AMES, Iowa — Debate draws motorcycle gang

OFF THE WIRE
AMES, Iowa — Iowa State University is a long way from Leesburg, Va., the place Eilana Caswell calls home.
“It’s about 20 miles outside of Washington, district of corruption,” Caswell said with a laugh.
Caswell is a part of the Sons of Liberty motorcycle club, named after the group best known for pulling off the Boston Tea Party in 1773. She’s dressed in black and sports a leather vest emblazoned with a picture of a dog and the words “Constitutional Pit Bull” on the back.
On Thursday, she and about three dozen of her motorcycle club compatriots rode into Ames to watch the Republican presidential debate.
Why make the trip?
“Aren’t you American? This is what it’s all about,” she said as she walked past workers putting up banners and tents toward the Scheman Building, where the debate was held.
The banners and tents are part of the campaign operations for candidates and special interests that are vying for access to voters, media and each other on Saturday during the Iowa GOP straw poll in Ames.
The space comes at a premium and the money goes to the Iowa Republican Party. On the south wall of the Hilton Coliseum — where media watched the debate on the arena’s jumbotron — a banner from the wind energy folks hung next to one from the renewable fuels people which hung next to one from the petroleum lobby.
“They have to switch them around for tomorrow,” said state Rep. Renee Schulte, a Republican from Cedar Rapids. “The space you get is determined by the amount of the donation.”
Schulte was volunteering for the party on Thursday and planned to be in Ames today and on Saturday for the straw poll.
Her preferred candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, isn’t in participating in the poll on Saturday. That fact, however, didn’t damper her enthusiasm for the scene.
“These are the stars of our party,” she said. “It’s exciting to see who’s here, to hear about who may be coming and talk about it.”
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