DES MOINES?After months of the economy dominating the primary campaign, social issues finally took center stage Saturday in Iowa.
Six GOP candidates who are making appeals to Iowa?s social conservative caucus voters took part in a forum hosted by the Family Leader ? sitting around a table on a church stage set with Thanksgiving adornments for a discussion focused on ?faith,? ?freedom? and ?morality.?
Continue ReadingThe event, sponsored by the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Leader ? a group and led by a longtime activist who played a key role in organizing for caucuses winner Mike Huckabee four years ago ? marked an accelerated pitch for a prominent Iowa voting bloc.
But missing was Mitt Romney, the perceived Republican presidential frontrunner, who has never been the preferred favorite of social conservatives, and who opted to be in New Hampshire for the weekend.
Family Leader head Bob Vander Plaats, who last week said Romney was ?dissing? the conservative base and predicted it could cost him the nomination, set the tone right away on stage.
?The next president of the United States will present to you tonight,? Vander Plaats said ? a clear reference to the absent Romney, who last week opened his first campaign headquarters in Iowa and is quickly ramping up his presence.
The event, moderated by GOP pollster Frank Luntz, began on an eyebrow-raising note, when Michele Bachmann, the lone female candidate, volunteered to pour water for the five other candidates ? Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich. Jon Huntsman, who?s not competing in Iowa, also skipped the event.
?I?ve poured a lot of water in my time,? she joked.
For the 45 minutes, the focus was on faith ? its role, the phrase ?so help me God? in the oath of office ? as well as issues of ?morality.?
Bachmann had a historical fumble out of the gate, saying that George Washington added ?so help me God? to the oath of office, instantly lighting up Twitter with corrections.
But she was pressed by Luntz on what made her turn to God when she was 16, as she?s said she did.
?I recognized I was a sinner, and I also had the Holy Spirit knocking on my heart?s door. ? I followed,? she said. ?I realized I needed a savior, I was a sinner.?
At another point, Santorum stated flatly that ?gay marriage is wrong,? and noted he came to Iowa as part of the major fight on the issue after an Iowa Supreme Court decision that legalized it in the state.
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