JEB! and GOD!

We can fool enough people, when we need too!
The rest we just buy off!

(National Journal) - On a sunny Saturday morning in early March, Bob Vander Plaats walked into the West Des Moines Marriott with a chip on his shoulder. Iowa's evangelical shot-caller had come to meet with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who was in town for the Iowa Ag Summit, a cattle call that drew the majority of Republican presidential hopefuls. Over the course of the weekend, Vander Plaats had sit-downs scheduled with just about all of them. But not Jeb Bush.

A twice-failed gubernatorial candidate who helped boost Mike Huckabee to victory in the 2008 caucuses, Vander Plaats has grown accustomed to presidential aspirants lining up to kiss his ring, and his group, the Family Leader, has yet to choose a candidate for 2016. But when Bush's team planned the former Florida governor's first trip to Iowa in 15 years, no time was set aside for Vander Plaats—or for any of Iowa's other prominent Christian conservatives. The snub had left Vander Plaats stewing.

So who did he see when he walked into the Marriott lobby on Saturday morning? Bush himself—accompanied by David Kochel, the longtime Iowa Republican strategist who's been tapped to run Bush's national campaign. Kochel leaned over to the candidate, and after a nod and a whisper, the two sprung up and made a beeline for Vander Plaats.

God may be dead, but there are
still plenty of false ones running around, 
asking for your vote!

"I would not say it was awkward," Vander Plaats recalls, a trace of mischievousness in his voice. "I would say it was 'Iowa hospitable.'  " He and Bush chatted casually for about 10 minutes, he recalls, steering clear of thorny subjects and engaging in some farming banter. Bush, whom Vander Plaats says was "very, very gracious," promised to keep in touch. That struck Vander Plaats as a throwaway line, nothing more than a pleasant way of ending the conversation. But over the following week, Bush's team, at the candidate's behest, did follow up, multiple times. Bush asked Vander Plaats to arrange a private meeting with his evangelical allies in Iowa; Vander Plaats consented, on the condition that Bush also speak publicly at a Family Leader function. While Bush's team has not yet committed to that, Vander Plaats is confident that Bush will be back in Iowa sometime this year for both public and private vetting sessions with the state's leading social conservatives. (Bush declined to comment for this story.) Read more.