The presidential primaries seem to be causing ructions in the Republicans. First, one of their strongest candidates turns out to be Fred Thompson, someone who hasn’t formally declared and therefore hasn’t actually had to come up with any of those tricky … what do you call them? … oh, yeah, policies. Now they’re arguing about who gets to join the debates.
It seems that the Iowa Presidential Forum, scheduled for June 30, has left someone off their guest list. Let’s see, there’s Rep. Tom Tancredo, Sen. Sam Brownback, Rep. Duncan Hunter, Tommy Thompson, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney, but John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Jim Gilmore RSVPed and said they were busy. Hang on, that’s only nine – where’s Texas’ own U.S. Rep. Ron Paul?
Yup, the anti-Iraq war libertarian was deliberately not invited. According to reports, Ed Failor, executive vice president of event sponsors Iowans for Tax Relief, said they did not regard him as a credible candidate, so it wasn’t worth inviting him. Surprisingly, Tancredo is demanding the event let Paul attend. Meanwhile, some sharp-eyed Iowans have already noted that, while McCain won’t be there in person, he’ll still be represented: Failor also happens to be a big McCain donor and a senior adviser to his Iowa campaign.
This article appears in June 22 • 2007.
