Herman Cain has scheduled a 7-day bus tour of Iowa that ends August 13 in Ames, just in time for the Ames Straw Poll. With 19 scheduled stops, there can be little doubt of his intention to recruit supporters to attend the Ames Straw Poll to make a strong showing on his behalf.
Still, the bus route is a little strange, at 1770 miles according to Google, the length of 4 RAGBRAIs, the bike ride across Iowa that is happening this week. I am trying to find the common sense in the bus tour Cain has named 'Common Sense Solutions'.
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Who, for example, who would schedule bus rides from West Des Moines to Sioux City (194 miles), Council Bluffs to Davenport (296 miles), and Okoboji to Ames (173 miles) without making any campaign stops in between? Someone who plans to send his staff by bus and take a corporate jet would be my guess.
Cain is spending a third of his time with 2 stops each in Des Moines, West Des Moines, and Ames. That's going for the low hanging fruit, voters within a 45 minute drive of the straw poll site.
Cain's bus odyssey also misses 3 of the 4 corners of the state of Iowa. Of course, it would be harder to convince people in the corner counties to drive all the way to Ames and back for the straw poll. Still, the corner counties vote on caucus night in January.
That, of course, is the point. The Republican voting bloc is in the rural Iowa counties but the GOP establishment tries to control the party from the urban cities. Still, Herman Cain's strategy seems sound, look for him to place 3rd or better at the Ames Straw Poll.
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