ASHINGTON - The credibility of next month's Iowa straw poll of Republican presidential candidates was thrown into question yesterday, when the head of the state's Christian Coalition traded charges with the Steve Forbes campaign about possible vote-buying.
In a charge that stunned the presidential field, the Iowa Christian Coalition's chairman, Bobbie Lee Gobel, alleged that a Forbes aide had tried to hire 500 people from her temporary-worker company in an effort to win the straw poll next month. The Forbes campaign denied the allegation, saying it was ''absurd.''
The allegation could not be independently verified.
But with little more than two weeks before the Aug. 14 vote in Ames, Iowa, the accusation highlighted the way campaigns sometimes cover the costs for supporters who go to the straw poll. Most campaigns openly admit they pay the $25 entrance fee and transportation expenses, but they deny they are ''paying'' for votes. The poll is variously viewed as politically meaningless or as an important test of organizational strength in the state that holds the first caucus of the 2000 campaign.
Gobel, the owner of Metro Temp in Des Moines, is one of the most sought-after political figures in Iowa. Although the Christian Coalition does not endorse candidates, individual leaders of the organization often do. As a result, many presidential candidates have courted Gobel, hoping she could persuade the state's influential antiabortion community to follow her to the polls. Gobel said she has not endorsed any candidate, but she has met several of them. For example, on Gobel's birthday, Elizabeth Dole took Gobel and her family to lunch.
In a telephone interview, Gobel said a senior Forbes aide had called her in February and sought to hire 500 people from her firm who would vote for Forbes in the straw poll. She said the call had come from Jerry Keen, the former chairman of the Georgia Christian Coalition who now is a top Forbes aide.
Gobel said Keen had inquired about hiring 500 temps who would be paid for four hours of work, during which they would vote for Forbes at the straw poll. Gobel said she took down the order but never processed it. She said she discussed it with the board of the Iowa Christian Coalition and concluded such an act would be wrong.
''He wanted to hire temps to go and vote for Steve Forbes,'' Gobel said.
But Keen denied the allegation, saying he did talk to Gobel in February and on several occasions, but he never said anything about hiring temporary workers to vote for Forbes.
''It is absolutely, unequivocally false,'' Keen said. He said Gobel was upset with the Forbes campaign because it had hired the executive director of the Iowa Christian Coalition, who still has not been replaced.
Gobel indicated that she is not a fan of Forbes by noting that despite his own opposition to abortion, he served as cochairman for the campaign of New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, who supports abortion rights. ''He cochaired Christie Todd Whitman, the mother of all the baby-killers,'' Gobel said.
Gobel said she is looking for ''a Godly candidate.''
Forbes's political director, Bill Dal Col, said the campaign never approached Gobel or anyone else about hiring temporary workers to vote for the publisher.
''It never happened,'' Dal Col said. ''She is embarrassing herself and her organization. We are building a grass-roots organization for a candidate who favors tax cuts and is prolife. We are not paying anyone to go to a straw vote.'' Dal Col said the campaign is only paying for the $25 tickets and transportation expenses.
Ione Dilley, the former chairman of the Iowa Christian Coalition who appointed Gobel to the post in November, said Gobel mentioned the allegations to her several months ago. But Dilley said she did not have any firsthand knowledge about whether they were true.
''It boils down to one person's word against the other,'' Dilley said.
Dee Stewart, executive director of the Iowa Republican Party, said Gobel is a ''credible person who is relatively new to Iowa,'' although he stressed that he could not verify Gobel's allegations. He said the Christian Coalition is ''a very powerful force in Iowa politics and ... growing. Bobbie is a good organizer within the conservative Christian community, and that is very important.''
Stewart said he still thinks the straw poll is ''very credible'' because only Iowans can vote, unlike in 1995 when people from across the country were able to participate.
More than 10,000 Iowans are expected to vote in the straw poll. Although the vote is meaningless in the actual race for delegates to the national Republican convention next year, it has turned into a powerful political draw as numerous candidates have said their performance in Ames is a crucial test.
Texas Governor George W. Bush, who has raised $37 million in campaign funds, and Forbes, who is using his own fortune to match Bush, are spending heavily in Iowa. Forbes has launched a $10 million advertising campaign, concentrating heavily on Iowa.
By comparison, Lamar Alexander has only $90,000 on hand and could be forced to drop out of the race if he does poorly in the straw poll. Yesterday, Alexander spent some of his money on an Iowa television ad that targets Bush, with a mock newscast suggesting that the presidency is being auctioned to the highest bidder.
This month, Bush tried to get around campaign spending limits by having friends pay $50,000 directly to the Iowa Republican Party for tickets to the straw poll, plus $43,000 to rent a prominent patch of lawn outside the convention hall where the straw vote is taking place. After much criticism, Bush agreed to pay for both expenditures from his campaign fund.
Bush later announced that he would not take matching federal campaign funds, which means he does not have to abide by the $1.3 million spending limit in Iowa. Forbes also is rejecting federal matching funds and spending freely.
