Iowa Governor: Let's Kill Our Straw Poll

The Iowa straw poll may be a political tradition for the GOP, but the state's own Republican governor thinks it should be retired. The Ames poll has "outlived its usefulness" except as a fundraiser for the party, Terry Branstad tells the Wall Street Journal. In more than 30 years, only George W. Bush in 1999 has won both the poll and the presidency the following year, notes the Journal. Witness last year's winner: Michele Bachmann. The state's GOP chief quickly brushed off Branstad's suggestion, however. "This is not a decision he will make," says AJ Spiker. (More Iowa stories.)