Protesters Boo Walker, Carson Pulls A Crowd, Fiorina Has Fun

After all five Democrats toured the Iowa State Fair on Thursday and Saturday, the Republican candidates descended upon the Fair in full force on Sunday and Monday. Starting Line was on the scene to follow all the action – here’s our observations from more full days of caucus campaigning:

Scott Walker

Monday’s chaotic scene at the Soapbox could serve as a ominous omen for how the country would look under a future Walker presidency, if he were to win. The anger and hatred for Walker and his heavy-handed actions in Wisconsin followed him to the State Fair, with about a third of the audience appearing to be comprised of protesters. Several Wisconsin residents, donning cheese head hats (and several wearing SEIU shirts) shouted at Walker several minutes into his speech. At multiple times the boos drowned out the cheers, as Walker supporters tried their best to counteract the protest.

Things got especially raucous once two men who had been crouched down in front of the Soapbox sprung up to wave signs reading “Don’t let Scott Walker do to America what he did to Wisconsin.” A few other protesters began shouting loudly, and the scene very nearly turned physical with Walker backers pulling down the signs or holding people back. Walker raised his voice loud and shouted over the boos and outbursts. He got through the ordeal without any overheated misstep of his own, and even took a couple questions as things died down. Afterwards, the protesters followed him around the Fair, occasionally holding up signs, but mostly didn’t cause further interruption.

What the disruption accomplished, however, is questionable. Nearly all the headlines used Walker’s “I will not be intimidated” line that he said to a protester’s face while pointing at him. That’s exactly the kind of thing Republican caucus-goers love to see in their candidate, and plays into Walker’s narrative that he’s the conservative who will stand up and fight for their issues. I suppose it also gave his opposition a chance to make their case to the media afterwards, and highlighted how divisive Walker is, but it only helped him in terms of the Republican primary. Walker had a dull debate performance, has been on the decline in the polls recently and probably would have surprisingly had one of the smaller Soapbox crowds had it not been for the protesters and issue groups present. Had nothing happened with a meager-sized audience, it could have added to the narrative that he’s struggling. Instead, fighting off protesters gave him a boost.

It’s also confusing to me – progressives have been confrontational and protesting Walker for years now, and keep losing the bigger battle against him. So what do they try again? Be confrontational and disruptive. To be fair, I don’t have a different solution, but it may be time for Democrats to get creative against the Wisconsin Governor.

After the Soapbox drama, Walker toured the Fair for a number of hours. At one point the Veterans parade passed by his press scrum, leading to a nice photo:

Carly Fiorina

On the rise after her well-received debate performance, Fiorina looked every bit like an insurgent candidate moving up in the Republican primary. Her Soapbox speech brought in one of the larger crowds, though not as big Carson’s or Sanders’. She skipped a formal speech and dove right into the Q&A. Unlike Walker who spoke before her, this audience was much friendlier or at least neutral with its questions.

Like many of the other Republican candidates, I did note with dismay how difficult it was for them to connect with questioners from issue groups advocating for relatively small programs. On Alzheimer’s research or funding for children’s nutrition programs, most Republicans, Fiorina in particular, immediately pivoted every question back to how the government is spending too much money and how America has too much debt. We have to fix the entitlements first they say, or they simply ignore the question altogether to blast spending. Essentially what they meant was “no, I have no interest in funding that program.” How far to the right has the Republican Party gone that they can’t even commit to incredibly popular, comparatively cheap government programs or funding research on terrible diseases that many of these candidates have had family members suffer from?

Anyway, after her speech Fiorina toured the Fair for a number of hours, swarmed by a decent-sized press corps that dwindled over time. She stopped by a corn stand, which, of course, led to a media frenzy since  a presidential candidate was holding corn in Iowa:

She also got the chance to show off her maternal side:

2 little kids wander over to Carly, mom nowhere in sight. She grabs their hands, "Let's go find your mom." mom is found on bench eating gyro

— Seema (@LATSeema) August 17, 2015

Ben Carson

Like Fiorina, Carson is on fire right now in Iowa. He’s stayed in second place in WHO TV’s Cast Your Kernal poll throughout the Fair, and garnered a lot of excitement as he walked the crowd. Carson started off his Fair experience grabbing a slice of pizza and some root beer. Watching candidates eat is always a weird part of Fair coverage, Caron’s especially so. He got his pizza and then very slowly ate it in front of a throng of press, not really talking to anyone, just casually taking bite after bite as camera shutters clicked:

After making his way through the Varied Industries building where he made a point to stop at the Iowa Right to Life booth and sign their Defund Planned Parenthood petition, Carson took the Soapbox stage. His momentum was clearly evident, as the crowd numbered at least 1,000, the largest for any Republican (though Trump likely would have had more had he spoken at the Soapbox). Carson gave a very Ben Carson-type of speech, focusing a lot on his childhood and his medical profession before getting into some issues like the fiscal gap. The crowd responded very well to his low-key, positive delivery. It was a good day for Carson, who clearly has a lot of energy behind him right now.

Lindsey Graham

The South Carolina Senator was in full “Sad Lindsey” mode, coming off extremely dour and also warlike in his Soapbox speech. For a guy who can be so effortlessly funny and warm, I’m not sure why he didn’t show off his more personable side at the easy-going State Fair. He laid out quite the Middle Eastern war plan, calling for significant new intervention in Syria. Graham’s best part came after the Soapbox speech in a gaggle with the press where he ridiculed Donald Trump’s deport-everyone immigration plan, saying “over his dead body” would Graham allow the GOP to destroy themselves over the issue. Watch the two minute video of his presser at the Register, it was really good.

Graham chats with Steve King before going on stage

Graham’s turn on the Soapbox did produce one of my favorite moments of the State Fair so far. “Are there any Presbyterians here?” Graham asked the crowd (I forget why). “Yeaaaahhhhh!” shouted one very excited guy in the audience who may have spent too much time over at the beer tent.

Graham also did the State Fair the right way, bringing his sister along with him (who introduced him at the Soapbox) and spent nearly the entire day there. He even walked in the Veterans parade (though I don’t think many press knew about it, missing out on some good photos). Most of the time Graham walked the fair without the ridiculous press entourages and actually got to speak with voters. Oh, and his sister bought some Butter Cow earrings:

Lindsey Graham's sister Darline buys butter cow earrings to commemorate @iowastatefair visit pic.twitter.com/PQjbxLVMS3

— Jason Noble (@jasonnobleIA) August 17, 2015

George Pataki

The former New York Governor who’s struggling to get even the slightest bit of traction in the polls spoke on Sunday after Carson. His speech was actually pretty good, but he gave it to an audience of only about 50 hot and tired people. He was a little rusty on the Q&A section, not connecting too well with several of the questioners. If this wasn’t Wacky 2016, it would be utterly ridiculous that a surgeon with no elected office experience got a crowd 20 times that of a former New York Governor.

Back at it today. Rubio and Kasich on Tuesday, Perry on Wednesday. Then no one on Thursday, so thankfully a day of rest… well, so I can write other posts that have been backing up.

by Pat Rynard
Posted 8/18/15