Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum will go on a “values voters” bus tour throughout Iowa leading up to the influential Ames Straw Poll in August 13.
Three socially conservative advocacy groups, the Susan B. Anthony list, National Organization for Marriage (NOM), and the FRC Action’s Faith Family Freedom Fund will host tour, which will focus on traditional family values and a pro-life message beginning on Tuesday, August 9. It will kick off at the Iowa state capitol and end up at the Ames Straw Poll on August 13.
Michele Bachmann has not fully committed yet, but she is likely to join Messrs. Pawlenty and Santorum on the tour.
“The Values Bus Tour will speak to the views held by millions of American voters who want to make sure that issues impacting the family and the broader culture are understood and addressed by each of the candidates,” said Tony Perkins, the president of the FRC Action.
Electing a socially conservative and pro-life candidate in 2012 is clearly at the top of the agenda for the tour as a whole.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, who is the president of the strongly pro-life and influential Susan B. Anthony List, claimed that, “President Obama is the most pro-abortion President in United States history.”
Dannenfelser said her main goal is to “replace Obama with a true pro-life leader in the White House.”
Besides getting involved with Republican presidential primary contenders, the Values Voter Bus Tour will also bring to light specifically how President Obama and other liberal politicians and advocacy groups are undermining traditional values in America.
“NOM is committed to ensuring that the next President is a strong and committed supporter of traditional marriage and will commit his or her administration to vigorously defending marriage in the courts, Congress and in the court of public opinion,” NOM president Brian Brown said in a statement,
In Brown’s opinion, supporting the Defense of Marriage Act is key, and Obama’s failure to do so was inexcusable.
The Values Voter Bus Tour will pass through 22 Iowan cities, covering 47 of the state’s 99 counties and will announce its stops on its website and its Twitter account.
