Fiscal Conservatism

The guy who claims that Washington politicians can't control spending is spending up a storm leading up to the Ames Straw Poll.

One candidate, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, has assembled an unrivaled operation for the event: a statewide corps of 60 "super-volunteers," who have been paid between $500 and $1,000 per month to talk him up; a fleet of buses; more than $2 million in television ads in Iowa; a sleek direct-mail campaign; and a consultant who has been paid nearly $200,000 to direct Romney's straw poll production, which will include barbecue billed as the best in the state.

Facing off against this are a half-dozen candidates whose combined Iowa expenditures through the end of June did not match the $1 million Romney had spent by that point, not including his many TV ads. Tommy Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor, advertised in the Denison Bulletin & Review at a cost of $297. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback has been luring voters to Ames by sending out "brown bracelets" to wear around town ("a great conversation starter with friends and neighbors"). Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) is offering a tour of Washington -- dinner included -- to anyone who brings 25 friends to Ames.

$200,000 for ONE consultant to beat Tommy Thompson, Tancredo, Brownback, Huckabee, Hunter and Paul? Five million in ads and campaign materials? And this is the guy to whom we should turn over the federal checkbook?

It also may be unethical, if not illegal:

Romney aides say the payments [...] are not "walking around money," a term that once described the questionable practice of paying precinct workers to round up voters on Election Day.

"This is grass-roots organizing," said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden. "These are the people who arrange phone banks. These are the people who arrange door knocking." He said the payments are listed in the FEC reports as "GOTV [Get out the Vote] Consulting" because of the agency's rules [...]

Some people in Iowa do not see it exactly that way. They note that while Forbes also paid ground-level supporters in the weeks before the straw poll, it is unprecedented to pay so many people starting as early as Romney did.

Buying a straw poll where his main rivals aren't even running. Wow.