Both President Barack Obama and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin showed up in the Hawkeye State on Tuesday, which is already being frequented by Republican presidential contenders vying ahead of a straw poll in August and a crucial first primary in February.
Himself the incumbent candidate for president in 2012, Obama visited the Alcoa Davenport Works, Bettendorf, Iowa to speak on the critical role that manufacturing plays in the American economy. He has been promoting an initiative to revive U.S. manufacturing since last Friday.
“Over the past 13 years, about a third of our manufacturing jobs have vanished,” said Obama, in Iowa on Tuesday, according to an official transcript. "A big part of our future has to be a robust and growing manufacturing sector … I want the cars and planes and wind turbines of the future to bear the proud stamp that says ‘Made in America.’"
Obama has launched a national effort to bring together industry, universities, and the federal government to invest in emerging technologies. He wants U.S. manufacturing to flourish based on technologies that will establish U.S. leadership in next-generation robotics, increase the energy efficiency of manufacturing processes, and dramatically reduce the time required to design, build, and test manufactured goods. To jump-start the effort, the federal government is investing $500 million.
Meanwhile, about 150 miles away, in Pella, Iowa, Palin attended the premier of a documentary praising her, “The Undefeated.” The documentary was independently made by Stephen Bannon, who previously made a documentary about the Tea Party movement titled “Generation Zero.”
The 2008 vice presidential candidate has not said whether or not she will seek the presidency, but the film is tentatively set to open in key primary states. A reviewer from the National Review said the documentary would be strange if she were not going to run.
“Palin presidential campaign is official only when word comes from Palin herself. But this stirring, surprisingly artistic, and narrative-driven film will seem strangely incomplete without one,” wrote Jim Geraghty.
Palin’s daughter Bristol said her mother already knows whether or not she will run.
"She definitely knows. We’ve talked about it before. Some things just need to stay in the family," said the younger Palin, speaking on Fox News. Still, it would be late in the game for Palin to enter the race now and there is no indication that she is in Iowa for anything other than to see the documentary.
“It’s not about Sarah Palin. It’s about the values she represents and that are in the film: tenacity, fortitude, and grit,” Bannon told The Daily Beast.
Visiting her birthplace in Waterloo, Iowa, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota officially announced on Monday she would be running for president. Bachmann is statistically tied with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for first based on a Des Moines Register poll from the weekend.
The next big event in Iowa will be the Ames Straw Poll on Aug. 13. Romney, perhaps strategically, has declined to participate.
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