The Iowa GOP is rather flustered that they are bleeding support for their pay-to-play system, more colloquially known as the Iowa Straw Poll. [mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ], Jeb Bush, and Mike Huckabee have all said they won’t be spending money there, and others have said they weren’t sure. The straw poll hasn’t been a great source of accuracy when it comes to who the next GOP presidential candidate will be…

Desperate times, however, call for desperate measures, and the Iowa GOP is… beyond desperate (bolding mine).

“All a candidate really needs this year is 1) a plane ticket to Iowa, 2) a hotel room for the night and 3) the boldness to face 20,000 Iowans,” wrote Mr. Williams, who is also a member of the state party’s governing board. “If they can’t do that, how can we expect them to face ISIS?”

I don’t know much about Iowa, frankly. I know it’s a place where the straw poll happens, and something about corn subsidies. I do not think, however, that several thousands Iowans that you’re trying to get to support your presidential campaign have the same intimidation factor that ISIS does. Unless the Iowans are trying to cut your head off, but they seem like a peaceful bunch, honestly. Really, a state GOP that has run an event like this before should know better than to say really, really stupid things in the press like this.

The Iowa GOP is incredibly desperate for relevance in the electoral process because it does bring big money into the state from candidates who really see nothing in return. This is what happens when you consider yourself bigger than your cause. The Iowa GOP believes itself to be more important than the conservative movement (i.e. subsidies are not something we should be in favor of, because it is government interfering in the market system), and when the well begins to run dry, the harsh reality sets in.