Iowa state fair: Fried food with side of politics

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: Campaign 2012

Mitt Romney eats a pork chop on a stick as he campaigns at the Iowa State Fair in on Thursday.

(Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

DES MOINES, Iowa - At the massive Iowa state fair, you can eat fried butter on a stick or a "Hot Beef Sundae" while watching livestock competitions and checking out the famous "butter cow" sculpture. And in between, you can also take some time to hear from most of the Republicans running for president.

A series of GOP contenders are standing up on the hay bales at the fair's "soap box" here on Friday, the second day of the fair. Herman Cain kicked things off under cloudy skies in the morning, offering up a preacher-style stump speech tailored to the crowd - he made a few references to the fair's "pork chop on a stick," one of more than 50 foods that come in "on a stick" form here.

Herman Cain campaigns at the Iowa State Fair on Friday.

(Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Cain, dressed in blue suit pants, a button-up blue shirt and no tie, said the time had come to get "government out of our pockets" as a few hundred Iowans stood watching. A few clapped and smiled as he discussed how "the American people have an appetite for a non-politician" like him, while others stood there stoned faced, their expressions suggesting they had seen it all before. Asked where the politicians would be speaking on Thursday, an older man at an information booth pointed to the soap box area and said "where they'll be doing this" - and then pantomimed shoveling manure.

The candidates scheduled to speak after Cain were little-known Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter, socially-conservative former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Michele Bachmann. Also arriving at the fair Friday will be Sarah Palin, kicking off the Midwestern swing of her bus tour - and also ensuring she continues to get media coverage as she ponders a presidential run.

Mitt Romney took to the soap box Thursday, where he got in a confrontation with some liberal activists and memorably asserted that "corporations are people." (watch video at left)

Romney, unlike most of the other speakers at the soap box, is not seriously competing in Saturday's straw poll - an event that can boost a presidential campaign despite its small size and relative meaninglessness.

High stakes for GOP contenders at Iowa straw poll

When you talk to fair-goers here, most say it's too early to start thinking about politics - they tend to be more interested in seeing the butter cow than assessing the candidates. But for the Republican contenders, the fair is a must-stop for a speech and, in many cases, a photo-op barbecuing at the Iowa pork tent.

The candidates know that a victory in the Iowa caucuses a few months from now could make or break their campaigns - and the state fair, which attracts hundreds of thousands of Iowans each year, is the easiest place to reach a large number of them. Even if for many of the fair-goers themselves, their stump speeches are less appealing than the fair's biggest steer competition.

Romney skates amid Pawlenty, Bachmann slugfest
Iowa GOP debate: Winners and losers
10th Amendment up for debate within the GOP field

14 Photos

The narrowing GOP presidential field

View the Full Gallery »

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
Follow on Twitter »

4 Comments +

Add a Comment


by insightig August 13, 2011 3:27 PM EDT: I'm waiting for them all to leave so I can go and enjoy my fair experience!!! Any time now... Oh, and take Palin with you.; Reply to this comment


by Progress4U August 12, 2011 4:51 PM EDT: If I was at the Iowa State Fair, I'd probably just have to vomit...and it wouldn't be from the fried butter either...; Reply to this comment


by RealiteBites August 12, 2011 3:51 PM EDT: Romney always seems like he's trying just WAY to hard to be the 'everyman'. Pork chop on a stick? Like he'd ever touch one of those things if the camera's weren't on him. Just too calculated ...

Maybe it's because most guys his have dietary restrictions by then - they're on lipitor after eating too many porkchops when they were younger, or they have gout, or high blood pressure, etc.

He just seems to try too hard ... then again, those backwoods Republies are never going to give him a chance because he's 'different' in that he's mormon, so I guess it doesn't much matter in the end ...; Reply to this comment