DES MOINES — If a social conservative group holds a debate in the first caucus state and Mitt Romney isn’t around to hear it, does it make a sound? That’s the main question for Saturday here in the state just weeks away from the first ballot test of the Republican presidential contest.
The Republican candidates — except Romney — will gather this afternoon for a debate hosted by the FAMiLY Leader, a conservative group focused on the social stuff run by Bob Vander Plaats, best known this cycle for an anti-gay marriage pledge that most of the candidates didn’t sign and the ones that did later regretted. (Jon Huntsman was also invited and is not attending, but Huntsman is not campaigning in Iowa.)
Social conservatism has always been a big part of Republican politics in the Iowa caucus, but clearly Romney doesn’t think today’s forum is worth his time. Republicans on the ground in Iowa wonder if Vaander Plaats’ forum is worth anybody’s.
Several Republicans I talked to in the past day here in Iowa question whether social conservatism will carry the same weight in the 2012 caucuses it has in years past. At a campaign stop with Rick Santorum — a man who has made social conservatism a lifelong cause — yesterday there was some talk of marriage and abortion, but the main focus was economic.
“People care about jobs and finding the best person to defeat Obama,” Iowa GOP Central Committee member Trudy Caviness told TPM at her camera shop in downtown Ottumwa. She’s been watching Iowa politics for a long time and says that social conservatives are not driving things here the way they have in the past.
That could be great news for the Mormon Romney, who is officially setting expectations low in Iowa but has a campaign operation running here just the same.
Of course, that’s not how Vander Plaats sees it.
After basically begging Romney to attend his forum, Vander Plaats lashed out at him after Romney — and C-SPAN — pulled out.
“Mitt Romney has dissed this base in Iowa and this diss will not stay in Iowa,” Vander Plaats told Fox, according to the Des Moines Register. “This might prove that he is not smart enough to be president.”
The FAMiLY Leader forum (which is co-sponsored by the National Organization For Marriage and Focus on the Family) is scheduled to begin at 5 PM Eastern. Information on how to stream the debate can be found here.
