Road Trip? RPI to hold State Convention in Sioux City?
- Thursday, March 4, 2010, 10:00
- Blogs, Krusty Konservative
- 1,359 views
- 37 comments
In just a couple of days, Republican activists will gather at their county conventions to ratify a county platform and select delegates to the district and state conventions. While this is nothing new, there is a twist this year, the delegates will not know where the state convention is going to be held at until after they agree to be district and state delegates.
If you think this is not a big deal, think again. In previous years, the state convention has been held in either Des Moines or Cedar Rapids. For the past decade, the Republican Party of Iowa has held its conventions in Des Moines because activist from southwest Iowa voiced their displeasure with having to drive to Cedar Rapids in the past. This year, Sioux City seems to be the the front runner for the Republican convention.
According to Google Maps, it’s only a 400 mile, or six and a half hour trip, from Keokuk to Sioux City. A little less if you are traveling from Davenport, and only a 300 mile or 2 hour trip for those living in Polk County. As you can probably guess, I think this is a bad idea.
Look, I understand that delegates from the boarder communities get sick of traveling to Des Moines all of the time, but it is located in the center of the state. I also think that having an off year convention outside of Des Moines is a recipe for disaster.
Conventions are pointless without participation. I’ve never seen Polk County fill their entire delegation at a convention when it was held in their backyard, imagine what it would look like if they had to drive a couple hours. I think everyone would agree that to win elections Republican must do better in eastern Iowa. So why on earth would we tell these activists to travel five or more hours to attend the convention? Seems counterproductive to me.
If the goal is to find the cheapest place to hold the convention then I’m sure Sioux City makes sense. While being frugal is important, so having a well attended state convention. Since this is an off year convention and people are not vying to be national delegates there isn’t much of a reason to go. I would just play it safe and keep it in Des Moines, but that not what I think is about to happen.
I’m sure there are pros and cons to all the possible convention sites, but what say you?
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Krusty Konservative has written 284 stories on this site.
Herschel Krustofski is the pseudonym for the anonymous author of Krusty Konservative, a blog which focuses on Iowa Politics. Created in February of 2006, Krusty Konservative is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the Iowa blogosphere. Since its conception, Krusty Konservative has never shied from tackling controversial issues, and providing insight to the inner workings of Republican politics in Iowa.
37 Comments on “Road Trip? RPI to hold State Convention in Sioux City?”
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You must be breaking the speed limit if you can drive from Polk County to Sioux City in two hours…
Hmm…could it be a certain governor candidate would want to see State Convention in his backyard of Sioux City if there’s a brokered convention…just sayin’…
Sioux City is a BAD freakin idea for State Convention….and considering Matt Strawn is helping to keep the Iowa Events Center in the black with the Barnstormers there…you’d think they’d cut a break in costs for a one day convention.
Carroll would be more centrally located, and has the facilities to accommodate the state convention.
Caroll is in the middle of what, Peggy? Carroll county? The state central committee is generally filled full of a crew of low iq retreads (I didn’t say the other R word because I don’t want Sarah Palin attacking me) but this is beyond the pale. Des Moines or Ames. Or forget the entire $-it show.
Carroll?? Where are they supposed to have it? The Carrollton Inn? Peggy, please!
If you’re thinking of moving it..you do it in either one of two places…Ames or Cedar Rapids. State Convention has been held in Cedar Rapids before…and Ames has hosted huge events such as the Straw Poll…Both are easily accessible from the interstates…
I live in Donnellson just north of Keokuk. No freaking way to Sioux City.
Ames, CR, or one of the DM burbs.
Yop, hcr1 just might have the right read on the story behind the story; church basement hall packed with a crowd friendly to bvp.
With unemployment sky high in Iowa’s bottom two rows of counties, I think RPI should have it in my home town of Gravity, Iowa. Its not like there is going to be more that 500 people show up at this $hit show, so c’mon down to Gravity. No other town in the state has the type of pull that Gravity has!
Have that city slicker Strawn give me a call.
Sioux City? Any central committee member outside the 5th district that votes for this deserves to be replaced. This is a horrible idea on so many levels.
Nice you all understand how those of us from Western IA. feel when we have to drive to C.R., Waterloo, etc.!!!
Maybe it’s time for all the counties west of US 169 to susceed(sic?) and start our own State!
A regional convention sure. A state convention? If you hold this conference in the hinterlands, you are discouraging participation and this is a year we are going to see (or we’d hope to see) an increase in Republicans participating, plus disaffected Democrats who might hope to get some of their change back and thus might give the GOP another look. But not if the convention is almost in South Dakota (or in East Omaha, or one of Moline’s 3sister cities, or just this side of East Dubuque) Locate the state convention somewhere in the middle of the state if you want Iowans to come and participate.
Timmy, in the name of God and the memory of Jefferson Davis, Take Des Moines, please!
Hmm, wonder if there’s any way the 5th District could be made a part of Texas?
Nope, Polk Co. is all yours!
Timmy, no state would be complete without a gold domed silo. Why settle for an old blue Harvestore?
ConDem, you say that like it’s a bad thing. For some of us out here, that’s not taken as an insult!
Washerwoman, I guess we’d hafta manage without it. You can get used “blue tubes” fairly cheap these days provided you could find somebody to move it. I wonder how it would look in downtown Carroll???
Driving directions to Indianapolis, IN
340 mi – about 6 hours 7 mins
Suggested routes
I-72 E and I-74 E
382 mi 6 hours 20 mins
From Donnellson, IA
Matt, you could attend two State Conventions by going through Springfield, IL. for roughly the same distance as Sioux City.
Timmy sez: ” For some of us out here, that’s not taken as an insult!”
Aww Timmy, if I knew how to put in one of them little yellow faces I wudda.
All this proves is that Iowa indeed isn’t so little in the scheme of things…
Now, that being said…the problem unfortunately for travel isnt gonna get any better. Iowa’s gonna lose a congressional district here next year…so come 2012…some people are gonna have to drive farther for events and conventions….
Hawk,
How do you know about the Carrollton Inn? Did you meet there for a threesome or something?
Puh-lease…interstate access is NOT necessary for any state political convention in Iowa. You flatter yourself.
Peg complains: “How do you know about the Carrollton Inn? Did you meet there for a threesome or something?”
Hcr1, shame on you, you didn’t invite Peggy?
CD,
Why don’t you let Hawk speak for himself.
Wow. On the one year anniversary of this site, the talk has devolved into 3-somes @ the Carrollton Inn??
What would Reagan say? Shame on you sinners!
Happy Birthday, TIR.
Come on everybody, be happy. Peggy talked about sex but this is the first time it hasn’t been gay sex! yay!
I wrote a note to my SCC members last night; I suggest if you have not, that everyone do the same.
Makes no sense, changes the “playing field”.
There’s got to be a pasture we can put up a revival tent between Des Moines and Ames or somewhere in Central Iowa.
this not only is a long way to drive, but would probably require a 2nd night’s lodging for some of us.
Two comments,
Who in the bloody h**l gives a flying rodents posterior if the lazy a** RHINO contingent from PORK County fails to show up???? It would be a good thing for the state and for the Repugnant Party if 90% of the delegates from PORK County were unable to be at any convention.
Why not have the thing in Ames?? It’s even more centrally located than PORK County, and maybe even less of the lazy a** RHINO contingent would fail to show up. Sounds like a win, win to me.
POSTED WITH PERMISSION FROM EMAIL (From Brent Hoffman)
I’ve always enjoyed Krusty’s contrarian style, and I’ll acknowledge he’s probably forgotten more about politics than I know. But he’s seldom more right than most of us, and it’s foolish to discount every idea you hear as a bad one before you first consider both pros and cons. If the salient point to consider in hosting a convention were central location and convenience, wouldn’t it follow that the National Convention should always be held in Wichita, KS or points nearer? And why would you ever hold the State Convention anywhere other than Des Moines, whether Cedar Rapids or otherwise? Is the driving time, or convenience, of Delegates East and West a consideration, or is it only those in Central IA who should not have to travel? The fact it’s never been held in Sioux City before is a good reason for it rather than a rationale against it, and I hope the SCC members recognize that fact. The objections pointed out herein are largely ad hominem, as most people I know from Sioux City couldn’t care less about boogeyman arguments regarding BVP, but would consider it a high honor to host the State GOP…and would certainly work hard to make it a first-class, memorable event. If you haven’t been to Sioux City lately, it has several new, outstanding hotels and the finest theatre in the state. The venues are top-notch and I hear there’s even a few fine restaurants in town. Even the smell from the John Morrell plant will be a distant memory, but that’s another story with two sides. More important, the stagnant economy and recent job losses, coupled with dominant representation from Democratic legislators (in largely “conservative” Western Iowa), would seem to present a compelling opportunity for Republicans. Perhaps Sioux City isn’t a bad place to launch a resurgence for the 2010 elections. I could offer many more factual examples, statistics and political arguments, but I don’t know that it matters to those who’ve already made a decision. I’m writing for the rest of you, and without any disrespect to Des Moines or points in between. In the end, I’m confident we have some fairly bright people on the SCC who can consider all of the factors, pro and con, and make a good decision. Personally, I think Sioux City would be a great choice. But that’s just me, and as always, I sign my name.
Brent Hoffman
Brent, I am the chair of our convention committee in Muscatine. I am not looking forward to standing in front of delegates, asking them to commit to an unknown but probable (?) location which could be almost three times the distance to travel as previously expected.
If this had been decided well in advance of the county convention – some of us may have felt differently.
And I don’t think the comparison of the National Convention makes any more sense than using the the Super Bowl as an example.
Mostly I think this is all about timing – more time to plan and communicate to delegates would have taken the panic out of this situation.
I would ask you to consider putting yourself in our positions, needing to spend more money and more time with no notice before making a commitment Saturday. Not everyone has a schedule or finances that can flex like this and to make a decision to attend or not attend a State Convention based on travel distance is a shame.
I personally expected to drive 130 miles and stay with friends in Des Moines; Sioux City means 350 miles, perhaps 2 nights in a hotel and a day off work. And we in Muscatine are by far not delegates that will be traveling the longest distance.
Carolyn, I feel your pain! Even those of us in the 5th can’t seem to get the District Convention south of US 30 or east of US 71! This convention is in Sioux Rapids, past sites have included, Sioux City, Council Bluffs, and even Sioux Center!(Sioux Co. is the only thing it’s remotely the center of!) Then folks from the NW part of the district have the gall to piss and moan about the counties in the SE 1/4 of the district not participating and seating all their delelgtes for convention?
What I really don’t understand is why the 5th Dist. is treated like the red-headed step-child of RPI when it has had the highest per-capita registration of Republicans in the state. Sioux Co. at one time had a voter registration of at least 82% GOP! Those of you east of US 218 do share a similar fate as those of us in the west, many in the rest of the state like to pretend you don’t exist either.
http://www.burlingtonderailed.com/index.php?blogid=1&archive=2010-3-5
If not Sioux City, what about Burlington? Somebody there is advocating hosting Iowa’s Republican Convention.
Brent,
With all due respect….there is a huge difference between a National Convention and a State Convention. National Convention sites are picked on a completely different set of criteria than a State Convention is. A State Convention site should be placed at a location where delegates should not have to travel an extravagant amount of time to be able to reach. That’s why you don’t see our conventions being held in Sioux City or Keokuk or Council Bluffs.
This isn’t an “ad hominem” reason…but one of practicality and common sense.
That being said…changing the site of State Convention to Sioux City this late in the game…while there is a three-way contested GOP Governor primary…and one of the candidates just happens to be from Sioux City. Well..it certainly raises questions in many people’s eyes, Brent.
If the situation came about where the State Convention would select our party’s nominee…having it in Sioux City would certainly benefit that candidate for multiple reasons.
That’s not the message our State Party organization should be sending. In a year where we need to be singularly focused on the matter of winning elections, we shouldn’t be making it more difficult for our activists to attend our State Convention.
Hold it at Jummer’s Casino in Rock Island, IL. That way Chet Culver gets no rack off the slots.
The locations of the state and district caucuses should have been announced June last year.
Let’s keep our eyes on the main fact–2010 looks better than anything has looked in a long time; yet the image we present to the public is frankly down right dubious with this sort of discussion. We don’t have to agree on all the candidates or even all the principles of the party, and we don’t even have to agree on whether the convention should be fixed in a central place or a movable feast. (If one really wanted to be fair, one could move it from congressional district to congressional district in a rotation, and then everyone would get to have a close convention in turn once in a while, which would be no bad thing.) But if we keep going on like this, even the staunchest activists may decide that a tourist trip to Carroll County, whatever the merits of its hoteliers, may be more interesting than a convention.
To add to that previous:
Personally, I will not inconvenience me if it is in Sioux City, and it would not inconvenience me if it would be in eastern Iowa. I have resources at both ends of the state. The State Convention should be in the Des Moines-Ames axis, since it is least inconvenient overall when the State Convention is centrally located.
The main point is that it is organizational malpractice if the sites are not known months in advance of delegate selection.
Announcing a possible venue change at the county convention was a terrible idea. Prior to anyone committing to serve as a district or state delegate the location should be decided. That being said, I am not opposed to the Sioux City location, but delegates and alternates needed to know that prior to signing on with their willingness to serve. I understand the concerns of our 5th District brethren in this regard, and perhaps the RPI should give strong consideration to rotating the location of the state convention among the congressional districts. If it is held in Des Moines this year, then the 3rd district does not get the convention again until it has been held in all the other districts. I am sure that Sioux City, Dubuque, Waterloo, Davenport, Burlington, Coralville, Ottumwa, Pella, Ames, Cedar Rapids, Mason City, etc. would all be happy to put on their best to host this event.