Straw Poll Site Cleanup in Process

An assortment of trampled water bottles, a discarded slice of melon that missed the trash can and colored bits of confetti littered the space where Straw Poll winner Michele Bachmann's tent once was.

By Sunday afternoon, most of the trash that accumulated at Iowa State Center during Saturday's Straw Poll, a fundraiser for the Iowa GOP, had already been discarded.

After voting closed at 4 p.m. Saturday, volunteers took down displays and crews began filling multiple semi-size garbage bins set outside the Iowa State Center. By Sunday afternoon the grounds were nearly empty.

Cindy Rummel, of Cedar Rapids, combed the grounds and looked into garbage filled cardboard boxes for the phone she lost during the Straw Poll. It fell from her belt clip, case and all. The Hilton Coliseum doors were locked so she searched where she could.

“It probably looked like a wallet,” she said.

She tried calling herself but it immediately went to her voice mail.

Rummel and about a dozen tent rental employees dissembling remaining tents were the only people at the center Sunday.

Ultimate Events of Minnesota expected to dismantle the aluminum beams of Bachmann's 10,000 square foot tent by Sunday night, but workers said it may take until Monday.

Steve Matthias, of Bloomington, Minn., who works for Ultimate Events ran into a problem dismantling a stage set up for U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Michigan, and eventually sawed through a metal stake to dissemble his stage.

Other tent event rental companies expected to complete their work by Sunday evening.