Photograph by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Fairgoers over the age of 18 are invited to drop one piece of corn into one of 14 jars with photos of their favorite Republican presidential candidate during the second day of the Iowa State Fair, ahead of the Iowa Straw Poll in this file photo.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is continuing his critique of the Iowa Straw Poll, a Republican fundraising event traditionally held the summer before the state’s precinct caucuses start the presidential nominating season.

Branstad told reporters today at his weekly news conference at the state Capitol that the straw poll has lost its importance, and it’s time to create new events to take its place.

“The caucuses are what’s most important and that’s what I want to keep the focus on. is keeping the precinct caucuses first in the nation,” Branstad said, according to Radio Iowa.

The straw poll has typically been held in August in Ames. Last week, the governor told the Wall Street Journal the event shouldn’t be held again, prompting complaints from the chairman of the state’s Republican Party.

“Really, the candidates are going to decide whether that continues or not and in recent years we’re seeing more and more candidates choose not to participate,” Branstad said today.

The governor also expressed doubts that the last straw poll raised that much money for the party after the bills were paid and challenged party leaders to reveal those figures.

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota won the 2011 straw poll, a win that helped knock her fellow Minnesotan, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, from the Republican presidential race. Bachmann later finished sixth in the Iowa caucuses.

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE RADIO IOWA DISPATCH:

Original post is Iowa Straw Poll Ripe for Retirement — Branstad Says Time to Move On by Political Capital.

Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, speaks at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa.

While many of his Republican colleagues continue to digest and dissect Mitt Romney’s presidential defeat less than two weeks ago, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is wasting zero time moving on — and in the process dominating the early buzz about the party’s prospective 2016 White House contenders.

First came his Saturday night turn in Iowa as the main speaker at a birthday bash/political fundraiser for that state’s Republican governor, Terry Branstad, where Rubio held forth for close to 25 minutes. Today the spotlight’s on an interview GQ magazine conducted with him for its December issue (complete with a photo shoot).

The Q-&-A may redefine wide-ranging — it touches upon Rubio’s experiences at a Miami “foam” party, his best friends (his wife, followed by Jim DeMint, the South Carolina senator and Tea-Part darling) and the 41-year-old’s three favorite rap songs (“Straight Outta Compton,” by N.W.A.; Tupac Shakur’s “Killuminati;” Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”).

Generating the most attention is Rubio’s effort to thread a political needle, in a party where evangelical Christians are a major bloc, when he ‘s asked — appropos nothing  — how old he thinks the earth is.

“I’m not a scientist, man,” he responds. “I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.”

No mystery is that this youthful Cuban-American hailing from the largest of the nation’s most politically competitive states has strong cards to play in a party whose presidential candidate just got walloped among young voters and among all Hispanics, and who lost eight of the nine most intense battlegrounds (including Florida).

The National Journal’s Political Insiders Poll taken right after the Nov. 6 election underscored Rubio’s enviable starting position – in the survey of 88 Republican pros, he easily finished first as the party’s strongest 2016 presidential nominee, with 40 percent support. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush ran second with 27 percent, while no other possible contender — including 2012 vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan — broke into double digits.

Rubio also earned obvious political dividends from his Iowa trip — Branstad praised him as the “kind of inspirational leader that’s going to help point [Republicans] in the right direction.”

And a close reading of the GQ interview, beyond Rubio’s expertise on rap music and his skittishness on evolution, shows a message in the making that aims to turn on its head current perceptions of the two parties and the debate on “big government.”

Republicans, Rubio says, have “allowed a myth to take hold in the minds of some that conservatism is about helping the people who have ‘made it’ and not about helping the people who are trying to make it. I think we have a very compelling argument, which happens to be true: the people who have made it, billionaires and multi-billion dollar corporations, they may not like big government, but they can afford to deal with it. They can hire the best lawyers in America and try to figure out the loopholes and the best lobbyists to create them. In fact, they use big government to their advantage. They’ll have regulations and rules written to hurt their competition.

“So, big government helps the people who have made it. It doesn’t help the people who are trying to make it, it crushes the people who are trying to make it. So, our challenge is, if we want free enterprise, limited government, and conservatism to be a viable and successful political movement in America, we’ve got to make that connection for people.”

Original post is Rubio Workin’ It: Iowa Trip, GQ Interview by Political Capital.

Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, arrives on stage to speak at the Republican National Convention.

This didn’t take long.Sen. Marco Rubio, that rising star of the Republican Party from Florida who was considered as a possible running mate for presidential nominee Mitt Romney, is bound for Iowa.

The junior senator from Miami will headline a re-election fundraiser for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad on Nov. 17.

That’s the word from O. Kay Henderson — delivered via Twitter @okayhenderson — news director of Radio Ohio, who notes being with the network from Day One (1987), “covering politics forever.”

“If U don’t count Jindal, Perry & others who came to IA B4 11.6.12 to campaign for Romney, Rubio is 1st of 2016ers 2 make trip here,” Henderson notes, alluding to Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Perry of Texas.

It only seems like forever in Iowa, home of the election-opening caucuses. (Iowa is where President Barack Obama’s campaign was launched, and this year, Branstad gave Obama great credit for his Iowa-winning ground game.)

2016 Forever starts nine days from now.

Original post is Rubio Loads the 2016 Starting Gun — `1st of 2016ers’ in Iowa by Political Capital.