DES MOINES — If a social conservative group holds a debate in the first caucus state and Mitt Romney isn’t around to hear it, does it make a sound? That’s the main question for Saturday here in the state just weeks away from the first ballot test of the Republican presidential contest.
The Republican candidates — except Romney — will gather this afternoon for a debate hosted by the FAMiLY Leader, a conservative group focused on the social stuff run by Bob Vander Plaats, best known this cycle for an anti-gay marriage pledge that most of the candidates didn’t sign and the ones that did later regretted. (Jon Huntsman was also invited and is not attending, but Huntsman is not campaigning in Iowa.)
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