Presidential candidate seeks support in Muscatine

By Peter Rugg of the Muscatine Journal

MUSCATINE, Iowa -- Some might consider it a bit early to start campaigning for the 2008 presidential election. But for those without name recognition, or a camera crew shadowing them, why wait?

Illinois businessman John Cox visited with six Muscatine County Republicans yesterday, one stop in a tour across Iowa in which he hopes to convince people that he's the right man for the nation's top job in 2008. During more than an hour of discussion at the Pearl Plaza, Cox, 50, described himself as a political outsider and a conservative in the mode of Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp.

"I don't have the name recognition, so I've got to get out early and work hard," Cox said. "I"m an outsider in the process, but I've got a feeling 2008 could be a year for an outsider."
Cox said he grew up in poverty, with a single mother raising him on the south side of Chicago. He eventually "founded, owned, operated successful businesses in the areas of law, accounting, investments, real estate management and venture capital," according to his biographical materials, and "led the turnaround of Jays Foods, $100 million potato chip manufacturer."

He has also served as president of the Cook County Republican Party in Illinois and has invested his own money in Republican campaigns, including that of president George Bush. He has previously run for both Congress and the U.S. Senate, both times unsuccessfully.
"I'm honest, and I'm a conservative. And those are two things that don't wash in Illinois, I'm sorry to say," he lamented.

Although Cox said he was pleased with tax cuts, and military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, he wasn't happy with what he felt has been exorbitant spending. Cox said he supports immigration reform that removed illegal immigrants from the country, but streamlined the immigration process.

He also said he would drastically reduce the roles of both the U.S. Department of Education and the Internal Revenue serviceService.

"Those are two organizations I would like to see in the trash bin of history," he said. To eliminate the IRS, Cox said he favors a national sales tax, or consumption tax, and the end of the federal income tax. "I will not sign a sales tax bill that does not get rid of the income tax at the same time."

Regarding education, he said teachers should be paid proportional to the results they were getting, and that good teachers should be paid more.

After the discussion was over, local Republican Party member Kenneth Irwin said he was impressed with Cox.

"I'm a fairly religious man, and my religion is my politics," Irwin said, and pointed to a list of Cox's positions. "Just looking at this, if it was a questionnaire, I'd check 'yes' next to every one."

That list included Cox's position as a right-to-life supporter, a supporter of a federal marriage amendment outlawing gay marriage or civil unions, tax reform, the appointment of "strict constructionist" to judicial positions, and support for small businesses and working people.

"I was impressed with him," said county party chair Jerry Coffman. "He's not a politician."

Contact Peter Rugg at: 563-263-2331 Ext. 322
or peter.rugg@muscatinejournal.com