Despite his public denials flatly saying he’s not running for president, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) nevertheless seems to be making a lot of the right moves to do so — particularly an upcoming trip to Iowa. Or instead, could he just be trying to keep the actual candidates on their toes?
The Iowa Republican web site reports:
Sen. DeMint is scheduled to travel to the home of the First-In-The-Nation caucus on Saturday, March 26th.
DeMint will be in Iowa to keynote an event for Congressman Steve King. The event, which is being billed as a “conference,” will not be held in the 5th Congressional District, which King represents, but rather it will be held in Des Moines.
Steve King, of course, is the staunch conservative Congressman who has, among other things, accused President Obama of having “demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race — on the side that favors the black person.” Interestingly, King is also a close ally of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who has also been popping into the Hawkeye State.
CNN reports that a close DeMint adviser said that DeMint “sees he has a role in the process and he sees he hasn’t completely shut the door.”
DeMint currently sees his role in the 2012 process, the adviser said, as “setting the bar high” for the presidential contenders when it comes to advocating for a small government agenda.
“He hasn’t completely shut the door on running, and if there was a situation where there is a massive void in the group of candidates, who knows what would happen?,” said the adviser, who was quick to caution that there is only a five percent chance his boss will run.
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