DES MOINES, Iowa — Forget all those stodgy, static polls. The Republican Party of Iowa’s Lincoln Dinner after parties are where the action is.
Following 130 minutes of speeches from the 13 GOP presidential candidates who turned out Friday for Iowa’s largest political cattle call of the summer, the contestants greeted voters in reserved suites at the Iowa Events Center in downtown Des Moines.
“In Miami we throw good after parties,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told the Lincoln Dinner fundraiser crowd in wrapping up his speech.
Team Suarez seemed to deliver in Des Moines, with a three-piece band playing Latin music beneath pink and purple lights dancing off of star balloons. He promised hand towels with his name on them for the “Miami heat” he brought with him to a sweltering Des Moines, where temperatures approached 100 degrees Friday.
Next door, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley had live music of her own, a guitar picker singing country hits next to a “Pick Nikki” Iowa sign.
But the suites to be, at least according to the lengthy lines outside their doors, were the sites of after parties thrown by Team DeSantis, Team Ramaswamy, and Team Trump.
The polls, in this case, would seem to have it right. It appeared that former President Donald Trump greeted the most Iowans at his post-Lincoln Dinner soiree, followed by Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Event-goers waited in long lines to snap photos and chat briefly with the Big Three.
That’s not to say the prospective caucus-goers didn’t circulate. Many moved from room to room. But the three leaders in the national polls seemed to be hosting the most happening after parties.
At points in the reverie, it appeared there were few lonelier places on earth than former Vice President Mike Pence’s after-party. While Ramaswamy’s suites next door bustled with activity, Pence’s place was sparsely filled, comparatively speaking. Pence has struggled to gain momentum in the polls of late, receiving a lukewarm welcome at the Lincoln Dinner just two weeks after being booed in the same room at the Family Leadership Summit.
Long-shot candidates Perry Johnson and Ryan Binkley, also posted more subdued numbers of partiers, although each was well received during their speeches.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum’s reception was relatively quiet, as well, although he appeared to enjoy the company of former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who also served as Trump’s ambassador to China.
Ultimately, the 1,000-plus attendees of the Lincoln Dinner got ample opportunity to check out the crowded field of Republican presidential candidates with less than six months to go before they head to Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses. As the summer fades into fall, it’s likely some of the campaigners who turned out Friday night will be campaigning no more, as they face the realities of dwindling finances and disappointing poll numbers.
Next up, at the place for cattle… and hogs… and horses: the Iowa State Fair, which runs August 10-20. There is no better way to meet hundreds of thousands of Iowans than at this seminal end-of-summer event, which wraps up just days before the first nationally televised Republican Party primary debate in Milwaukee.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
