Former Iowa Governor Robert Ray attended Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s "official" campaign kickoff in Des Moines this past week, but Ray’s not endorsing any of the GOP candidates at this point. "It’s a little too early to accurately assess their possibilities," Ray says.
According to Ray, the lineup of GOP candidates is "very, very good," but Ray says it’s up to them to convince Iowans they have what it takes to win the White House. "I don’t know whether it’s intuition or it’s just common sense, but people judge candidates very carefully and with great scrutiny," Ray says. "Candidates, you know, have to perform and this is a good test."
Ray was Iowa’s governor from January, 1969 to January, 1983. He headed two Iowa-based insurance companies after leaving office, then spent short stints as the interim president of Drake University and interim mayor of the City of Des Moines.