Expectations
By summer 1999 the Ames
Straw Poll came to assume more significance to the Alexander campaign than
perhaps any of the other Republican contenders. Lagging in the polls
and in fundraising, Alexander put almost all his emphasis on Iowa.
Alexander had done credibly
in the 1995 Ames Straw Poll, finishing fourth behind Dole, Gramm and Buchanan
with 1156 votes (10.9%). In the Feb. 1996 Iowa caucuses, Alexander
finished third with 17,003 votes (17.6%). After the 1996 campaign
he did not let up. Alexander's 1997 signings of Brian Kennedy, a
former chair of the Iowa GOP, and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad to his Campaign
for a New American Century political action committee were early indicators
that he would mount a serious challenge in Iowa. Alexander spent
36 days in the state from Jan. 20, 1997 to the end of 1998 and another
15 days in the period from Jan. 1, 1999 to June 30, 1999.
On June 8, 1999 the campaign
announced leadership in all of Iowa's 99 counties. On July 7, 1999
Alexander launched his "Homecoming '99" bus tour; in an RV dubbed "Exceeding
Expectations" he traveled to at least 60 counties in the six weeks leading
up to the straw poll. Starting at the end of July the campaign also
spent about $100,000 of its limited funds to air a TV spot in Iowa.
"Auction" used a humorous approach to raise the issue of big money
attempting to buy the nomination, although it did not refer to any specific
candidate.
 |
 |
| (August 12, 1999) Lamar
Alexander visited
his Iowa campaign headquarters shortly before the straw poll. |
|
Outcome: Sixth--1,428
Votes (6.0%)
In light of this extensive
effort, Alexander's sixth place finish at Ames with 1,428 votes was not
enough, and he quit the race on August 16. [transcript]
More Expectations
Here's
how Alexander responded to questions on the straw poll posed by the New
York Times' Richard Berke at the Republican Midwest Leadership Conference
in Omaha, NE one week before the event in Ames.
My hope is that I will do
so well that you'll write a front page story in the New York Times that
will say, number one, Lamar Alexander yesterday looked like a man who could
be president of the United States...he had an organization that could win
the Iowa caucus in January. That will be what I'd like to see come
out of the straw poll.
QUESTION: Where would
you have to place to do that?
Well I don't know--
There are two divisions in the straw poll. There's the million-dollar-plus
division and there's those of us who are spending less than $1million.
So Mr. Bush and Mr. Forbes are spending huge amounts of money. Money
talks; they ought to win.
But what I hope to show is
that I've got a caucus organization that can win in January, and if I do
I hope that the media and Republicans around the country say, "Well Lamar
Alexander ought to be a part of that contest because it looks like he can
win the caucus in January."
QUESTION: Do you think
the straw poll should be discontinued?
No I much prefer the straw
poll to allowing $1,000 contributions to pick the president. It's
a choice right now between whether you're going to let the media report
that because Mr. Bush has raised a lot of money, he's automatically president
or have a straw poll that is not a perfect system and is heavily influenced
by money, but it still has actual real human beings voting in it...
