Iowa GOP Says They Are Ready For Caucus Night

Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann

Des Moines, Iowa – The Republican Party of Iowa (RPI) took one on the chin four years ago, when then Chairman Matt Strawn walked on stage caucus night to announce that Mitt Romney was the winner.

That announcement led to weeks of turmoil, and a black eye for the party when it was later announced that indeed Rick Santorum had won the Iowa Caucuses, not Mitt Romney. That misstep may have altered the political potential of Santorum’s campaign by not receiving the media attention and dollars that help swell the coffers of the winner.

Chairman Jeff Kaufmann spoke with Oskaloosa News Thursday night about the steps being taken that will hopefully prevent another misstep in the Iowa Caucus.

“The eyes of the world are on us,” said Kaufmann of the RPI’s efforts to have caucus night go smoothly.

“We’ve done three things that I think should make people feel very comfortable,” says Kaufmann.

Partnering with the Iowa Democrats and Microsoft in development of an app that, according to Kaufmann, has internal checks that will flag potential problems with results “so we can double check that.” Kaufmann said the app and its results will be very transparent. “The media is going to see the same results that I see, that everyone sees as the results are coming in.”

Kaufmann believes that by being so transparent, attendees to the individual caucus sites will also be able to see the results, and make sure the results posted are the same they heard and read at their location.

The second thing changing for the Iowa Republican Party to prevent a replay of 4 years ago is that Kaufmann will not declare a winner “unless it’s very obvious that there is a winner.”

If things are close in the race, Kaufmann may take the stage and say, “Here are the results, draw your own conclusions, because I’m not going to make the mistake that was made last caucus.”

Kaufmann said that the third step being taken is that the state party is giving itself 48 hours to “gather up every piece of paper, the entire paper trail. We’re going to verify those results so then we will be able to make everything official.”

Kaufmann and the RPI are looking to help solidify the state’s status as first in the nation, “We have to earn our first in the nation every four years. Every four years, we have to fight for this.”

“The most important thing the people of Iowa can do is participate. The most important thing I can do as chairman of the party is make sure I’m neutral. Don’t pull any ridiculous nonsense that was pulled in Tampa [Florida] at the last convention. Neither of those are going to happen and make sure we pull off 1,681 precincts, all volunteers. We pay for it ourselves and give world class results.”

“If we can do that, Iowa’s going to be first in the nation again,” said Kaufmann in closing.