Caucus Byte: You Didn't Think I Could Just Leave Out Bob Vander Plaats Right?

While I know that I can’t keep up with the movement in jockeying for the GOP nomination, I have decided that I would as much as possible like to document some of the more important moments. 

So I am going to do a snapshot of September 24. 

Polling shows Trump still has a commanding lead and the race for second place seems to be in question now. Yes, DeSantis owns it for now, but Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy all have a claim at it. 

When speaking of Iowa politics, one of the biggest names is Bob Vander Plaats- CEO of the Conservative activist group The Family Leader, three time candidate for Governor and wanna be Kingmaker. 

Whether you like VanderPlaats or not, his record is quite interesting. He has backed the last three winners of the Iowa Republican Caucuses- Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz. You might notice that none of those men would win their eventual nomination. 

I think most people forgot the contentious 2016 caucus where Cruz beat Trump by 4% to win Iowa. In retrospect, Trump is much loved in most of Iowa and certainly has gained the support of many evangelical voters. But many of those Iowans backed Cruz. I know some personally remember that. I know some have never been onboard with Trump (opting for other options like Evan McMullin or Gary Johnson) 

If one didn’t follow such things, one would assume Vander Plaats got behind Trump for his 2024 run. Surely others like Ted Cruz and his ugly wife have. 

But he hasn’t. 

One would then guess Vander Plaats is looking at other options- the Pat Robertson- endorsed Nikki Haley or the always prayerful Mike Pence. 

And he is. 

But he’s also looking at Vivek Ramaswamy, the Hindu candidate. 

The Des Moines Register reports on the unlikely pairing and so I excerpt heavily below   

Vivek Ramaswamy opens and closes almost every stump speech in Iowa with the same line. "God is real." It's the kind of religious sentiment Iowa Republicans, many of whom self-identify as evangelicals, are accustomed to hearing from presidential candidates hoping to establish their Christian bona fides. But Ramaswamy, 38, isn't Christian. The Ohio biotech entrepreneur, the son of immigrant Indian parents, is a practicing Hindu. 

Bob Vander Plaats, CEO of the conservative Christian advocacy group The Family Leader in Urbandale, said that it is important to evangelical Christians for the president to believe that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. But, he said they would be more likely to vote for Ramaswamy than President Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, because Biden supports abortion rights. 

Vander Plaats talks with Ramaswamy regularly. Ramaswamy prayed with him before a dinner at Vander Plaats' home, the Family Leader CEO said. "Vivek, I believe, would be more palatable in many ways for the faith-based community than Donald Trump,” said Vander Plaats, who does not support Trump's candidacy. “He treats people with respect. There’s an honor about him and he espouses our values. Faith is not something you can force upon an individual.” 

Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition President Steve Scheffler said evangelicals are unconcerned by Ramaswamy’s Hindu faith, unlike the way they would be if an atheist or agnostic candidate ran as a Republican presidential candidate. “He’s acknowledging that this country was founded on Judeo-Christian values," Scheffler said. “When he acknowledges that, that gives me a lot of comfort.” “He’s probably read the Scriptures as much if not more than many who call themselves Christian,” Vander Plaats said. “So my guess is he would be deriving those beliefs from the God of our Scriptures.”

So while Vander Plaats and Vivek get the front page, DeSantis is relegated to the back pages. What's next- we don't know. Election races change on a whim of fate. I can't picture an outright trouncing of the field by Trump, but I also know that he does have a commanding hold of Iowa conservative voters, so we will see.