointing because I thought, what an opportunity to show off the Orpheum and to show off Sioux City," Hoffmann said.
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293.4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com
Read more in Hayworth's Politically Speaking blog at www.siouxcityjournal.com/blogs
And now, it appears, no nationally televised Divided We Fail forum in Sioux City on Oct. 25.
The forum slated for the downtown Orpheum Theatre is on life support after campaign officials with the three top-polling Republicans said Thursday their candidates would not take part. The campaigns of Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul also confirmed they won't participate.
To make matters bleaker, Sam Brownback, one of three confirmed participants, pulled out of the presidential race entirely Thursday. Only Mike Huckabee and John McCain are confirmed to attend.
With six days until the event, AARP Iowa state director Bruce Koeppl, who is affiliated with Divided We Fail, said the forum will likely be scaled back to a format to be determined today. Also unclear is the participation of Iowa Public Television, which was to produce a nationally televised broadcast of the debate on PBS. The Sioux City Journal was a sponsor for the debate.
"It is likely not going to be picked up nationally, whatever format we use," Koeppl said.
The decisions by the big three GOP candidates weren't well-received by Northwest Iowa GOP activists.
Sioux County Republican Party chairman Mark Lundberg said he could not understand why the candidates wouldn't want to speak before "diehards" in prime GOP Northwest Iowa territory.
"I'm kind of disappointed in the campaigns that they wouldn't make an effort to come to Northwest Iowa so close to the caucuses. I think it is very short-sighted," Lundberg said. "It doesn't make any sense."
Lundberg, one of more than 1,300 people who already had tickets to attend the forum, commended McCain and Huckabee for their decisions.
Divided We Fail, Together We Can Do Anything was formed in late spring to put health care and economic security issues before candidates campaigning for the Iowa caucuses and in other states with early primaries. Divided We Fail sought the six top-polling Democratic presidential candidates for a similar September forum in Davenport and got the participation of John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd. Barack Obama did not attend.
"We are surprised and very disappointed. The fact is that Iowans, western Iowans, folks across the country, want to hear about these top two issues, health care and financial security," Koeppl said. "This would have been a prime opportunity for the candidates to do that."
Divided We Fail's senior campaign coordinator, Pete Jeffries, said the debate didn't falter because of lack of support from Siouxlanders. Jeffries said a get-Thompson-Giuliani-Romney push resulted in 2,000 phone calls to the three candidates, including 1,200 to Thompson alone.
"This was a very tough opportunity for the candidates and their campaigns to miss. They have chosen that, and they will have to move on knowing that they took a pass on talking directly to one in three likely, reliable caucusgoers in Iowa," Jeffries said.
The candidates who are bypassing the forum cited scheduling conflicts as the primary reason.
Tim Albrecht, the Iowa campaign spokesman for Romney, said he wasn't sure if the Divided We Fail forum's proximity to Sunday's Florida Republican Party, to be broadcast by Fox News, factored into the decision.
Thompson's Midwest political director, Andrew Dorr, said he informed Jeffries about 1:30 p.m. Thursday that the U.S. senator from Tennessee wouldn't take part. Dorr said Thompson will participate in the Florida debate but not the one in Sioux City. Like other campaign staffers, Dorr said Thompson will soon be back to Northwest Iowa for campaign events.
Giuliani spokesman Jarrod Agen said the campaign team made the decision not to attend the Sioux City forum a few weeks ago. Giuliani will take part in the Florida debate.
"He'd like to attend as many debates as possible, but the schedule does not allow it. He was in Iowa yesterday," Agen said.
Koeppl said claims of scheduling conflicts were puzzling.
"We've been talking to these campaigns since March, and they've known about this date for a long time," Koeppl said. "One has to wonder when they suggest the reason they're not there is scheduling conflicts."
Sioux Cityan Ray Hoffmann, chairman of the Republican Party in Iowa, said he had no indication the forum would fall apart.
"I knew from Day 1 that Mitt Romney wouldn't be here," he said, but other than that, Hoffmann heard from various candidate campaigns that "we are working on it" and figured more would commit.
Perhaps he could have done more, Hoffmann mused, then added that he had a full plate as the Iowa GOP was moving the date of the caucuses from Jan. 14 to Jan. 3. He said Divided We Fail was the group setting up the candidates but that he made a few calls to candidates touting the Sioux City event.
He said there could be fallout for those who don't attend.
"That is really disappointing because I thought, what an opportunity to show off the Orpheum and to show off Sioux City," Hoffmann said.
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293.4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com
Read more in Hayworth's Politically Speaking blog at www.siouxcityjournal.com/blogs
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TraditionalAmerican wrote on Oct 22, 2007 9:20 AM:
Larry Perrault wrote on Oct 19, 2007 10:17 PM:
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