If They Build It [in Iowa] Will She Come?

By Gary P Jackson

There is a real life Field of Dreams movement going on in Iowa. With 46% of the American people saying no one running, in either party, would make a good president, activists are working hard to get someone who would into the race.

When Sarah Palin announced her decision not to seek the presidency, when asked what it would take for her to change her mind, she said it would take an earthquake the magnitude of 10.3, or better. Since then, a group of dedicated supporters have been working hard to achieve just that sort of [political] earthquake. An independent group called Sarah Palin’s Iowa Earthquake has been organizing a write-in campaign for the up-coming Iowa caucuses.

And this group is putting their money where their mouth is. They’ve created some compelling television ads and raised enough money to run the ads in major Iowa markets. They are also on You Tube, so folks not in Iowa can get the same message, and be inspired to write-in Sarah’s name on their primary ballot as well.

Iowa is the key though.

I doubt anyone is under the delusion Sarah Palin would win Iowa as a write-in candidate, but everything coming out of Iowa suggests Iowans are just as unhappy with the current field of candidates as everyone else. Everything I read suggests at least half of the voters haven’t chosen a candidate as of yet. A solid second, or even third place in Iowa [via a write-in by Palin supporters] would send a strong message, not only to the Republican Party, but as many hope, to Sarah herself.

I’ve mentioned it before, but write-in efforts driven by supporters of non-candidates, without the candidate’s input, is not unprecedented. In 1964, Henry Cabot Lodge, then Ambassador to South Vietnam, and not a candidate for president, won the Hew Hampshire primary in a landslide.

From the Union Leader:

One week before the election, Goldwater had predicted he would receive 35 percent of the vote. Buoyed by sizable and worm crowds in the final week, he upped his prediction to 40 percent just before the polls opened. Yet within 18 minutes of the closing of the polls, the CBS computer predicted a landslide in the making for the Ambassador to South Vietnam. And it was — Lodge received 33,007 to Goldwater’s 20,692 and Rockefeller’s 19,504. A write-in for Richard Nixon tallied 15,587.

The Lodge vote achieved a plurality in every county. His strongest support was in the southern part of the state — particularly in areas near the Boston media market. Lodge tallied more than 40 percent of the vote in Cheshire, Merrimack, Rockingham and Strafford counties, while Goldwater was able to reap as much as 30 percent in only one Hillsborough.

Lodge, to the embarrassment of many a prominent politician, swept the entire slate of 14 delegates. His band of unknowns were sent off to the Son Francisco convention in July.

Ambassador Lodge first heard reports of the upset while flying from Hue to Saigon. He had gone to the former imperial capital in northern South Vietnam with another Republican, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Maxwell Taylor. The purpose of the journey was to try to shore up support for the government of Major General Nguyen Khanh, who had seized power in January.

Upon his return to the Saigon airport, Lodge was very much the center of attention. When asked to comment on his upset victory, he said, “There will be a statement in New England about that. I am precluded by Foreign Service regulations from talking politics.” He did concede he had been accorded “a great honor and a great compliment.”

But unlike General Eisenhower, Lodge never became a candidate. Still, his showing triggered one of the most astonishing increases in the history of American public opinion polls. The first national sample of Republicans by the Louis Harris poll after the primary indicated that Lodge, who had stood at 14 percent in February, had leaped to 41 percent. This was a lead of 13 percent over Richard Nixon, who had led the previous survey by 27 points.

This is a fascinating story. You can read more here.

Lodge, immediately jumped from 17% in the polls, despite not even being an official candidate, to 41%, leading Richard Nixon, who was leading previous polling at 27%.

This was seen as more of a referendum on, and lack of support of, Barry Goldwater, who would be the eventual nominee.

One could say a win, or even respectable showings, by Sarah Palin, in any early primary, would be a referendum on current front runners Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, as well as the others.

This is the first time, in the over 50 plus years I’ve been alive, that almost half the country is saying no candidate for president, none, would make a good one. This is also the first time I remember so many seriously talking about a brokered convention. That sort of talk is usually a sure fire way to get you laughed out of the room!

Now I know many of those talking about a brokered convention have an agenda, and a candidate in mind, but still the serious idea that no one will be the clear choice come convention time, says something.

Here are the ads running in Iowa, as well as all of the ads the folks involved with Sarah Palin’s Iowa Earthquake have created:

This one is my personal favorite, but they all have a winning message:

This is the candidates in their own words saying things that make a Conservative’s skin crawl. Sarah Palin’s voice of hope is at the end.

The videos below use concept from the winning ads created by the great advertising man Hal Riney for Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election campaign. That’s Riney’s unforgettable voiceover you hear. In the Reagan ads, the bear represented the Soviet Union, which was known as “The Great Bear” back in the day.

Reagan’s message was “peace through strength.” After Jimmy Carter had gutted the military, calling it a “peacetime dividend,” Reagan had the monumental task on his hand of building up a military that could actually defend America’s interests around the world. History tells us it worked, as the Soviet Union collapsed. One of those reasons was their attempts to keep up with our military spending.

In today’s world, one could look at the Obama regime, and the democrat party as a whole, as the bear. After all, the democrats have been plunging the United States headlong toward socialism since FDR. And the out of control spending in Washington is about to collapse the Unites States.

The bear could also represent the entire corrupt Establishment™ in both parties. The corrupt politicians who are lining their pockets, while serving the interests of their cronies of that of the American people. Most certainly there are candidates for president in both parties that fit into this category.

The bear could also represent the danger America faces if we don’t rid politics from the corrupt politicians in Washington, and around the nation. Many of the regulations written, laws created, are designed to benefit one group over another, based on who can make the best deal with a corrupt politician. In most cases, the American people suffer real damage because of this. Higher prices for goods and services, and loss of precious Freedoms and Liberties are often the results of the unholy alliances between corrupt politicians and their special interests.

For those that don’t remember the original campaign winning ad for Reagan:

I’m told the earthquake group is also creating print ads to go along with television. The two combined will make sure Iowans know they can write Sarah’s name in.

These sort of efforts do cost money, and if you’d like to help the group send the message that America needs a real reformer, not a bunch of Washington insiders and retread candidates, you can click here for a secure way to do so.

Also, you can join the Sarah Palin’s Iowa Earthquake on Facebook by clicking the link here, and asking to join. If you live in early primary states, especially New Hampshire, I bet the very creative folks there can help you with ideas on how to start your own earthquake movement in your state.

If nothing else this will be a strong message to others that we are looking for leadership from our president, not just more of the same, which is what we’re likely to get from the current bunch.

From what I am seeing, online anyway, Many Iowans are talking about writing Sarah’s name in. Whether that will result in enough numbers to make any sort of impact, no one knows until election day.

The real question is will Sarah Palin answer the call. If they build it, will she come? Millions of Americans hope she will.

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