Donald Trump’s visit to Iowa on Saturday for a marquee college football matchup marked just the sixth time the former president has visited the Hawkeye State since entering the race roughly ten months ago.
His absence — though he remains the overwhelming favorite with a double-digit lead in the state — flies in the face of the old political maxim that candidates must press the flesh to win the GOP’s kickoff nominating contest.
His rivals have tried to fill the void.
And yet, Mr. Trump was the biggest political draw at the game between Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. He took in the annual grudge match from a private stadium suite with Iowa casino powerhouse Gary Kirke, an influential Republican donor, after stopping by a fraternity house before kickoff.
Mr. Trump shared the spotlight with his closest rival Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, as well as biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
All four of them have logged far more time in Iowa than Mr. Trump, though only Mr. DeSantis has managed to climb above single digits in the polls.
SEE ALSO: Trump, DeSantis and other presidential candidates descend on Iowa rivalry game
Mr. Ramaswamy, a political newcomer, has held 60-plus events over 34 days in Iowa, according to a running tally from the Des Moines Register. Mr. Hutchinson has been there over two dozen times, and Mr. Burgum has attended over 20 events since entering the race in early June.
Mr. DeSantis intensified his focus on Iowa over the summer after some early stumbles. He made an appearance at Saturday’s game with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. Ms. Reynolds, an Iowa State alum, is beloved by Republicans in the state.
Mr. DeSantis has now been in the state for 17 days, held over 60 campaign stops and visited 53 of the state’s 99 counties. The DeSantis team was also eager to share another nugget of information: Mr. Trump was on the ground in Iowa for a grand total of 45 minutes last month.
“Donald Trump left the door wide open in the Hawkeye State, and Ron DeSantis has taken advantage of that opportunity,” said DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo. “The more Iowans see Ron DeSantis in person, the more his message to reverse our nation’s decline will continue to resonate.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steve Cheung said that is wishful thinking.
“President Trump has a dominant lead in every single Iowa poll that has been released — including a recent one from a DeSantis-aligned pollster that shows President Trump’s lead INCREASING,” Mr. Cheung said in an email to The Washington Times.
The latest Des Moines Register poll, released after the Iowa State Fair last month, showed Mr. Trump with a 42% to 19% lead over Mr. DeSantis, who places a distant second in most surveys. There was a silver lining for the rest of the field as a third of Mr. Trump’s supporters said they could be persuaded to change their minds.
The poll numbers are a reminder of Mr. Trump’s iron grip on a big slice of the GOP and added to doubts over whether his rivals are chasing their tails.
Dennis J. Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University, said Mr. Trump has the advantage of being a known commodity in the state.
“He pops in occasionally to remind his supporters that he loves them, but otherwise … has not spent as much time here as most of the other Republican candidates,” Mr. Goldford said. “At the same time, what has all that attention from the latter gained them in polls up to now? Not much, apparently.”
“Still, we’re four months out, with a lot going on, so don’t rush to judgment,” he said.
That reality – combined with the more than 90 felony charges against Mr. Trump and doubts about the accuracy of polls – gives his rivals a glimmer of hope.
So they have jumped at the chance to glad-hand voters, kiss babies, and hobnob with activists at backyard barbecues and meetups at the chain of Pizza Ranch restaurants that have become an Iowa campaign staple.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who recently warned the Trump brand of populism is putting the party on the “road to ruin,” is set to return Monday to Iowa, marking his 20th day in the state. Mr. Pence has held 75 Iowa events, according to his campaign.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley will also be there, looking to build off the momentum she carried out of the first debate, where she said Mr. Trump is “the most disliked politician in all of America.”
Ms. Haley has a half-dozen stops penciled in, which will bring her Iowa event tally north of 40.
Meanwhile, Trump allies have signaled their concerns that he has been slow to build out its Iowa operation while his rivals fill the void. That includes Mr. DeSantis, who has had 12,000 Iowans commit to caucus for him, roughly a third of what was needed to win recent contests in the state.
Going all-in on Iowa has paid off for long shot contenders in previous Republican nomination races.
Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas won the Iowa caucuses after visiting all 99 counties on their way to winning the caucus in 2012 and 2016, respectively.
But Mr. Santorum and Mr. Cruz, a pair of hardline social conservatives who appealed to Iowa’s expansive pool of Christian conservative voters, went on to lose the nomination.
Perhaps that helps explain why former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has written off Iowa altogether and put all his efforts into New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.
The Christie campaign made it clear months ago that his Iowa operation is nonexistent.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.