Mike Huckabee tours Hagie Manufacturing

In one of his stops along his “full Grassley” tour, which will take him to the last of 99 Iowa counties by Thursday, former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee visited Hagie Manufacturing in Clarion on Monday.

A crowd of about 30 Hagie employees and community members listened as Huckabee spoke about his campaign and what he’d seen at Hagie. After touring the factory floor and getting a detailed description of how all the parts are made and come together, Huckabee expressed admiration for the machines and particularly the advanced air filtration system Hagie puts in the cabs of their sprayers. “I thought, what a perfect political tool,” Huckabee said. “You might consider selling these in Washington.”

Huckabee said he would be making 150 stops in Iowa throughout January before the caucuses on February 1. “The Iowa voters are not sucker punched into voting because of ads,” Huckabee said. “I don’t believe there’s any shortcut to the Iowa caucuses…. People still expect you to come and earn the vote. That’s what we’re hoping to do.”

For the full story, see the January 7 edition of the Monitor.