Gingrich, Santorum, Pawlenty: Presidential Campaign Season Kicks Off in Iowa

WAUKEE, Iowa -- Who needs declared candidates? The race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination unofficially launched at a church here Monday night when 2,000 fired-up conservatives got their first side-by-side look at five White House prospects.

The potential contenders ranged from former House speaker Newt Gingrich, once behind only the vice president in the line of the succession for the presidency, to Herman Cain, an Atlanta entrepreneur and radio host who has never held office. Gov. Terry Branstad was onstage, as was conservative Christian strategist Ralph Reed.

The roster reflected the importance of Iowa's key role in the nominating process -- its caucuses are the very first contest -- and the importance of religious conservatives within the Iowa GOP. Evangelical Christians accounted for 40 percent to 60 percent of participants in the 2008 Iowa caucuses, according to several polls. The Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition hosted the evening, and Rep. Steve King set the tone. "If we get the culture right, the economy will be right eventually," he said.

Many of the prospective candidates spoke of their wives, children, grandchildren and churches. Gingrich, now married to his third wife, could not note his marital longevity as others did, and three people in the audience used the same word in separate interviews to describe their problem with him: "baggage," as in cheating on his first two wives. But another voter, Patti Hughes, 65, of Indianola, said that "Newt's my man." She called him "an intelligent, truthful, religious conservative."

The speech Gingrich gave was combative, constructive and vintage. He likened himself to Abraham Lincoln at one point, quoted Camus at another, asked the audience if they viewed America as "fundamentally exceptional" (right answer) or "a normal country like everyplace else in the world," and claimed there is a distinction between "most Americans and the secular socialist people around [President Barack] Obama and the degree to which they do not understand America, cannot possibly represent America and cannot lead us to success."

Gingrich also offered the germ of a unifying campaign theme when he said that "there should be no distinction between economic, national security or social conservatism. We should all base our principles on fundamental questions of morality."

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, managed to address two audiences: the one in the church and the one watching C-SPAN. Among his applause lines on religion and culture issues: "We need to be a country that turns toward God, not a country that turns away from God," and "The Constitution is designed to protect people of faith from government, not to protect government from people of faith."

A good chunk of Pawlenty's speech was geared toward the many people both in the church and watching at home who are interested in shrinking government deficits and debt. Pawlenty said he had reduced spending and reformed pensions, welfare and the legal system. He bragged about presiding over the first and only government shutdown in 150 years and holding "the single-season record" for vetoes.

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum focused on his years as a cultural warrior in Washington, fighting to restrict abortion and end welfare as an entitlement program. He said his kids used to think his first name was "ultra" – as in ultra-conservative. "Once you stick your head out on the social issues, once you fight for the moral fabric of our country, you're labeled," he said. "I'm ultra. Why? Because I share your values. Because I fought for them," he told the audience.

Long-shot Cain won a standing ovation for a speech that concluded with what he called a message to Obama: "The United States of America is not going to become the United States of Europe – not on our watch." The other long-shot, former Louisiana governor Buddy Roemer, went the hard populist route with a speech that was anti-bank, anti-corporate and even anti-ethanol (in Iowa the safe course is to support subsidies for ethanol, which is partially made of corn).

As interesting as who was there was who was not. Faith and Family Coalition President Steve Scheffler said Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi wanted to come but had scheduling conflicts. Also not here: former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (who won Iowa in 2008) and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (who finished second in 2008). Romney is moving toward a second bid, but Huckabee and Palin are showing few signs of mobilizing to run.

A senior Iowa Republican said Romney, Barbour, Gingrich, Pawlenty and Santorum all are taking steps under the radar in preparation for competing in the caucuses and in a quadrennial summer straw poll (Aug. 13 this year) that traditionally is viewed as a test of candidate organization and message appeal. Those who are not include Huckabee, Palin, Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana and former governor Jon Huntsman of Utah, who leaves his position as ambassador to China next month and may jump in this spring.

The Iowa caucuses are slated for Feb. 6, 2012, with the New Hampshire primary following on Feb. 14. But schedules are still in flux, with the party pressuring Florida to give up its attempt to pre-empt those two states and two other designated early states, South Carolina and Nevada. The Florida primary currently is set for Jan. 31.

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