Values Bus Tour Takes Off With Pawlenty at the Wheel
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) in support of the top four presidential candidates, who have signed NOM’s Marriage Pledge, is ensuring that marriage will be a major factor in voters’ decision on which candidate to back in the upcoming Ames Straw Poll.
NOM, along with FRC Action and Susan B. Anthony list, is promoting the “Values Bus Tour.”
The tour, which started Tuesday morning, August 9, offers the chance to talk to GOP presidential candidates about their support for the sanctity of marriage.
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Christopher Plante, executive director of NOM Rhode Island, told The Christian Post, “Governor Tim Pawlenty was with us and the tour kicked off to a great start, [with] a good crowd.”
“The message is clear. It’s the values voters that will redirect this whole country – we believe in life, marriage, and family,” said Plante
A major issue in the Straw Poll and in selecting Iowa’s GOP nominee in the caucuses next year will be reinstating marriage as a union between one man and one woman, said Brian Brown NOM president in a statement Monday.
Brown stated, “When the Iowa Supreme Court did the unthinkable in 2009 and invented a right to gay marriage in Iowa’s state constitution, they set off a powerful voter reaction that is still unfolding.”
Plante said, America currently has the most pro-abortion president in history, but it takes a critical mass to make the change and “we believe that the tour will do this.”
“The people of Iowa will start us off on the path, particularly over the coming months,” he said.
According to Brown, top presidential candidates have signed NOM’s Marriage Pledge, which asks for a commitment to pro-life goals if elected to the 2012 presidency. The list includes GOP presidential hopefuls Michelle Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney.
“We are very excited that they [presidential candidates] are willing to stand out front and believe that it [Marriage Pledge] is a winning issue," Plante told CP.
Presidential candidates Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, and Michelle Bachmann will be on board the bus, along with Congressmen Steve King (R-IA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and various pro-family and pro-life leaders from around the state.
With 22 stops over four days, the Value Voters Bus Tour is making its way to Iowa for the Straw Poll on Saturday, August 13.
Said Brown, “We encourage our tens of thousands of supporters to come visit us on the bus tour and mingle with some of the presidential candidates who will be joining this.”
The bus takes off from Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, Tuesday morning, August 9, and makes its way through Oskaloosa, Washington, Muscatine, and Davenport before its final stop in Iowa City.
NOM supporters and all Iowa citizens are encouraged to visit www.valuesbus.com to see the tour schedule and to get updated information about which candidates will be joining portions of the tours.
