Family Leader's Thanksgiving Family Forum to Explore Reasons for Candidates' Beliefs

With Rick Perry's recent debate disasters and Herman Cain's campaign fumbles, the most important question to be answered Saturday by the Family Leader's Thanksgiving Family Forum might be, "Which candidate will pick up followers Perry and Cain have lost?"

All the major GOP contenders — except for Mitt Romney, who will not attend — have confirmed their attendance. And as many as 1,500 conservative Iowans wanting to know more about the people who aspire to hold the highest office in the land are expected to fill the First Federated Church of Des Moines by 3 p.m. Saturday.

Steffen Schmidt, Iowa State University political science professor, expects that likely attendees will be the same kinds of people who regularly attend conservative family values meetings, he wrote in an e-mail.

“I guess with Cain tanking, the big question I have is who’s going to inherit Cain’s and Perry’s supporters. Gingrich, Santorum, or Romney?” Schmidt wrote.

The Family Leader organization is led by Bob Vander Plaats, an anti-gay activist who lost a bid to become Iowa's governor but successfully led a campaign last year to oust three Iowa Supreme Court judges who supported gay marriage.

The organization held a presidential lecture series before the August Straw Poll and asked candidates to sign a controversial pledge with a provision stating they would support only Biblical marriage and that they believed the family lives of black children were worse now than during the times of slavery. The slavery language was later removed from the pledge.

Saturday's forum is being touted as a discussion like none other, aimed at giving Iowans poised to go to the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses a look at what has shaped the beliefs of candidates.

Moderator Frank Luntz, a regular guest on Fox News, promises a frank discussion.

Chris Nitzschke, the Family Leader operations director, said the questions will go beyond what each candidate stands for.

“What's unique about this event is, we're not wanting to hear what they believe, but why it is what they believe,” Nitzschke said.

He said they will show why candidates hold positions on issues such as the sanctity of life or reductions in certain areas of government spending.

“We want Iowans to see what makes this person tick and why they are qualified to be the president of the United States,” Nitzschke said.

And he said organizers hope to avoid previous candidate forum formats that don't always allow everyone equal time.

Nitzschke said he doesn't know what Luntz will specifically ask candidates. Luntz does want to ask them at least one question that hasn't been asked in any previous debate.

The forum is set to begin at 4 p.m., but everyone is asked to arrive by 3 p.m. To learn more, go here.

Patch will have editors live blogging from Saturday's forum, starting at 4 p.m.