Yepsen: Feuding Iowa GOP tilts further right

DAVID YEPSEN • dyepsen@dmreg.com • July 15, 2008 Iowa's Republican social conservatives have ousted a longtime state GOP leader from the national committee, replacing him with one of their own. Steve Scheffler, head of the Iowa Christian Alliance, easily defeated veteran national committee member Steve Roberts by a vote of 788 to 543 at the state GOP convention Saturday. Kim Lehman, head of the Iowa Right to Life organization, also defeated state Rep. Sandy Greiner for the job of national committeewoman by a vote of 729 to 484. The votes reflect a growing rightward drift of the Iowa GOP, as well as a growing dissatisfaction among many party activists with the nuts-and-bolts operation of the party. Roberts and Greiner were seen as the older, more centrist candidates who sought to make the party a big tent that appealed to a... [read full story]