爱荷华州尼奥拉-前副总统迈克·彭斯本周，他结束了在爱荷华州10个县举行的12场活动中的大部分活动，要求人们在接下来的几个月里为他自己、他的妻子凯伦和所有其他2024年共和党候选人祈祷。
这个问题可能包括他的前竞选伙伴和彭斯在寻求入主白宫的过程中需要清除的最高障碍:前总统唐纳德·特朗普。
彭斯周三早上在爱荷华州的苏城说:“我想问你是否愿意不时地低头屈膝，如果你在祈祷中记得我们，凯伦和我会很感激。”"为所有参加共和党初选的优秀男女祈祷."
但彭斯并不总是对他的前老板毕恭毕敬。为期三天的爱荷华州闪电战充满了选民对特朗普的提问-包括两个直接关于彭斯在2021年1月6日证明乔·拜登在2020年总统选举中获胜的角色，特朗普错误地声称这是他目前不在白宫的原因。彭斯通常会小心翼翼地提到他的领先对手，但他也做出了一些尖锐的回应。
”我说，至少有一次“本周在爱荷华州，我无权在2020年推翻选举，”彭斯周四在爱荷华州西部的一个小镇上进行最后一次竞选活动，该镇距离特朗普后来于周五举行活动的康塞尔布拉夫斯(Council Bluffs)只有20分钟的车程。
他补充说:“我非常有信心，尤其是在本周之后，爱荷华州的人民将会以全新的眼光看待我们，不仅是我们，还有前总统，以及所有的候选人。”
这两位候选人本周访问了这个关键的早期州，无论是在规模上还是在语气上，都提供了一个分屏，显示了曾经在同一张选票上的人是如何制定策略来赢得党团会议并最终获得共和党提名的。
本周在爱荷华州，Pence从Urbandale独立日游行到Neola州中途的一个当地露营地跨越了数百英里。他参加了当地共和党的私人聚会，并与退伍军人和社区成员握手。对于广泛传播福音的中西部选民来说，他标榜自己是一个经验丰富、充满信仰的公务员。彭斯的竞选团队向美国广播公司新闻证实，他的计划是做许多他在上周参与的小规模零售政治活动。
在与爱荷华州选民互动时，彭斯提到特朗普的时候非常微妙，他经常告诉人们，他为特朗普-彭斯政府的成就感到自豪，并对总统忠诚，“直到那一天，我对美国宪法的宣誓要求我不这样做。”
“彭斯非常有条理，也很有策略，”共和党战略家、前共和党全国委员会助理道格·叶禾说。“他将在他认为政治上最有利的事情上与特朗普正面交锋——并且着眼于历史，因为他显然正在努力这样做。”
特朗普在谈到彭斯时也走了类似的路线:礼貌，但在回应1月6日的事件时毫不让步。
“我非常喜欢迈克·彭斯。他是一个非常好的人，一个非常好的人，”特朗普在他的演讲中说CNN市政厅五月。“他犯了个错误。...他做了错事。他应该把选票退回给州立法机构，我认为我们会有不同的结果。”
周五在康塞尔布拉夫斯，数百人排队听特朗普吹嘘他总统任期内的农业成就，并在离开该州前在当地的一家乳品皇后店停留。在他的讲话中，特朗普一直在抨击他最接近的竞争对手，州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯。他一次也没有提到便士。
特朗普竞选团队的一名发言人告诉美国广播公司新闻，这位候选人在爱荷华州的前进道路是“在每个层面上的全方位统治，任何其他竞选活动都无法接近。”
两位候选人的利害关系大相径庭。对于特朗普来说，在2016年爱荷华州党团会议上输给特德·克鲁兹，然后飙升至共和党提名，党团会议的胜利将是受欢迎的，但不一定是必要的。对于彭斯来说，他在2010年以两位数的差距落后于特朗普和德桑蒂斯大多数全国性民意调查爱荷华州可能至关重要。
彭斯似乎知道这一点，他发誓要进行“完整的格拉斯利”——在该州所有99个县巡回演出，这是爱荷华州参议员查克·格拉斯利推广的东西。
“我认为我们需要做好。我们要竭尽全力。我将去所有99个县…我将做整个披萨农场之旅，”本周在爱荷华州Le Mars的一次活动中，当被问及鹰眼州的比赛有多重要时，彭斯说。
该家族领袖的主席鲍勃·范德·普拉茨(Bob Vander Plaats)是该州一名有影响力的福音派基督教活动人士，他指出，艾奥瓦州的胜利，尤其是对前总统特朗普的胜利，可能是最有可能获得认真对待的方式之一动力在共和党初选中。
“你并不总是选择获胜者，但你缩小了范围，”范德·普拉茨说，他承认过去爱荷华州党团会议的获胜者，如克鲁兹、里克·桑托勒姆或迈克·哈克比，都没有成为总统候选人。
“问题是，我认为为什么爱荷华州这次如此重要，如果特朗普赢得爱荷华州，我认为很多人会想‘我不知道你要如何阻止他。’但如果你在爱荷华州击败了特朗普，那将基本上表明他可以击败，他可以被击败，这将是一个发射台。"
彭斯似乎相信爱荷华州人民有能力认识到他和特朗普之间的区别。恰恰是他对宗教的虔诚和对“文明”的强调，似乎在本周影响了一些爱荷华州的选民。
“真的坐在这里，听你谈论你的信仰……然后想想这可能是我们的国家由一个有信仰的人领导的现实。它深深地触动了南希和我的心。这就是我们所需要的，”苏中心居民Bernerd Versteeg周三在镇上的见面会上站起来告诉Pence。
但Versteeg在活动结束后接受美国广播公司新闻采访时表示，他仍然不确定他是否会为Pence投票。他说他需要“再多看几眼”。
Ida县共和党主席Teresa Paulsrud表示，她认为该州是像Pence这样的候选人的公平竞争对手，她说Pence是“一个了不起的人”
“很明显，我两次投票给特朗普。有些共和党人不确定他们会不会第三次这么做。我听到了一些反馈。只是很难说。你知道，这是不可能预测的，”她在艾达县主持彭斯的活动后说，并补充说，“没有人能超越他的经验水平。”
Vander Plaats注意到早期投票和早期州的胜利之间的脱节。
“早期的民意调查并没有说明很多问题。如果是这样的话，迈克·哈克比、里克·桑托勒姆和特德·克鲁兹，他们都不会赢得爱荷华州的党团会议，因为他们都落后了，而且落后得很厉害。
“所以你需要做的是做彭斯正在做的事情，从一个比萨饼农场到另一个比萨饼农场，握手回答同样的问题，只是让人们穿好。我认为爱荷华州人很聪明，他们很有洞察力，但是他们不会很快做出决定。我认为这有利于像副总统彭斯这样的人。”
前阿肯色州州长麦克·哈克比(Mike Huckabee)2008年问鼎白宫的彭斯竞选活动全国主席奇普·萨尔特曼(Chip Saltsman)告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)，他并不担心彭斯在民调中的位置。
“2008年夏天，哈克比州长的支持率是1%。索特斯曼说:“今年夏天，我还没有看到一个领先者在爱荷华州党团会议上获胜。”哈克比在共和党提名输给当时的参议员约翰·麦凯恩之前赢得了那个周期的党团会议。
“爱荷华州是一个奖励努力工作的基层州，在这个州，你必须赢得他们的选票，你不能收买他们，”他补充说。
距离定于2024年1月15日举行的爱荷华州党团会议还有大约六个月的时间。
Pence, Trump court Iowa voters in hopes of getting early state momentum
NEOLA, Iowa --Former Vice President Mike Penceended most of his 12 events across 10 Iowa counties this week by asking the crowd to pray over the next few months -- for himself, his wife Karen and all of the other 2024 GOP hopefuls.
That ask presumably includes his former running mate and the highest hurdle for Pence to clear in his own quest for the White House: former President Donald Trump.
“I'd ask you if you're of the mind to bow the head and bend the knee and from time to time, Karen and I'd be grateful if you remember us in your prayer,” Pence said in Sioux City Iowa on Wednesday morning. “Pray for all those good men and women that are standing in the Republican primaries.”
But Pence isn’t always deferential to his former boss. The three-day Iowa blitz was peppered with questions from voters about Trump -- including two directly about Pence’s his role in certifying Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021, a move that Trump falsely claims is why he is not currently in the White House. Pence, who usually refers to his frontrunner opponent carefully, offered some sharp responses back.
“I said,at least on one occasion, this week here in Iowa, I had no right to overturn the election in 2020,” Pence said at his final campaign stop on Thursday in a western Iowa town just a 20-minute drive from Council Bluffs, where Trump later held an event on Friday.
“I'm very confident -- moreso after this week, that the people of Iowa are going to take a fresh look, not only at us, but at the former president, and that all the candidates,” he added.
The two candidate visits to the pivotal early state this week, both in size and tone, offered a split-screen of how the men who were once on the same ticket are strategizing to win the caucus and eventually the GOP nomination.
In Iowa this week, Pence spanned hundreds of miles from the Urbandale Independence Day parade to a local campground halfway across the state in Neola. He sat in intimate gatherings with local Republican parties and shook hands with veterans and community members. To the widely Evangelical Midwestern electorate, he billed himself as an experienced, faith-filled civil servant. Pence’s campaign confirmed to ABC News that his plan is to do much of the small-scale, retail politicking he engaged in over the last week.
Pence's mention of Trump is mostly delicate while interacting with voters in Iowa, often telling people he’s proud of the accomplishments of the Trump-Pence administration and was loyal to the president “right up until that fateful day that my oath to the Constitution of the United States required me to do otherwise.”
"Pence is very methodical and strategic," said Doug Heye, a GOP strategist and former Republican National Committee aide. "He's going to take Trump head-on on those things where politically he sees the best advantage -- and with an eye to history, as he's as he's obviously trying to do."
Trump walks a similar line when talking about Pence: polite, but unyielding in his response to the events of January 6.
“I like Mike Pence very much. He’s a very fine man, a very nice man,” Trump said during hisCNN town hallin May. “He made a mistake. ... He did something wrong. He should’ve put the votes back to the state legislatures and I think we would’ve had a different outcome.”
In Council Bluffs on Friday, hundreds lined up to hear Trump boast about the agricultural accomplishments of his presidency and stop at a local Dairy Queen before leaving the state. Throughout his remarks, Trump took jabs at his closest rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis. He did not mention Pence once.
A spokesman for the Trump campaign told ABC News that the candidate’s path forward in Iowa is “full-spectrum dominance at every level that no other campaign can even come close to touching.”
The stakes are vastly different for the two candidates. For Trump, who lost the 2016 Iowa caucus to Sen. Ted Cruz before soaring to the Republican nomination, the caucus win would be welcome but not necessarily imperative. For Pence, who trails Trump and DeSantis by double digits inmost national polls, Iowa could be essential.
And Pence seems to know that, pledging to make the “full Grassley”-- a tour of all 99 counties in the state, something that senior Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley has popularized.
“I think we need to do well. We're gonna work our hearts out. I'm gonna go to all 99 counties…I'm gonna do the whole Pizza Ranch tour,” Pence said at an event in Le Mars, Iowa this week, when asked how essential the Hawkeye State’s contest was.
Bob Vander Plaats, president of The Family Leader and an influential Evangelical Christian activist in the state, noted that an Iowa win, especially against former President Trump, could be one of the surest ways to gain seriousmomentumin the GOP primaries.
"It's not always that you pick the winner, but you narrow the field," said Vander Plaats, who acknowledged that past Iowa caucus winners like Cruz, Rick Santorum or Mike Huckabee didn't go on to become presidential nominees.
"The thing is here, I think why Iowa is so crucial this time, If Trump wins Iowa, I think a lot of people would think 'I don't know how you're gonna stop him.' but if you beat Trump in Iowa, that's gonna basically show that he can beat that he can be beaten and it will be a launchpad."
Pence appears to be putting faith in the ability of the people of Iowa to recognize the distinctions between him and Trump. And it's precisely his religiosity and emphasis on “civility” that seemed to impact some Iowa voters this week.
“To actually sit here and listen to you talk about your faith…And then to think that this could be a reality for our country to be led by a man of faith. It just touches Nancy and my heart deeply. That's what we need,” Sioux Center resident Bernerd Versteeg stood up and told Pence at a meet-and-greet in the town on Wednesday.
But Versteeg, in an interview with ABC News following the event, said he still wasn’t sure he’d caucus for Pence. He said he needed to give a “few more” a look.
Ida County GOP Chair Teresa Paulsrud said she thinks the state is fair game for a candidate like Pence, who she said is “a wonderful person”
“Obviously, I voted for Trump twice. There are Republicans who are not sure they're going to do that a third time. And I've heard some of that feedback. It's just hard to say. You know, this is impossible to predict,” she said after hosting Pence’s event in Ida County, adding that “nobody can beat his experience level.”
Vander Plaats noted the disconnect between early polling and victories in early states.
"The early polls just don't say a whole lot. If it was the case, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz, none of them were to win the Iowa caucuses because they were all trailing and trailing significantly," Vander Plaats said.
“So what you need to do is doing the things that Pence is doing and that's going from Pizza Ranch to Pizza Ranch, shaking hands answering the same questions and just wearing on people well. I think Iowans are wise they're savvy, they're very discerning, but they don't make up their mind quickly. And I think that benefits somebody like Vice President Pence."
And Chip Saltsman, national campaign chairman for the Pence campaign who ran former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s 2008 White House bid, told ABC News that he wasn’t worried about Pence’s place in the polls.
“Governor Huckabee was at 1%, in the summertime in 2008. I have yet to see a front runner in the summer make it to the Iowa caucus and win,” Saltsman said. Huckabee won the caucus that cycle before losing the GOP nomination to then-Sen. John McCain.
“Iowa is a grassroots state that rewards hard work, and it's a state where you have to earn their vote and you can't buy it,” he added.
There are roughly six months until the Iowa caucus, slated to be held on Jan. 15, 2024.
