Hopefuls hobnob at Iowa fair on eve of straw poll

08:32 AM CDT on Saturday, August 11, 2007
By TODD J. GILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News
tgillman@dallasnews.com

DES MOINES, Iowa – About the only thing they don't deep fry and sell on a stick at the Iowa State Fair is the politicians. And it's probably just a matter of time.

The annual rite of summer opened Thursday, and within a day, nearly half the presidential contenders had shown up to pay respects, pitch themselves to small crowds seated on hay bales, gaze in awe at the life-size sculpture known as the Butter Cow, gush at the ethanol-powered motorcycle, review the amazing uses of soybeans, admire the prize sheep and choose among such temptations as fried Twinkies, fried mac 'n' cheese, fried pork tenderloin, pork chop on a stick, cheesecake on a stick and hardboiled egg on a stick.

Also Online

Video: Mitt Romney at the Iowa State Fair

Video: Huckabee stumps in Iowa
"It's a piece of Americana," said Sen. Sam Brownback, the Kansas Republican who wants to be president. "Politicians at a state fair – that's just like apple pie and hot dogs."

With fairgoers wilting under a harsh sun, he shucked the suit and tie and went with polo shirt and khaki pants for his 20-minute turn at the old-fashioned "soapbox," a near mandatory stop for presidential contenders throughout the 11-day event. After his pitch for family values, dividing up Iraq, and intervention in the Darfur genocide, he turned to an aide.

"Where's the pig-on-a-stick?" he said, striding up the hill toward the Iowa Pork Producers stand where, for $6, he got a dripping thick chop.

Iowans cast ballots before the rest of the country, and they like to meet the candidates before making up their minds, sometimes more than once. Opening day attendance at the fair was 76,990, making it perfect for front-runner and dark horse alike, especially the Republicans preparing for today's key test vote, the Ames Straw Poll.

And even though the race is moving fast, plenty of fairgoers have other priorities.

"I haven't even thought about it yet," said Allison Brown, a nurse from Adair, Iowa, setting aside her gooey, batter-fried Snickers bar as her three kids munched on fried Oreos. "We come for the food and the animals, not the presidential candidates."

Like the State Fair of Texas, Iowa's event has Texas Tornado Taters, but they're called Saratoga Spuds – a potato spiral cut and deep fried into a continuous, appallingly large chip. They don't have Big Tex, but they do have the lifelike bovine – sculpted from 550 pounds of reused butter.

The politically attuned can drop a corn kernel in a Mason jar as part of an opinion poll run by a local TV station. Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Mitt Romney led handily.

"When you're running for office, you campaign where the people are," said Ron Paul, the Houston-area congressman running as the only GOP contender deriding Iraq as a "quagmire." He drew about 20 people for his speech – modest compared with Mr. Romney, the Iowa front-runner who drew a couple of hundred people when his turn came Friday afternoon.

"I'm not a good campaigner," Dr. Paul conceded when asked if he'd yet seen the Butter Cow or sampled any food. "I let the issues speak for themselves."

Despite the festive atmosphere, candidates have plenty of opportunities to screw up. Mr. Romney donned a personalized apron and flipped pork chops on a grill, but when one dropped to the ground, he picked it up and put it back, eliciting groans of disgust from the crowd. His wife, Ann, thinking on her feet, plucked it off and sent if to the trash.

Over in the Swine Barn, they've got the big boar, all 1,203 pounds of him, and his not-so-svelte runners-up. And pretty much all of the candidates were sweating like pigs – if pigs actually sweat, which they don't, as the hog farmers on hand are happy to point out. "That's why you have to water them," one farmer's wife patiently explained.

"I have to have more documentation to get on a flight going from Little Rock to Dallas than a person crossing the Rio Grande has to have getting across the U.S.-Mexican border," thundered Mike Huckabee, the former GOP governor of Arkansas, who drew nearly 100 onlookers. By the end of his stump speech, his orange short-sleeved Tommy Hilfiger shirt was blotchy. The few dry spots filled in after a scrum with reporters.

As governor, the former Baptist preacher dropped 105 pounds and went on a health crusade. Fair offerings reeked of iniquity, so his dietary advice was this: "Don't."

But at this point in the process, pragmatism trumps pet causes, so he quickly changed his advice. "All I'll say is, enjoy in moderation.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 826ef.html