Huckabee, Fiorina talk trade, money in politics at Iowa Pork Congress

Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Carly Fiorina addressed about 5,000 Midwestern pig farmers gathered at the Iowa Pork Congress in Des Moines on Wednesday. While each tackled specific issues, both spoke to the important role farmers and livestock producers play in America.

"We have the most productive farmers in the world," Fiorina said.

Mike Huckabee

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee used a portion of his speech to discuss money in politics, specifically how the influence of the "uber-wealthy” could “change forever the Iowa caucus.”

"If presidential candidates can go to New York, Florida, Texas and California, raise big bucks from the tiniest segment of our population, the uber-wealthy, and buy TV, radio, newspaper and billboard space … they'll never have to listen to" regular Iowans or Americans again, he said.

Huckabee said candidates will never meet the guy he talked with who earns about $59,000 a year but has to spend about $28,000 this year paying for health care costs. Or a woman who says her children face losing government benefits if she works as much as she's capable of.

"If you really want to evaluate a candidate, follow the money," he said. "Only about three of us aren't wholly-owned subsidiaries of Wall Street billionaire hedge-fund guys."

Asked what candidates are without big-money backing, Huckabee said himself, "most of my support has come from working class people"; former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, "who is not corporately financed"; and Donald Trump, the New York billionaire.

Carly Fiorina

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina reiterated her stance against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement during her speech Wednesday afternoon.

“I mean, who knows what deals got cut in that trading agreement …” she said. “Hopefully, it’s going to help us, but we don’t know that.”

Situating herself as someone who knows how both the economy and the world “actually work,” Fiorina repeated her support of “free and fair trade,” saying America has a lot of leverage in the world but doesn’t use it “wisely or well.”

Fiorina added she would hold countries, including China, accountable for the agreements they make with America.

“That means, by the way, that our trading partners have to play by the same rules that they force us to play by,” she said. “China gets to play by a whole different set of rules in this country than we are allowed to play by in their country. We need to fix that. I will.”

Animal rights activist interrupts Fiorina 

As Carly Fiorina wrapped up her appearance, Matt Johnson, 29, an activist with Direct Action Everywhere questioned her stance on animal rights by asking, “How can you exploit, harm and kill (animals) simply because they are in a weak and vulnerable position?”

“You are sitting in the middle of the Pork Congress and you ought to be very happy that these people produce food for this state, this country and the entire world,”’ Fiorina told Johnson as he jumped up with a banner that showed two pigs and read, “We want to live.”

As Johnson was lead from the room, Fiorina added to applause: “You know what I really wish folks, I really wish that there was much passion on that young man’s part for unborn children as there is for animals.”