Presidential candidate Mitt Romney does not plan to compete in the Iowa Republican straw poll in August, an event he spent more than $1 million to win four years ago, aides said Thursday.
The poll would divert time and money from a 2012 campaign designed to present Romney as a national candidate, the aides said.
The decision is a measure of how different a 2012 Romney campaign would be from his bid in 2008. It is also further evidence that the nonbinding contests are seen as optional for better-known candidates.
“It’s a gamble that you put a lot of resources behind and it’s not a predictor of who wins the caucuses. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s not,” said Charlie Black, a 30-year Republican presidential campaign strategist who advised John McCain’s 2008 effort. “It’s an opportunity for underdogs. It’s a trap for front-runners.”
Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, also is not planning to compete in any of the other nonbinding straw polls in early nominating states, including those in Michigan or Florida.
“We respect the straw poll process. In the last presidential campaign we were both strengthened as an organization and learned some important lessons by participating” in straw polls, Romney campaign spokesman Matt Rhoades said. “This time we will focus our energies and resources on winning primaries and caucuses.”
Romney has said he will campaign in Iowa, where he finished second in the 2008 caucuses. He visited Iowa last month, reconnecting with elements of the statewide network he built over the course of a year and with roughly $10 million in 2007.
Romney aides also confirmed Thursday that he will participate in the Fox News Channel debate in Iowa scheduled two days before the Aug. 13 straw poll in Ames.
It was not clear that Romney’s decision would prompt other candidates to reconsider competing in the straw poll.
“There are many, many presidential candidates that need to demonstrate organizational strength and support in Iowa, and the straw poll will be the place to do it,” Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn said.
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