Iowa resident Stacey Lynn Cargill filed a complaint with the FEC alleging the group violated campaign finance laws by allowing political activist Marlene Elwell to use its office space and database in efforts to influence potential Iowa voters to cast their ballots for presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Because ICA is organized as a 501(C)4 nonprofit it is barred from trying to directly influence elections. It can only advocate on behalf of issues.

The FEC found no reason to believe that ICA violated regulations and closed the file.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

Democrats and Republicans praised the selection of a woman to run on the ticket with the Arizona senator, but that’s where the similarities end.

“There has been a definite enthusiasm gap between Republicans and Obama supporters,” said Republican state Sen. Jeff Angelo. “From talking to people today, suddenly there is passion for the McCain campaign that was definitely lacking before. I think [choosing Palin] will shake up the race.”

Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley called Palin a candidate who doesn’t just talk change, “she is change.”

“She’s stood for principle over party and has record-breaking support in her state for it. She’s demonstrated strength of character when faced with adversity,” he said. “It’s the kind of situation where the more you learn, the more you like and respect her.”

Democrats were not nearly as enthusiastic about the choice.

“While Gov. Palin supports big oil, Joe Biden shares Barack Obama’s dreams of energy independence,” Gov. Chet Culver said in a statement. “And while Sarah Palin opposes a woman’s right to make her own health care choices, Joe Biden has a long history of supporting women’s rights. It is clear that Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be the best people to lead our nation forward.”

Former Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack said McCain’s pick was “puzzling” and showed he is willing to put ideology before country.

“He chose the governor of Alaska, who placates the base of the Republican party and the archconservative agenda of the Republican party,” he said. “Sen. McCain’s selection of the governor of Alaska also shows he is clearly committed to continuing the failed Bush energy agenda. This agenda of more of the same when it comes to energy is offensive to those of us who have worked so hard to expand America’s opportunities related to home-grown renewable energy.”

Andy McGuire, a former Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor and a Hillary Clinton supporter, told Des Moines CBS affiliate KCCI that she applauds the Republicans for putting a woman on the ticket but she can’t see her having appeal to Clinton voters.

“On the issues of choice, on the issues of the economy, she’s just now where we are. So, even though I applaud having a woman at this level and I think other Hillary Clinton supporter would, I don’t think she’s right on the issues,” McGuire said.

While Republicans hope Palin can persuade Clinton supporters who don’t want to vote for Obama to come to their side, the consensus among observers is that Palin’s major effect will be to help McCain appeal to social conservatives around the nation, a group that has been suspicious of him in the past.

Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance, told The Des Moines Register that Palin would prompt social conservatives in Iowa who have been inactive this year to get involved in McCain’s campaign.

“I think it’s a phenomenal choice to mobilize the base,” said Scheffler told the paper. “It’s going to be the ingredient to help McCain pull this out.”

The response to the choice among Iowa media was also mixed. Sioux City Journal columnist Bret Hayworth said he believes McCain has changed the game by picking Palin.

Seriously, I think the election is his to lose now. Reaction to her pick has been overwhelmingly (universally?) positive from Republicans, and Palin definitely has the ability to pull in independents — and some disgruntled Hillary Democratic supporters.

But Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen felt the choice undercuts the “lack of experience” attack McCain has been using on Barack Obama while accentuating McCain’s age.

Yepsen goes on to call Palin’s selection an “obvious pander,” with McCain using the VP pick to go after Hillary Clinton supporters and social conservatives in one fell swoop.

But the second pander could cancel the first. Many of the women who are disappointed Hillary Clinton isn’t the Democratic nominee are pro-choice. It’s doubtful they will set aside their views on reproductive rights just because Palin is a woman.

Iowa social conservatives, who play a large role in determining the winner of the Iowa caucuses, said Romney’s ties to pornography could be a problem for his campaign. And his involvement with Marriott also brings his Mormon faith back into the spotlight, another potential obstacle to recruiting evangelical Christians.

Romney served on the Marriott Board from 1992 to 2001, during which time On Command Corp. provided for the hotels’ television and movie services, which included pay-per-view pornography, according to Glenn Johnson of the Associated Press.

President of the Iowa Right to Life Committee Kim Lehman, who had not heard about the growing controversy, said if true, it would have negative consequences for Romney’s campaign. “If he had the opportunity to protect families and didn’t take the opportunity, he’s going to be viewed as a hypocrite,” she said. “If it’s true if he could have, but chose not to … and to say you’re for families and for children, when you have a tremendous opportunity to take, these are all issues he’s going to be faced with.”

Lehman noted that she was formerly director of the Iowa chapter of Concerned Women of America, which counts pornography as one of CWA’s six “core issues.” “That was a really big issue because it destroys families,” she said.

Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance also called pornography “a major issue,” though he said he wasn’t “familiar with the circumstances” surrounding Romney.

The story broke in June, though it did not seem to breach the national consciousness until recently. David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network reported last week that the issue would be a problem for some social conservatives. “My attitude toward board members is that they are fully responsible," John Harmer, President of the anti-pornography group The Lighted Candle Society, told Brody.

CitizenLink, which is affiliated with the influential social conservative group, Focus on the Family, then quoted Phil Burress of Citizens for Community Values saying, “The fact that Marriott hotel chain was dealing in the worst kind of hard core pornographic material and Mr. Romney was sitting on the board at the time is extremely disturbing.”

After Johnson’s coverage in the Associated Press, the issue became nationally known.

An interesting subplot also exists amidst this mini-controversy as it inevitably brings up Romney’s Mormon faith, which some evangelicals do not consider to be Christian. That’s because founder, J. Willard Marriott was also a Mormon, and in fact, was close to Romney’s father, presidential candidate and former Michigan Gov. George Romney. The elder Romney even named his son after Marriott (Mitt’s given first name is Willard). Marriott also endowed the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University.

The Deseret Morning News, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, recently criticized Romney and Marriott in an editorial. And on one financial message board discussing Marriott stock, someone named ldsmachoman wrote, “It is interesting that you often find Book of Mormons in Marriott Hotels. A lot of their hotels also offer adult–hard core movies. Is that the Mormon way of doing business. Just curious. … Mitt Romney for president and legalize polygamy now.”

Evangelical Christians, many already nervous about Romney’s faith, may now have even more reason to be wary of Romney’s candidacy.

In anticipation of a presidential run, a group of potentially supportive Republican congressmen recently questioned him about his private life.

“I was single for a long time and yep I chased a lot of women,” Thompson told them with a grin. “And a lot of women chased me. And those who chased me tended to catch me.”

One of these women was the country singer Lorrie Morgan. Another was Margaret Carlson, a columnist for Bloomberg News, who recently gushed, “He’s handsome, he’s charming, he sounds like a president.”

Will Thompson’s past playboy antics be a problem for social conservatives in Iowa? Perhaps.

I read the above quote to Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance, and he said conservatives will likely be more focused on how candidates are “leading their life now,” though they will “definitely care” about a candidate’s history.

Tamara Scott, director of the Iowa chapter of Concerned Women of America, declined to comment on the specific quotation from Thompson but told me “history does play a part” in evaluating a candidate.

Discussions of Thompson’s love life usually include Jeri Kehn, his second wife, whom he married in 2002. Kehn is 40 years old, 24 years younger than Thompson, and has been called a “trophy wife” by some. Conservative radio personality Joe Scarborough was recently criticized, the Times reports, “for wondering on air whether Thompson’s wife ‘works the pole’, although he later claimed that he was referring jokingly to the pole fitness craze rather than to stripping.”

Douglas Burns of Iowa Independent recently mulled whether social conservatives would be turned off by the large age difference between Thompson and Kehn: “Call me old-fashioned but there is something unseemly, creepy, out of balance in the universe, with the canyon-sized age disparity in Thompson’s second marriage,” he wrote. He also noted that “Socially conservative Republicans like their families to look a certain way, their wives to be just so,” and that the Thompson-Kehn romance doesn’t fit the bill.

Scheffler said that he didn’t think the age gap would be a problem for conservatives, and Scott said she didn’t know enough about the situation to comment. Neither has been approached by Thompson as he considers entering the race for the Republican nomination.

Thompson, of course, wouldn’t be the only Republican candidate with a rocky marital history. As Steve Benen wrote in the Washington Monthly last year, the GOP front-runners “form the most maritally challenged crop of presidential hopefuls in American political history … Sen. John McCain (affair, divorce), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (affair, divorce, affair, divorce), and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (divorce, affair, nasty divorce).”

Perhaps Thompson would fit right in.

Sabato said the political environment at the time largely ensured that George Romney’s faith would not be an issue. “We had just been through the 1960 election, in which the question of creed had been discounted as electoral factor,” he said. “When [John F.] Kennedy was elected, there were thousands of columns written that said, ‘We’ve turned the page.' ” Kennedy, of course, became the first Catholic to become president after winning the 1960 presidential election.

Sabato also said that unlike in today’s campaigns, press coverage was not as personality-driven at the time, and so the elder Romney’s faith simply was not a major focus. “His father was on Nixon’s heels for a portion of 1967,” Sabato said, but “he had to drop out relatively early” after making what was then a major gaffe. During an interview, he said, “Well, you know, when I came back from Vietnam, I had just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get.” (Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy quipped that for Romney, it would only take a light rinse.) The campaign crumbled shortly afterward.

Two other Mormons have run for president, also unsuccessfully. Mo Udall, an Arizona congressman, fell short of Jimmy Carter in the 1976 Democratic nomination, and Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch ran briefly in 2000 against George W. Bush. But their faiths weren’t an issue then, Sabato said. For Udall, “It wouldn’t have been. That was the Democratic Party and we were still in the Kennedy era,” Sabato said. “[Hatch] just wasn’t a major candidate.”

Now Mitt Romney has a serious shot at winning the GOP presidential nomination and “absolutely” the best chance any Mormon has yet had to win the presidency, Sabato said. But the Kennedy era has passed and though Mormonism is one of the country’s fastest growing religions, it is still largely an unknown for many Americans. In a 2006 Gallup poll, two-thirds of respondents said Americans were “not ready” for a Mormon president. “Everyone’s waiting,” Sabato said, for Romney to make a speech similar to Kennedy’s famous Houston speech where he argued that his Catholic faith shouldn’t preclude him from the presidency. “It had a tremendous impact in 1960."

Tim Albrecht, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, said the campaign hasn’t made any plans to make such a speech at this point. Asked whether he thought Americans would vote for a Mormon, he said, “I think people are ultimately going to look at the values of the candidate. People want a person of faith in the oval office and someone who shares their values.”

But that’s assuming he gets to the general election. In order to win his party’s nomination, Romney will have to win over influential social conservatives, many of whom do not consider Mormons to be Christians. In a recent interview, Tamara Scott, a prominent Iowa evangelical, said that Romney’s faith was relevant to the campaign, though she gave a non-answer as to whether she thought Mormons were Christians:

“Is it fair to bring up someone’s faith? Absolutely,” she said by phone. … Asked if she thought Mormons were Christians, Scott demurred. “Whether someone is a Christian is not up to me,” but to God, she said; she then added, “I think you have to ask the Mormons whether they think they’re Christians.”

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was more to the point, writing a recent piece called “Mormonism is not Christianity.”

And at the grassroots, Anne Darby of Boone County, Iowa recently told the BBC that she would not vote for Romney because of his faith. "We are a Christian nation, and we should have a Christian president," she said.

Albrecht said Romney’s faith hasn’t been an obstacle to courting social conservatives. “People are responding positively to Gov. Romney and his message,” he said. “Once people get to know the governor and they share his views and his values, they’re inclined to support him.” He added that the campaign was recruiting “voters of all faiths.”

Romney’s faith does come with a political upside. Many Mormons are backing—and giving generously—to his campaign. “If you look at Romney’s impressive fund raising, you’ll find an enormous amount of Mormon backers,” Sabato said. “He’s in contention in this race in good part because of that money that’s been raised.”

Mormons do not represent a large portion of the Iowa population, though their history is marked indelibly here. Iowa Independent talked to several Mormons in Iowa, and while they all thought Romney’s candidacy would increase acceptance of their faith, not all planned to support him for president. All said they considered themselves Christians.

Carol Memmott, a Mormon from Council Bluffs, said she planned to support Romney. “He would make an excellent president,” she said. “He knows how to get things done.” She said a lot of people have “misconceived ideas” about Mormons and hoped that Romney’s candidacy would encourage more people to learn about Mormons. She emphasized that the name of her church was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. “We definitely worship Jesus Christ, so we are definitely Christians. Some people think that because there are not crosses in our church… We choose to celebrate Christ’s life more than his death.”

Kelly Jay Hardman of Davenport said he was leaning toward supporting Romney. “I think he’s doing a good job representing himself,” Hardman said. “I’ve liked what he’s done and accomplished in Massachusetts and the Olympics.” Hardman said the increased exposure to his Mormon faith is “absolutely” a good thing. “There will be people who want to be negative, but that’s part of politics.” … [and] we certainly believe in Christ, in the New Testament.”

And Katie Willenborg, a junior at Iowa State University and president of the university’s Latter Day Saints Student Association, said she thought Rom
ney’s candidacy was good for her faith but did not count herself a supporter. “I think it has been good for our religion in a way because it has put it more in the public view and brought out questions about our religion,” she said. “He seems like an OK guy. In my opinion he doesn’t seem to be very ‘this is exactly what I believe.’ It kind of seems that he wants to please everybody.” A registered Republican, she is undecided at this point in the race. Willenborg echoed others in her defense of her faith. “The real name of our church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so yes we are Christians,” she said.

Whether that is enough to convince social conservatives to support Romney remains to be seen. Romney has staked much of his campaign on Iowa, and social conservatives make up almost 40 percent of Iowa caucus-goers, according to Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance. Romney’s obstacles are unlike those confronted by his father and other Mormon presidential candidates. He may be the closest a Mormon has come to being president, but the White House is still a long way off.

Go read the whole live-blogging below the fold.

4:43 pm: Well, there are about 10 minutes left of questions, but Chase Martyn of Iowa Independent just called me and it's time to go see Ron Paul. I'll have some thoughts on the forum up in the next day or two. Hope you had as much fun as I did.   

4:37 pm: talking about immigration. applause. Says he stopped illegal immigration in San Diego with a fence. "As president of the United States, I will finish [building] the fence in six months." Says he will pardon two state troopers in jail who wounded/killed? someone while on the job. Praised humanitarian effort after tsunami. Wow, now, he's criticizing other countries for criticizing the U.S. "We fed you when you were hungry…" "I will never apologize for the United States of America, ladies and gentleman." Part of the American character is because we value life." Appointing judges. Basically said he has a litmus test on abortion. "Families lift our country up… faith in God, raising the next generations of Americans." Nice applause, some standing.

4:25 pm: Last candidate–Duncan Hunter up at the podium. The crowd is still mostly all here still. He thanks them for waiting. Starts out with border control, national security… Called America's midwestern manufacturing base the "arsenal of democracy." I guess it sounds prettier than military-industrial complex.

"The reason those jobs are leaving our shores is because China is cheating on trade… devaluing their currency by 40 percent… undercut the other guy's product. … "Americans are losing their jobs and businesses are going under." Says he's introduced a bill to "keep China on the straight and narrow" applause. Opposes taxes on exports. "Take taxes off America's manufacturers. And one way to do that is with the Fair Tax." applause.

Now talking about soldiers in Iraq. "They're bound together and they're bound for us. … spreading freedom around the world. … we failed" to do so in Vietnam. His son is serving in Iraq. Says there are two foreign policy examples to remember: Bay of Pigs and El Salvador. It's weird that he's talking about the Bay of Pigs, isn't it? He's been talking about it for several minutes. Now he's talking about the Communists in El Salvador–but mostly because it allows him to mention Ronald Reagan. "There were left-wingers going crazy." "The path that I'll follow is the path that Ronald Reagn followed, of true strength." In Iran, they're trying to make nukes, he says."As president of the United States, I will never allow Iran to have any nuclear device."

4:17 pm: More on immigration. You can tell he cares about this issue a lot, his voice is rising. He says the national guard needs to "defend our borders, not someone else's." A whiff of anti-Iraq rhetoric…

Now he's talking about embryonic stem cell research. He's against it, obviously. He's still talking and all of a sudden the mic went off. I guess that was all his time. He looked confused at first, then realized what had happened and walked off. The crowd laughed a little bit but gave him a pretty large standing ovation.

4:13 pm: Tancredo said he supports the Fair Tax, wants to cut taxes. Go to his website, he says. Now on to gay marriage. "The state has a responsiblity to affirm the concept of marriage–marriage between a man and a woman, and I should say, one man and one woman. There are strange new things with the lexicon of marriage. What would we do with four men and six women? It's turned this thing into some bizarre discussion." applause. Bizarre indeed.

4:06 pm: He is really revved up. "To give voice to American conservatives in this country." Freedom, security. "The good fight is always worth fighting." Islamic extremism, Europe won't help us. "The largest mosque in the world is being built in London." America is the last best hope for Western civilization. … This is our culture, fight for it. This is our flag, pick it up. This is our country, take it back." Huge standing ovation. lots of whistling, too.

4:02 pm: Says we need to enforce the laws and deport them all. "Enforce the law. …we're becoming a cultural and linguistic Tower of Babel." Mentions that he "got in trouble" for saying Miami has gotten to look like a third-world country. He's getting a lot of applause for his talk on immigration.

3:51 pm: Tancredo up now. He likes the format of the debate. beyond 30 second sound bites.

"There serveral of us who have been designated by the media as second tier canadidtes." Why? "To a large extent, it's money." Conan O'Brien anecdote. He didn't raise money, he raised children. "He's suggesting that there's something far more important to have money than children. Well I don't believe it. Then Corporate America has won and the good people of America have lost. … I have a constiuency in every state. It's a constituency that I don't have to buy. … This nation is truly at risk."

"Our army, the army against amnesty took on Corporate America, took on the White House, and took on rhe forces of Kennedy-McCain and we beat them." applause. "For every one of you who wrote something, the system actually works." "I don'tneed millions of dollars in order to create an image as an insurgent." Bemoans "hyphenated conservatives" – neo, paleo, compassionate. "The latest nonsense is "commonsense conservative" as if those things were not synonomous. As of today, everyone is some kind of conservative who havent been hyphenated. What i want to know is this, when is conservativsm alone not enough?" Doesn't want to "qualify our commitment to limited government, as best as I can tell, every effort to hyphenate conservatives have led to both disastrous politics and policy. no child left behind, medicare, open borders, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi."

3:42 pm: At the end of his speech, basically said, "OK, I'm ready to answer these six questions now." But the idea, as this thing was billed, was that the candidate would answer those questions in their speech. He just finished answering those questions, slightly dodging the economic questions, saying that he would need to look more closely at the particulars before committing to something that could block him in. Cool response. He answered all of the Christian questions as you'd expect. 

3:13 pm: Romney at the podium, applause, scattered people standing. He brought his wife and one of his sons, Josh, on stage. Now they're gone. Weird stunt. Says Josh is visiting every county. "I am committed to the Iowa process… the people of Iowa are really doing a service for the people of America." Thanks!

"This is a critical eleciton that we face. … We face extraordinary challenges as a nation. We're spending too much money in Washington. We're spending too much money on oil from other countries. We could be ener
gy independent, we must be energy independent." education, health care, immigration. "They worked out their grand compromise, but thet were out of touch with the American people and thankfully it got defeated." applause.

Competing more with Asia which is different from Europe because Europeans are like us. Um, racist? "Raise the bar in order to compete effectivly. … attack on civilization by violent Jihadists, the collapse of moderate Islamic states, install caliphs, collapse of the United States of America, the collapse of the West."

"At a time like this, it is essential that Washington must act. But Washington is broken… incapable of taking advantages. It's essental that we have new leadership in Washington. I haven't spent my life in politics." corporations, Olympics. "Then I became a democrat. [I know it was just a slip, but really, does this guy need any more charges of flip-flopping?] I became the governor of the most Democratic state in America. My senators are Kerry and Kennedy." Asks to trade. "In a setting like that I was able to balance the budget in four years. … Make major changes to improve our state. I know how to change things and Washington needs change." applause. "Democrats … would turn the source of our strength … Ronald Reagan said 'It's not that liberals are ignorant, it's just waht they know is wrong.'" applause. "They're just plain wrong. Government is not the souce of our strength. The American people are our source of strength."

Talking about culture, American values. Now talking about Ronald Reagan: his three stools of strong military, economy, family. troops line gets applause. Going through each one. Need to build up army. Build economy, cut taxes. Says Hillary Clinton gave a speech that would "Get her elected president of France, not the president of the United States."

Family. attacks Massachusetts for Supreme Court allowing same sex marriage. "I believe every child needs a mom and a dad. … we need to protect the sanctity of marriage. … we're either going to take a sharp leftr turn reprsented by Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John Edwards." They want to raise taxes, weaken family values. "They want to take us where Europe went." Reagan, principled conservative. "I'm optimistic about our future. I'm excited…" strengthen our military, strengthen our economy, and strengthen our family. I know it's very popular these days to criticize President Bush," but after 9/11 he protected us. "And he has appointed two great justices." big applause. "It is essential that we have a Republican president who is pro-life, pro-family, pro-strong economy…. " need judges that don;'t legislate from bench, applause. more Iowa love: "There's something about the values of the heartland." Ends with childhood story about being a boyscout and loving the American Flag. Applause, none standing.

3:07 pm: "I believe all human life is sacred from the very beginning to the very end. I am pro-life the whole life. … We have to fight for life." applause. "I would appoint judges who are strict constructionists, who wouldn't try to rewrite it." big applause. Roberts and Alito. "Look what these two men have meant. They have meant that partial birth abortion is illegal in America today." applause. Asks for help in the Straw Poll. Has brown wristbands. "God bless you all." a mild standing ovation–not as big as Huckabee's. 

2:49 pm: "I support marraige as the union between a man and a woman, period." applause. "I believe we need a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman… get it out of the courts." Talks about other countries redefining marriage. more children are born out of wedlock there. "a vast social experiment to redefine marriage… harfmul to the future of this country. I oppose same sex marriage and civil unions. I've been consistent on this issue. …harmful for us as a nation." been married for 25 years. "We need to talk about how to strengthen marriage in America." applause.

"We need to secure the border. I support builidng the fence and funding the fence. We need to do this. I have voted that way, I will continue to vote that way, and I will sign it into law and I dont think it's enough to build the fence. We need interior enforcement." employee-based system. Hmm, I wonder if he convinced anybody that he's not a flip-flopper on immigration.

"We're a great nation and we're a great nation in trial." Wants to end deaths by cancer in 10 yeares, get energy security, biodeisel, "depend more on the midwest than on the middle east." Good line. "We've got to be stronger in our families, central challenge in our time is against Islamic fascism, regardless of what happens in Iraq … doesn't go away. We have to have the figt to fight this fight. … We've been under attack for 20 years and then 9/11 happened." character, culture, family.

"I will begin each day as president on my knees asking God to bless America. This is a nation that was built on faith, we need to invite it in. … the motto of our nation is 'in God we trust'. We are a faith based nation and I would start my first day in office doing something that Abraham Lincoln called us to do, ask the country to pray together. This isn't unusual, it's not something that is breaking down the boundaries of church and state. The faith of our fathers was strong." Mentions Washington, Lincoln, Martin Luther King. "Faith is a good thing. It's not a bad thing it should be encouraged and uplifted, a pillar in society, not run out of the public square." nice applause.

One good stunt: he held up the tax code in book form–it's thick–and says it's well, bad.

2:40 pm: Brownback up now. Has music as he comes on. I think he's the first one to do that. Says it's his 26th trip to Iowa. Grew up around farms in Kansas. His dad's complaining because he needs rain. "That's where I learned my basic values." He calls them "Sunday School values: faith family, freedom, hard work, doing what's right." Made a joke about Kansas and Iowa football. "I'm a recovering lawyer … Congress in the Revolution, Senate in '96."

I'm not going to skip Iowa, I'm going to fully participate in the straw poll in Iowa. applause. … "No. 1, yes, no tax increases. … We need to cut spending, period." applause. "I would veto any tax increases. … We don't need more taxes, we're taxed enough." He started off slow but he's revving up. Never voted for taxes, never will. "A different taxation system. … I'm pro-growth… power of the United States. … I think we need to do more than just cut taxes. I will fight to see that the current taxes that are cut come back into the system."

Question No. 2, we've got to get our spending under control. Republicans were fired because we didn't stick with our principles and one of the core princiles is spending. When we lost sight of that, we got fired. I don't think the Demorcrats were hired, we got fired. Yes I would veto anything that… we spend nearly 2.9 trillion dollars for the federal government, that's enough money to spend. … I've long been an advocate of changing the system." … He just said "Deal or No Deal" about something…

2:29 pm: "There's a reason that four out of the last f
ive presidents have been governors." Better than being a legislator. Now getting asked a question about immigration. "I'm convinced that the single most important thing … is to build a physical border that is just [like] a border as have at our airports or in a major city. I would absolutelty insist on that. The American people won't accept any thing else. I dont resent the faact that people want to come to my country." America is great, etc. "I'm glad I live in this country and get on our knees and thank God every day that I live in this country. … I'm mad at the federal government that sat on its hands for almost twenty years and that now people are furious and angry." applause.

Made a joke about needing money. Ends with story about teacher in Arkansas and veterans, it's somewhat moving… don't forget how we got our freedom." standing ovation by nearly everybody. He certainly wowed them.

2:24 pm: Talks about the need for a Federal Marriage Amendment. Argues with people that say 'we shouldn't tinker with the Constitution'. "It was designed to be changed, that's the genius of it." Amendments gave women the right to vote, free press, etc. "Our constitution was designed to be changed. Maybe we need to clarify what marriage is once and for all. I've never understood why people say it's ok to amend the Bible but not the Constitution. " Huge, HUGE applause. 

2:01 pm: Huckabee takes the floor to lots of applause, some hooting.

"Any one of us on the stage today would be better than any of the Democrats." Unity, nice. some applause.

Talking about being a Republican in a Democratic state. Arkansas? Yeah, I guess so. Nice anecdote about not being recognized as Lt. Gov. This is a very different approach than Thompson took. Thompson went right into the policy, trying to be THE conservative. Huckabee seems very at ease. Has the crowd laughing. Now, he's talking about the forum–likes the format (20 minutes for candidates, 10 minutes for clarification questions). "This country and its next president face extraordinary problems and pressures. But it also faces some extraordinary pressures and problems from within."

"You and I both want a president who undestands that the president of the United States not only must be able to lead this country within the context of the world but must also [have] strong and capable leadership that touches you every single day, the tax system." Says he signed a pledge (Grover's?) "But I dont think that's enough. I want to be the president of the United States that nails the 'going out of business' sign on the Internal Revenue Service." huge applause. Everybody hates the IRS. "I want April 15 to ve just another beautiful spring day in America. Pass the Fair Tax … Revive the American ecnomy like nothing else will," even for poor people. "I grew up there. … My dad worked with his hands." Wants a tax system that is "flatter fairer, finite, family friendly. Fair tax does that." Nice alliteration.

"I'm tired of seeing jobs go to China never to return, tired of seeing jobs go to Mexico not to come back."

"Marriage means one thing and only one thing, one man, one woman. We need to affirm that that's what marriage means. It's easier to change the constituton than to change the word of Almighty God."

"One of the defining issues, truly defining issues, is how we believe regarding the sanctity of human life. I did not become pro-life because of politics. I got into politics becauase of my deep convictions regarding pro-life. What separates us as a civiliastion and culture, is a society that celebrates and elevates human life. … "We are a prol-life culture, we are pro-life nation, hether it's the life of a teenage or the life of an elderly person, we value life."

War with Jihadists. "Where we elevate and celebrate life, they elevate and celebrate death." suicide bombers. "We should never ever create a life just for the purpose of research. As president I would never sign and yes I would veto a bill for creating life for the sole prupse of destroying it." big applause

Thinks Hillary Clinton will be nominee. Ready to take her down (especially on the issue of education).

Rails against immigration bill. I missed the quotes trying to correct typos. Ends with praising the troops. Andrews asking more questions now.

1:55 pm: Thompson getting a little frustrated with "clarification questions." Says he's vetoed 1400 bills, wants to move on. Now talking about immigration. "Protect the borders, improve the food safety, and improve the military." Walks off stage to a fair amount of applause. 

1:49 pm: Talking about vetoing. He likes to do it. Prosperity continues with tax cuts. Scheffler now talking. "I'm against the destruction of embryos," Thompson said (applause). Adult stem cells, not embryonic. Important! "I'm passionately committed to doing the research without the destruction of embryos." 

1:27 pm: Tommy Thompson takes the floor.

"No tax increase! I will lower taxes. I lowered taxes in Wisconsin more than all of the candidates together. I will lower the budget."

"I believe that marriage should be between a husband and wife (applause) … secure borders! the first day in office, (applause) … fair tax, i will sign it as soon as it reaches my desk (applause) … We have only one language–the English language (loud applause)."

Now talking about his biography. Small town, "I'm the only farmer in the room. … I don't have as much money as the other candidates, but I have loyalty to your state." Looking forward to Ames Straw Poll.

He's telling an anecdote now. I'm not sure about what. He's in a Wal-Mart in Iowa City at 2 am buying toilet paper?

Was a state legislator, then became governor. "I want to lower your taxes and I want to be your governor." And he won (in a Democratic state). From what I've read, he actually was a half-decent governor–but he was first elected in um, 1987, so maybe he should have run for president back then…

"I am a reliable conservative." I think we'll be hearing that a lot today.

"First thingIi would do is talk to the Iraqi government and decide whether, we've been there 4 years, let that government vote and tell us whether they want us there and how they're going to help us win that war. If they don't want us there, we should redeploy our forces." Wow, other than Ron Paul, that's the closest thing I've heard from a GOP presidential hopeful talking about ending the war.

"So ladies and gentlemen, I come to you… No one has spent more time in Iowa… I am the true Republican, the true fiscal conservative, and I would love to… I am married to the same woman for 38 years. We have 3 children and 5 grandchildren." Now touching story about children and grandchild. "I held that baby and I looked at it and I said this is life and it reinforced all of my Christian beliefs. The right to life is the way to go. (applause) I have been right to life … I didn't become right to life on the way to Des Moines. (applause)

Also talking about readiness of National Guard, seems like a critique on Bush. Ends with football analogy, Midwestern bond between Iowa and Wisconsin. "If you want to make sure that Hillary Clinton is not elected next year, you better support Tommy Thomspon." Getting pretty revved up, ends with Irish saying… "May God hold you in the palm of your hands." Pretty good applause. Now he's being que
stioned by Andrews. "Clarification questions"

1:17 pm: Scheffler talking now. Talking about ICA. "If there is no moral order, there can be no political order," he said. "One nation under God." He said ICA is not tied to any political party. Um, right.

1:14 pm: Stanley: "The decision on which candidates were invited were made very carefully on objective criteria." When I came in, Ron Paul supporters were marching around the Hy-Vee Center with signs. I'm going to try to get to his counter-debate later if I can.

Stanley said the candidates were mailed the questions two weeks ago to give them ample time to prepare… They never called it a debate. 

1:03 pm: They're starting on time! One thing conservatives can do right. Started with a prayer, now pledge of allegience led by Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance. Next David M. Stanley, chairman of Iowans for Tax Relief, who is co-sponsoring the event with ICA.

Scheffler admits he has received a lot of attention lately. Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance (ICA) since 2000, said all of the major Republican presidential hopefuls have recently called him. “They want to make their case to our constituency,” he said. Most caucus-goers “tend to be very, very conservative,” Scheffler said, estimating that social conservatives, in particular, could make up 40 percent of next year’s caucus-goers and significantly sway the outcome.

Until last year, the ICA had been known as the Christian Coalition of Iowa and affiliated with the Christian Coalition of America, the national organization originally founded by Pat Robertson in 1988. In a statement, Scheffler said his organization cut ties from its parent organization because it thought the CCA was mired in debt and had lost its integrity:

“From this time forward, we will be known as Iowa Christian Alliance (ICA). We are honored to be serving the Lord in a conscious effort to develop the integrity and leadership needed to guide our fellow citizens toward the traditional values on which our national strength and survival depends. We will only be of service to our Lord and our fellow man if we uphold standards of moral integrity.”

ICA mostly focuses on state politics but now that it’s caucus season, Scheffler said, the group will spend a lot of time educating voters on where the presidential candidates stand. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has a candidate page with all those running from both parties. But in reality, ICA caters to Republican voters.

On June 30, ICA will co-host a candidate forum with Iowans for Tax Relief. Currently, these candidates plan to attend: U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., and Tommy Thompson, a former secretary of Health and Human Services and former governor of Wisconsin.

Conspicuously absent — besides Democrats — are the GOP front-runners, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who both recently pulled out of the Ames Straw Poll, a must-attend event for GOP hopefuls in Iowa.

Additionally, ICA intends to host a series of house parties with its members and the different candidates. Huckabee and Romney have already attended one, Scheffler said, and U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California and Brownback are interested.

Scheffler said that neither he nor ICA would endorse a candidate but would instead act as “an educational tool” for members. For the first time in its history, ICA will produce a voter's guide based on the voting record, public statements and survey responses of the candidates, Scheffler said. ICA has previously produced voter's guides for congressional and statewide races. Last year’s guide asked congressional candidates their stance on the “Federal Marriage Amendment,” the “Human Life Amendment,” a “Ban [on] Embryonic Stem Cell Research,” “Legalized Adoption by Homosexual Couples,” and “Sex Education Curriculum that Stresses Abstinence.”

Scheffler said he could not predict which candidates would garner support from social conservatives at the caucuses. “All the candidates have pluses and minuses; there are no perfect candidates,” he said. “There’s no clear indication of where they might gravitate at this point.”

He did say, however, that Giuliani “has got some challenges” ahead of him based on his record as mayor of New York City and his marital history.

On the other hand, Scheffler said he did not think Romney’s Mormon faith would prove to “a big stumbling block” and that social conservatives looked for moral leadership. “I don’t think his faith is going to be that big of an issue. An out-and-out atheist or a Mohammed-Jihadist-extremist [would probably] be disqualifiers. Outside of those two areas there’s not going to be a litmus test.” Scheffler also said that Romney, who at various times has been pro-choice and pro-life, had eliminated many doubts about his opposition to abortion. “The governor talked about his stance on those issues and quite frankly he’s done a fairly good job enunciating those,” Scheffler said. “He’s repeated them enough that he’s probably made some headway.”

In fact, Giuliani and McCain may have dropped out of the Ames Straw Poll because they realized that Romney had become so dominant in the state. From ABC’s The Note: “‘Maybe the handwriting was on the wall,’ Iowa Republican Party Chairman Ray Hoffman tells ABC News when asked about the impact Mitt Romney’s organizational strength had on the Wednesday announcements from the Giuliani and McCain campaigns that they will not invest resources in the Iowa Republican Party’s Aug. 11 Straw Poll in Ames. ‘Mitt Romney, no doubt, is probably the biggest player in the state,’ said Hoffman.” And social conservatives, some of the biggest conservative activists in Iowa, were likely part of the Romney coalition. Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post previously reported that Romney was heavily courting Scheffler and Iowa social conservatives.

Scheffler is also on the Republican State Central Committee, but counted himself as a sometime-critic of the GOP. “I’m much more about issues,” he said. “But if I’m going to affect public policy, I can’t sit on the sidelines and let others who I don’t agree with set the agenda.” He called himself “a lifelong activist” and said that social conservatives would significantly shape the GOP caucuses now and in the foreseeable future. “Let’s face it,” he said. “If [our issues] ever got removed from the GOP platform, the life issue, the marriage issue, gun rights, immigration,” Republicans would suffer.

In addition to the candidate forum, the house parties and the voter guides, ICA intends to have a series of caucus strategy meetings so “regardless of who they’re supporting,” Scheffler said, “those issues are at the forefront.”