Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and probably Fred Thompson are skipping the August 11 Ames Straw Poll in Iowa, and so is second-tier GOP candidate Jim Gilmore, the former Virginia governor whose conservative record hasn't helped him raise cash or his campaign-trail visibility.
Gilmore announced June 7 on his blog that he is skipping the event. An item on his campaign blog on June 7 said the campaign's resources "will be better utilized if they are instead focused on the Iowa caucuses in January."
Gilmore has made a half dozen trips to Iowa in recent months, has a campaign staff member at work in the state and made the official announcement of his candidacy from Iowa GOP headquarters in Des Moines.
Gilmore said today “unfortunately, the results of the August Iowa straw poll are going to be determined solely by which candidate is willing to spend the most money and will have little to do with the candidate’s conservative appeal to Republican voters.”
Translation: Even though three of the four major candidates skipping Ames, clearing the way for a second-tier candidate to score a major PR coup by holding Romney to a low winning margin, Gilmore doesn't have the cash to try to be that candidate.
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