Iowa Republican Party Chairman

Updated: Expect this announcement from Strawn this morning

Two Iowa Republican sources tell me they expect Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn to resign soon. Strawn has been under siege from critics ever since the January 3rd Iowa Caucuses. In the early morning hours January 4th, Strawn declared Mitt Romney the winner of the caucuses, despite the fact Romney only lead the count by just 8 votes. Critics questioned how Strawn could make that declaration when he knew the party's official certification process would follow 2 weeks later and frequently that process finds discrepancies in the final count. Although in previous years, the attention was never this focused because the results were never this close.

Days later, word surfaced from a caucus goer in Appanoose County in southern Iowa that the results reported in his precinct weren't correct and the 20 vote total error would actually put Rick Santorum ahead of Romney. Strawn sent out a statement that said the allegations wouldn't change the outcome of the winner. The statement said in part:

“Out of respect to the candidates involved, party officials will not respond to every rumor, innuendo or allegation during the two week process.

That said, Iowa GOP officials have been in contact with Appanoose County Republican officials tonight and do not have any reason to believe the final, certified results of Appanoose County will change the outcome of Tuesday’s vote.”

That statement only infuriated Santorum supporters even more. Then, two weeks later, Strawn decided to give the certified results early to the Des Moines Register, the day before the party said it would release the results. In that story, Strawn seemed to maintain the caucuses had no winner or two winners, depending on how you phrase it. Essentially, there was a tie between Romney and Santorum. If it were possible to anger Santorum supporters even more, Strawn had just done it. They questioned how it was possible for Strawn to declare Romney the winner when he was up by 8 votes, but Strawn refused to say Santorum was the winner when the count showed him up by 20 votes? The next day Strawn held a brief availability with reporters at party headquarters. He declared, under pressure from Republican activists, that Santorum was indeed the winner. However, because of all the confusion, I asked how the media should report this: who won the 2012 caucuses? Strawn responded that that's a question for the media and the pundits to answer.

The caucuses got ripped in headlines across the country. Craig Robinson, the founder of the conservative website, www.theiowarepublican.com, became the first voice I heard calling for Strawn's resignation. Robinson used to serve as the party's political director. He didn't necessarily blame Strawn for reporting problems in 8 of the state's 1,774 precincts. He blamed Strawn for prematurely declaring a winner, then changing that to a tie and then having to say Santorum won.

I asked Governor Terry Branstad last week whether Strawn should remain as chair. He praised the record turnout and the job Strawn did in such a close race. When pressed, he did acknowledge "mistakes". But he refused to say Strawn should step down.

Now, it appears, according to 2 Iowa Republicans, Strawn will, indeed, resign as activists worry the confusion and embarrassment of the conflicting caucus winner declarations will only fuel those in other states who no longer want to see Iowa's caucuses lead off the presidential nominating process.

Strawn did not respond to messages left for him late Monday night.