Jeb Bush to skip Republicans' Iowa straw poll

[May 13, 2015]  By Steve Holland
 
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Jeb Bush, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, will skip a nationally renowned straw poll of Iowa Republican activists in August in what amounts to a recognition that he is not a favorite of conservatives in the state.

The former Florida governor plans to attend a gathering in Atlanta organized by the conservative blog RedState on Aug. 8, the date of the Iowa contest, a Bush spokesman said.

The straw poll is a chance for candidates to measure their support among the conservative activists who dominate Republican politics in the Midwestern farm state. Iowa holds the first presidential nominating contest in early 2016 in the runup to the November 2016 election.

It does not, however, necessarily predict the party's eventual presidential nominee.

The 2008 straw poll winner was former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who went on to lose the nomination to Senator John McCain. In 2012, the poll was won by Michelle Bachmann, who at the time was a congresswoman from Minnesota. Bachmann dropped out after a poor finish in the early going of the campaign , and Romney ended up the 2012 nominee.

In the straw poll, Iowans attending the event will be able to cast a vote for the candidate of their choice. The contenders will have an opportunity to woo voters, including a speech.

Bush, who has not formally announced his candidacy, is considered a leading contender for the 2016 Republican nomination. But several other Republicans are faring better in early Iowa opinion polls.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker leads among Iowa Republicans, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week. The same survey put Bush in seventh place in Iowa with 5 percent support.

"We hope Governor Bush rethinks his decision and realizes that grassroots will only grow in Iowa if he waters them," Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann tweeted after Bush's decision.

"We don't buy this excuse and neither will Iowans," he said.

Bush plans to visit Iowa on Friday and Saturday for events where he will try to bolster his standing among conservatives, including a gathering of Republican presidential candidates and potential candidates organized by the Iowa Republican Party.

The straw poll, a fundraising event for the state party that dates back to 1979, has come under criticism in recent years for being overhyped and because candidates often must spend so much money to compete there, with little to show for it from the results.

(Additional reporting by Kay Henderson in Des Moines; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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