Driving Trump to victory in Iowa - KCCI Des Moines

This time around, Laudner is running Donald Trump's Iowa campaign. That's because Trump is largely eschewing the classic retail politicking that has defined presidential campaigns in Iowa for decades, and much of Laudner's own career as a political operative. Trump's jaunts to Iowa start and end with a flight on his private plane, and his travel to events involves a fleet of black SUVs, not an operative's pickup truck. Even as he heads to the fair on Saturday for the most conventional stop in Iowa politics, Trump will whirr above the crowds and land in his Trump-emblazoned helicopter. But Laudner sees no reason to bring Trump's campaign in line with the old mold -- a whirlwind of small stops over several days that involves a lot of handshaking and personalized pitches to small crowds. At a typical campaign event, Trump meets privately with a handful of local leaders before or after a speech to a crowd of several hundred, and sometimes several thousand, potential supporters. "This isn't the campaign Chuck ran for Rick," said Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey, a Republican who is staying neutral in the GOP primary, after warmly bumping into Laudner at the fair. Trump's ability to draw large crowds might be at odds with the classic model of Iowa politics, but for Laudner it offers the surest path to victory for a non-establishment. Source: www.kcci.com