The tenth and final stop on the Pizza & Politics tour is tonight in Council Bluffs. Please join us at 6:30 pm at the Pizza King, located at 1101 North Broadway.
Pizza & Politics Tale of the Tape
Cities Visited: Mason City, Davenport, Burlington, West Des Moines, Orange City, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls and Dubuque
Miles Traveled: 1,917
Dubuque Pizza & Politics Wrap-Up
Wow … what a night. The crowd of GOP activists and leaders at The Shot Tower numbered over 25 and again, left me energized about the future of our party. There is no doubt that our Republican friends in Northeast Iowa are fired up, ready to take the fight to the Democrats, and start reclaiming local legislative seats that have been lost in recent election cycles.
I first want to thank State Rep. Steve Lukan from New Vienna for both his introduction and his enthusiastic endorsement. Steve is one of our party’s rising stars and key to the Republican renewal in NE Iowa. I also want to thank former state central committee members Rose Kramer and Dan Nicholson for their warm welcome and introductions to the past, current and future leadership of the Dubuque County GOP.
Discussion centered largely on communication. In a part of the state where Democrats enjoy a comfortable registration edge, how Republicans and our candidates communicate with the voters is paramount to both winning the trust – and the vote – of Iowans.
As I wrote in my Letter of Principles:
There is much discussion about deviating from, or watering down, Republican principles as a necessity for electoral success. I honestly believe this debate misses a key point. You name a problem, be it a social or economic ill, and I guarantee you there is a solution consistent with our party’s core beliefs.
The role of the Republican Party, along with its elected leaders, is to harness our collective talents to not only craft sound policy consistent with those core beliefs, but then to also present it to the voting public as a relevant solution to their everyday problems.
While message does matter, I also write, so too does the messenger:
Recruiting quality, authentic candidates with those core beliefs is certainly the responsibility of the party, but so is ensuring our candidates and party leaders have the ability to relate to voters with sound, conservative solutions that are relevant to the problems of the day.
I look forward to working with our elected leadership to put these principles into practice. Now, off to Council Bluffs.
