SRLC Preview: 5 Takeaways From The Iowa GOP’s Lincoln Dinner

Iowa GOP Lincoln Dinner: 5 takeaways
By ELI STOKOLS

DES MOINES, Iowa — From pancake breakfasts to fundraisers to candidate meet-and-greets, this was a big weekend for presidential politicking in Iowa. Most of the major Republican candidates could be found pressing the flesh in some corner of the first-in-the-nation caucus state, culminating with 11 hopefuls converging here in a downtown ballroom filled with 1400 party members and activists Saturday night.

All were hoping for a breakthrough moment at the Iowa Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner — the kind of electric response that Scott Walker generated in a single January speech that propelled him to the head of the pack. Short of that, there were more practical goals — namely standing out in a crowded field of candidates and convincing skeptical Iowans to take a long look at their campaigns.

Here are five takeaways from Iowa’s biggest 2016 presidential cattle call to date:

1. THE IOWA STRAW POLL IS ON LIFE SUPPORT

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