Presidential candidates display faith, fire

The auditorium was hushed and still as Iowa Christian conservatives listened to seven GOP presidential hopefuls share poignant stories about when they prayed for God’s help, asked for forgiveness for a mistake, or cursed God for the suffering they were experiencing.

Former neurosurgeon Ben Carson described the heartbreak of losing a patient, the only child of a single mother. Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz opened up about the agony of his parents’ divorce.

Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul talked about a soldier with missing limbs and about building houses for wounded vets. Rick Santorum, winner of the 2012 Iowa caucuses, spoke with tears in his eyes about the death of his son, at 2 hours old, after his wife developed an infection 21 weeks into her pregnancy.

Carly Fiorina, a former tech company executive, softly described how she could eat almost nothing when she was fighting cancer, except for the grilled cheese sandwiches her husband, Frank, made for her.

Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio shared stories about his late father’s childhood and his parents working long hours to sacrifice for their kids.

Mike Huckabee, winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses, talked about the heavy weight of dealing with the death penalty as governor of Arkansas.

The three-hour Thanksgiving-themed forum, hosted by the Iowa evangelical Christian advocacy group the Family Leader, at times took on the confessional, open-hearted mood of a small group Bible study discussion.

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“I am moved by every story that I’ve heard this evening and honored to be at this table,” Fiorina said.

In other parts, the candidates displayed the fire and persuasiveness they exhibit on the campaign trail, as they jostled to out-impress one another with a crucial Republican voting bloc in Iowa.

“This is a beating, running for president of the United States,” Santorum said, then asked the audience to pray for him and all of his rivals.

It was a night that offered the opportunity for two candidates who are rising in the polls in Iowa, Rubio and Cruz, to build on their momentum as they chase front-runners Donald Trump and Carson.

Cruz delivered some of the biggest applause lines of the evening, offering levity, like: “This is the longest I’ve sat at a Thanksgiving table without food being served,” as well as acid criticism. Cruz blasted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for saying on Tuesday that the massacre in January at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo had “a rationale,” while the ISIS attack on Paris last week "was absolutely indiscriminate.” Cruz said: “I think John Kerry should resign in disgrace.”

Undecided Iowa Republicans in the audience told The Des Moines Register afterward that they were truly impressed with almost everyone on stage at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center in Des Moines.

“This is a group of intelligent, deep-thinking, conscientious individuals. It will be hard to narrow it down to one person,” said David Edwards of Des Moines. When pressed, Edwards said he thought Santorum and Paul stood out most. The only one at the table he’s unwilling to caucus for is Rubio — too establishment, too willing to do business as usual, he said.

Edwards’ wife, Teressa, thought Cruz, Santorum and Rubio were a three-way tie for the most winning Friday night.

“This is becoming a difficult decision,” said Jeff Rekers of Winthrop. “I would vote for any one of them.”

Rekers especially appreciated Paul’s comments about when it’s justifiable for the United States to go to war: only when Congress authorizes it, Paul said. And Cruz had a good point, Rekers said, when he questioned why liberals lambaste religious conservatives for their opposition to same-sex marriage but aren’t upset about countries like Iran who kill people for being gay.

About 1,800 tickets were sold, but about 1,100 turned out during the first snowstorm of the winter, organizers said.

"No doubt Satan was trying to disrupt our plans tonight ... with the winter storm warning,” said the program’s host, Bob Vander Plaats, president of the Family Leader.

Moderator Frank Luntz said the news of the night was the civility the candidates showed to one another.

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“Everybody was expecting Rubio and Cruz to fight,” said Luntz, a GOP public opinion researcher who has served as questioner during several Family Leader events. “Nobody fought with anybody.”

But the Republicans didn’t hold back in their disdain and anger toward President Barack Obama and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Cruz said the most consistent failing of “the Obama-Clinton foreign policy” is that it ignores the vital national security interests of the United States.

“You asked a minute ago, Frank, is President Obama an armchair quarterback," Cruz said. "It’s worse than that. The policies he’s advancing are helping the other team."

Luntz asked if Cruz thinks Obama wants to fail, and what the president’s motivations are.

Cruz answered: “I am neither a psychologist nor a priest. What I would say is this is a president who in the past week said on the national stage he doesn’t have time for American leadership or America winning. I’ve got to say FDR and JFK and Ronald Reagan were rolling over in their graves.”

He added: “It’s important to understand, President Obama, No. 1, today, is serving as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism."

Rubio chimed in, and as bluntly.

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“He’s a bad president,” Rubio said, to crowd applause.

Obama refuses to acknowledge that this is “a civilizational struggle between those of us who believe in freedom and liberty, and radical jihadists that do not,” Rubio said. “In America, women drive cars. They hate us because my daughters go to school. Because little girls in America go to schools. They hate us. And either they win or we win; there is no middle ground.”

Carson also had several lines that were crowd favorites.

Asked if he’s ever been discriminated against, Carson answered: “Absolutely.”

But his mother told him, "Benjamin, if you walk into an auditorium full of racist, bigoted people, you don’t have a problem, they have a problem. Because they’re all going to cringe and wonder if you’re going to sit next to them, whereas you can go and sit anywhere that you want."

Carson added that the U.S. Constitution exists to ensure everyone is treated fairly.

"But it means everyone has equal rights. Nobody has extra rights," he said, to loud applause.

In the lobby, booths for event sponsors who paid to be there promoted Connecticut Yankee Pedaller recumbent trikes, the National Organization for Marriage, Joshua Christian Academy in Des Moines, Liberty University in Virginia, God’s Original Design Ministry, Iowa Conservatives Against Gambling Expansion, Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, and a table of copies of the book “In the Backyard of Jesus” by Steven Khoury.

Outside of the convention center, eight protesters with Make it Work braved the snowstorm to make heard their message of equal pay, affordable child care and paid family leave. The national campaign asks presidential candidates to bring forward policy plans that will help working families on these issues.

Amy Regner, deputy field director for Iowa, said demonstrators protested the Presidential Family Forum because they believe these are real issues affecting working families in Iowa and the nation. The group targets both Republican and Democratic candidates, she said.

“They’re affecting everyday Iowans, and in past elections we haven’t heard too much about them,” Regner said. “These candidates haven’t addressed it so far, and it should be the forefront of the presidential race.”

Register staff writers Kimberly Norvell, Matthew Patane and Mackenzie Ryan contributed to this report.