Gay Robot, Glitter-Bombed Santorum, Pistol-Whipped Nun 'Humor,' Michele 'Thatcher' Bachmann, and Dead Senator Wins: Weird Iowa Politics 2012

With so many presidential candidates visiting Iowa so many times and so early in the process, 2012 in Iowa was plenty politically weird.

On the weird scale, Iowa politics peaked early -- like on Caucus night -- when state officials originally declared Mitt Romney the winner. Weird? Yes, considering Rick Santorum turned out to have more votes, which party officials acknowledged while declining to name him the winner.

The vote-tallying snafu, while unfortunate, came with the good fortune of introducing to the out in Clinton County. They provided CNN with the final Caucus tally after waking up their friend, another volunteer, to find out how many votes she had counted for each candidate. (If you weren't awake to hear them -- or don't remember -- you really ought to click here.) 

But there was so much more weird in 2012:

Latham Laughs at Nuns on the Bus Pistol-Whip Comment By Mickelson

U.S. Rep.  whose current congressional district includes Ames, came under fire when a conservative talk show host asked him if Congress had the power to pull over Nuns on the Bus and pistol whip them.

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Delegates Decide 3rd Place is the New 1st Place

Polk County Central Committee members chose John Landon Wednesday night as the GOP nominee for this November's Iowa House District 37 race. What's so weird about that? Well, during the election, two others finished ahead of him.

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Senator Who Died Wins Election

A state senator admired by voters, fellow lawmakers and her opponent, died last month but was the top vote-getter on election night. Pat Ward, a Republican from Clive, had been seeking re-election in Senate District 22 when she died Oct. 15 after a three-year battle with breast cancer.

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Bill Clinton Praises Response to Superstorm Sandy

You know it's a weird political year when praising politicians for working together to deal with Superstorm Sandy is seen as odd. Former President Bill Clinton, campaigning on behalf of President Barack Obama in Waterloo, praised President Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for their handling of the storm. Christie then came under fire from fellow Republicans for praising the president's handling of the disaster.

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A lawsuit filed against Iowa House District 39 Republican nominee Jake Highfill claimed that he brought a shotgun to a college party, argued with his roommate during the event and smashed a glass bottle across the man's face, permanently disfiguring him. Not great campaign material, but Highfill won anyway. (And the suit was dismissed.)

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Obama's Gives 'Shoutout' to 'Homeboy' Abe Lincoln

There's a pretty heated debate taking place in the comment section of Patch's coverage of President Barack Obama's visit to Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, but it has more to do with a Marion resident than the president of the United States. Marion Abraham Lincoln impersonator/actor Lance Mack made an appearance at yesterday's speech and was given a shout-out by the 44th president, during his speech.

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Making her 10th stop of the day on her 99 Counties Bus Tour, Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann breezed into the Waukee Pizza Ranch to shake hands and address supporters. Not surprisingly, she got the county wrong when she addressed the throng of people. More surprisingly, she compared herself to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

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Bachmann Encounters 'Gay Robot' 

So, technically, this and the glitter bombing occurred in 2011, but we're counting them here because it was connected to the 2012 Iowa Caucus -- and because they were just sooo weird.

While campaigning in Iowa City, Michele Bachmann encountered a man dressed in a robot suit, who shouted her down with the aid of a built-in megaphone. He called himself, "roboprof." "I am a gay robot. I oppose Bachmann's position on gays, whether they are human or robot," said the man. Yes, we have video to prove it.

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Santorum Glitter Bombed

Rick Santorum rolled into Okoboji Bar and Grill in Johnston to watch the Insight Bowl Game between Iowa and Oklahoma, riding a surge in the polls and seeking Caucus support.

He got more than that: A protester, a young man dressed in a white dress shirt and pants with a Rick Santorum sticker on his shirt, threw red glitter on the GOP presidential candidate as he shouted “stop the hate.”

Santorum simply kept walking with the glitter clinging to his Iowa Hawkeyes sweatshirt and began talking to the crowd. 

Let the 2016 Iowa caucuses begin!