By Gregory L. Giroux
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 7

Delegates: 25

Chairman: Sen. Charles E. Grassley

Hotel: Hampton Inn Mt. Laurel (856) 778-5535

1996 Election:
Clinton – 50%
Dole – 40%
Perot – 9%

It should come as no surprise that Iowa's 25 Republican delegates are conservative. The series of caucuses by which the Iowa Republican Party selects its national convention delegates is tailor-made for grass-roots conservative activists, who have tended to dominate Republican Party politics in Iowa.

"I think our delegation is a conservative-leaning delegation, simply because of the process," said state Republican Executive Director Dee Stewart.

Though Texas Gov. George W. Bush won Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses on Jan. 24 with an estimated 41 percent of the vote, it was not one of his dazzling performances. In fact, it contained a whiff of vulnerability that was amplified the following week with Arizona Sen. John McCain's upset victory in New Hampshire.

McCain did not actively participate in the Iowa caucuses, deciding to place all of his chips on New Hampshire - a strategy that gave him a bright though brief moment in the national spotlight.

Instead, publisher Steve Forbes and talk show host Alan Keyes aggressively sought the support of Iowa's social conservatives and took 30 percent and 14 percent, respectively, in the first-round caucuses. McCain received a token 5 percent.

Iowa delegates are not committed to specific candidates, but Stewart said he expected all delegates would be behind Bush.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, who was easily elected to a fourth six-year term in 1998, is chairman of the Iowa delegation.

Terry E. Branstad, a former four-term governor, will be welcomed as a delegate by his fellow Iowans. But it might be best if the Iowa delegation is seated on the opposite end of First Union Center from the Nebraska delegation.

Though a Republican stalwart, Branstad in May endorsed former Nebraska Democratic Gov. Ben Nelson - with whom he had a close working relationship as governor - in this year's race for the U.S. Senate seat left open by retiring Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey. The move angered Nebraska Republicans.

Another Iowa delegate sure to draw attention is state Republican Chairman Kayne Robinson, who is also the first vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA). Addressing a meeting of NRA members in February, he said that a Republican presidential victory would mean "we'll have . . . a president" where "we work out of their office." A video of that speech, leaked to the press in the spring, spurred a flurry of Democratic accusations that Bush is closely tied to the NRA.

Republican officeholders attending as delegates are state Auditor Richard Johnson, state Senate Majority Leader Stewart Iverson, state Sen. Mike Sexton and state Rep. Rosemary Thomson, whose involvement in Republican politics dates to the days of Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s when she was a self-described " 'I Like Ike' girl."

Ray Hoffmann, a German immigrant and successful businessman who is treasurer of the Iowa GOP, is a delegate.

Prominent conservative delegates include Steve Scheffler, former field director for the Iowa Christian Coalition, and Nancy Streck, who was active in conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996. Both campaigned for Forbes in this year's caucuses.

Next to expressing its support for Bush, the Iowa delegation's top priority at the convention is to ensure that their caucuses retain their primacy in the nominating calendar - regardless of how and whether the convention decides to change future nominating campaigns.

Going into the convention, the Republicans were debating whether to adopt the "Delaware Plan," which would junk the current nominating process and allow the least populous states to vote first. Under that proposal, Iowa (which ranks 30th among the states in population) would be placed in the second grouping of states.

But Stewart said the Delaware Plan does not prevent Iowa from going first in the nation, because GOP delegates are not actually selected at the precinct caucuses but at a lower-profile state convention months later.

IOWA NOTABLES: Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the delegation chairman; former Gov. Terry E. Branstad; state Republican Chairman Kayne Robinson; state Auditor Richard Johnson; state Senate Majority Leader Stewart Iverson.