Tim Pawlenty, who is considering a run for president in 2012, is continuing to court the social conservative vote, reportedly planning an appearance next month with Bob Vander Plaats’ anti-gay group in Iowa.
The Des Moines Register reports:
The Family Leader, an umbrella group that includes the Iowa Family Policy Center, is planning to announce this week its plans for Pawlenty’s visit, the group’s president and CEO Bob Vander Plaats said Monday.
“It does look like in February we are going to be hosting Governor Pawlenty in Iowa,” Vander Plaats said.
Marion County Republican Chairwoman Irene Blom confirmed the appearance to the Register. She said it was set for February 7, though Vander Plaats would not confirm that.
In addition to leading The Family Leader, Vander Plaats, who ran for Governor as a Tea Party-backed candidate last November, is head of the group Iowa For Freedom, which spearheaded the campaign to remove three Iowa judges from their seats because they ruled in favor of gay marriage. Iowa For Freedom is a localized branch of the political action arm of the social conservative American Family Association, which spent tens of thousands of dollars in the campaign.
Last week, Pawlenty told the AFA’s Bryan Fischer that he would support reinstating Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Fischer himself is a known anti-gay activist — he once said Hitler used gay soldiers to commit the worst atrocities because they had “no limits.”
