Alexis Levinson
NR
A year ago, political insiders expected Rand Paul to dominate in Nevada and Iowa, the first two states to hold presidential nominating caucuses. Now, as campaign season ramps up in earnest and he continues to slide in national polls, Paul’s propensity to skip important GOP events has left Republican voters wondering whether he is willing to put in the work to seize his natural advantages in these two early states
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“It’s like he’s fallen off the face of the earth,” says former Iowa GOP political director Craig Robinson, who writes The Iowa Republican blog. Robinson points to Paul’s absence from the fair, along with some of the cattle calls that have been held in the state. “People wonder, ‘How much does he really want this?’” he says
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“What’s his problem?” one Republican consultant aligned with another candidate asks indignantly. Steve Grubbs, the well-respected operative who is Paul’s chief strategist in Iowa, says it’s just not true that he’s not paying enough attention to the Hawkeye State. According to the Des Moines Register’s candidate tracker, Paul has held 56 events in the state over 20 days, the seventh most events of any candidate running, Republican or Democrat. The perception of indifference, Grubbs says, comes from the particular events Paul is choosing to attend.
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Paul’s campaign says a multi-day campaign trip to Nevada is in the works. Still, Nevada Republicans describe Paul as under the radar and say they have witnessed little in the way of on-the-ground organizing. “He doesn’t seem to be a strong presence at this point,” says former governor Robert List, who endorsed Scott Walker last week.
Read more at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/422872/rand-paul-campaign-struggles-iowa-nevada
