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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Tim Pawlenty picks up gun appeal in Iowa Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59672.html#ixzz1SzNnQRUj


Tim Pawlenty’s stepping up his appeal to gun owners in Iowa.
On Saturday, the former Minnesota governor will bring his RV tour to Searsboro to the Iowa Firearms Coalition Second Amendment Rally, making him the only 2012 contender to accept an invitation to an event that’s expected to draw about 1,300 people.

Gun issues aren’t major motivators for Iowa voters, but they’re certainly on the minds of the people who’ll attend next month’s Ames straw poll and the Iowa caucuses. And with Pawlenty staging a last-ditch effort to revive his campaign’s prospects, he’s looking to appeal to every potentially overlooked constituency he can.
Jeff Burkett, president of the Iowa Firearms Coalition, said his group doesn’t intend on endorsing a presidential candidate. But he also hasn’t ruled it out.
“Second Amendment rights should be in the top five issues of any presidential campaign,” said Burkett, who represents a couple thousand gun owners in the state. “It’s an extremely important part of history.”
Already on Wednesday, Pawlenty stopped at a shooting range on Wednesday, telling reporters that he frequently hunts deer and pheasant with his brother, who accompanied him on the trip. Then he trained a Glock 9mm pistol at three moving cardboard targets and emptied out about a half-dozen rounds.
“He handled the handgun fairly well,” said James Egeland, who owns the private range behind his home in Madrid, Iowa. “I don’t think he’s done it a lot, but I thought he did pretty well.”
The gun rights discussion is yet another way for Pawlenty to play up his executive experience out on the stump.
“Not only is he a strong proponent of the Second Amendment, he actually has a record delivering for gun owners,” said Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant. “He’s the only governor who can say he signed a conceal-and-carry bill — twice.”
The governor earned an “A” rating from the NRA in his 2006 re-election run on the strength of a gun record that included that law requiring county sheriffs to issue handgun permits to almost any law abiding Minnesotans over the age of 21. (Then, after that law was struck down in the courts, Pawlenty signed another restoring the measure.)
Meanwhile, it’s been a while since Pawlenty’s competitors have tackled gun issues. Before launching their official 2012 bids, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, John Bolton and Herman Cain spoke at the National Rifle Association’s convention in Pittsburgh. On his first to New Hampshire, Jon Huntsman visited a gun shop.
The NRA, which is co-sponsoring the Saturday event, is mobilizing to push Second Amendments rights forward in a 2012 campaign conversation that’s so far been more focused on the economy, jobs and social conservative issues.
“If there’s one lesson that politicians have learned, it’s that it is good politics to be on the right side of the gun issue,” said Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs for the NRA. “Certainly gun owners and hunters are savvy, but more importantly, they’re a loyal voting bloc. Election year after election year they turn out in droves, and they vote for the pro-gun candidate.”
But, at this point, Iowa gun activists at least don’t see much difference between the GOP contenders’ positions on their issue.
“To me, they’re all about the same,” said Sean McClanahan, a Des Moines resident who’s the outgoing president of the Iowa Firearms Coalition.


Herman Cain says migraines a 'non-issue'

Joining Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, the pizza man says Michele Bachmann's headache issue shouldn't be relevant to the 2012 campaign:
"If she's showing up for her events, and she's doing what she needs to do as a United States congresswoman, people shouldn't worry about her migraines," Cain told The Associated Press after a fundraiser for the New Hampshire GOP. "My wife has migraine headaches. I understand migraines. So I just think it's a non-issue."
Bachmann's health has become the focus of intense scrutiny in recent days after a media report claimed she suffers from sometimes-incapacitating headaches.
Bachmann insists the health problem does not interfere with her ability to do her job. But other Republican presidential contenders, namely former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, suggested this week that the issue is a legitimate concern.
Cain did not follow suit Thursday night, although he and Bachmann are fighting to win over much the same bloc of tea party voters.
Cain's comments leave Pawlenty as the only 2012 candidate to suggest Bachmann's health is an area of concern, and even he walked those comments back in a subsequent Fox interview. As AP notes, Cain's response is notable, given how deeply Bachmann's rise has cut into his own base of support.
The Cain-Romney-Huntsman-Gingrich-Paul position is the safe one here, though: The migraine stories are in the public domain and if voters care about that kind of thing, the information is available. The only reason to push the story harder, right now, would be if you needed Bachmann to collapse relatively quickly



Sunday, July 24, 2011


Calendar: Full 2012 Calendar

View a candidate or state Select Calendar
TIME (All local)EVENTS
10:00 AM
  • Michele Bachmann
    Michele Bachmann
    Speaking to New Life Community Church Congregation
    275 W. 29th Ave., Marion, Iowa
1:00 PM
  • Gary Johnson
    Gary Johnson
    Hosting an open house at campaign headquarters
    530 Chestnut St., Manchester, N.H.
2:00 PM
  • Michele Bachmann
    Michele Bachmann
    Hosting a Muscatine town hall meeting at Button Factory Restaurant
    215 West Mississippi Drive, Muscatine, Iowa
5:00 PM
  • Michele Bachmann
    Michele Bachmann
    Hosting a “Join Me in Ames!” Countdown Rally at Hotel Blackhawk
    200 East 3rd Street, Davenport, Iowa