Scheffler: Include Palin, Perry in straw poll

◼ Republican National Committee member Steve Scheffler e-mailed me this morning to say that he’ll be “lobbying hard” to include Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on the Iowa Republican Straw Poll ballot. - Kathie Obradovich/DesMoinesRegister.com
◼ Candidates will watch this Iowa debate - Kathie Obradovich/DesMoinesRegister.com

Six presidential candidates (Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Thaddeus McCotter, Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum) spent $15,000 each for the privilege of speaking at the Iowa Republican Party’s Ames straw poll and reserving space for their supporters. On Saturday, the GOP state central committee will decide which of the other candidates, who haven’t paid a penny, will get their names on the ballot, too.... Should announced candidates who have chosen not to buy space for the straw poll — Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich, for example — get a spot on the ballot?