(Photo by Kris Todd) A survey conducted by IowaPolitics.com shows candidate John Cox is one of the top five GOP presidential candidates being considered by Iowa's Republican county chairmen. The Chicago businessman visited with people at The Pizza Ranch in Spencer during Saturday's lunch hour.

Daily Reporter Staff

Are you tired of "career politicians" who "promise stars and deliver the moon?"

John Cox, who believes he has a better, more efficient answer for this country, insists he's trying to "forge a solution." The 52-year-old Chicago businessman, who vows he is the "only real conservative" running for President in 2008, made it a point to speak with all those who visited The Pizza Ranch in Spencer over Saturday's lunch hour in an effort to share pieces of his vision for America.

On their way to Okoboji to see their daughter LuAnn Tamisiea and her family, Bob and Jean Cornish of Panora stopped for a bite to eat at the local restaurant. The couple told Cox when he stopped at their booth to visit that they'd seen U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo's recent presentation in Panora. After chatting with the Chicago businessman for a few minutes, Bob Cornish said he was impressed with his stance on illegal immigration.

"I like John's approach of stopping the employment of the illegals here in the United States. And, I kind of agree with you can't fence all of Mexico, Canada and the shorelines to prevent the illegals from entering the United States," he said.

While the Guthrie County couple indicated they plan on attending Iowa's straw poll on Aug. 11, both stated they still haven't made up their minds on who they'll vote for. They chuckled as they reported their grandson, who joined them Saturday at The Pizza Ranch, had just been talking about U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton.

"I think we've got a Democrat in the crowd," Jean Cornish said of C.J. Cave of Des Moines.

At a neighboring booth, Dennis Johnson and Joyce Mason also exchanged viewpoints with Cox. While the Vietnam War veteran said he wished Bill Clinton would run again, Mason relayed that Cox didn't seem to appreciate what she had said about bringing American troops home.

"My opinion, and it's my opinion, they need to take an ACE bomb over there, drop it on the country, get rid of everything and they won't have to worry about them stealing oil, gas or anything," she said.

Cox, meanwhile, told several of those at the Spencer eatery that the United States needs to quickly build up Iraq's economy by returning oil production to full capacity so the country's residents can become self-sufficient.

"I'm saying get the job done right. Stay until we get the job done, but get it done pretty (darn) quick," Cox said. "...This is a country that desperately wants economic prosperity. They have a government, but it's not functioning right. What we need to do is get that oil pumping and get that oil into the hands of the people, not the bureaucrats, and get them feeling like there's a future in their country."

While no presidential candidate, Republican or Democratic, escaped the USO board member's and executive's critiques, Cox pointed to what he termed President George W. Bush's ineffectiveness in Iraq.

"What did we do after World War II? We didn't just send our troops home from Germany and Japan right away, did we," Cox asked rhetorically. "We didn't. We had an occupying force there, but we got the economy growing."

"We didn't do that in Iraq. What did we do? We fired the military. We fired the Bathists. We fired the people who were running the country. And meanwhile, the oil wasn't getting pumped and the electricity was degrading. Guess what? People started joining militias. Call it chaos, civil war or anything you want, but what I want to do is call it stability at some point," Cox said. "And, I think the way you get to stability is you get people working and you get money into that economy."

Moving toward the issue of national security and the global tensions rising over Iran's nuclear intentions, the Republican presidential candidate said if elected he'd strengthen the United States' intelligence services and support a "nuclear shield that could make nuclear weapons obsolete." But, showing the example of a prosperous Iraq would be the "best way to win the war in Iran before it even starts," Cox added.

Saturday's trek marked the businessman's fourth to Spencer since announcing his candidacy in February 2006. The self-described "Reagan fiscal and social conservative" claimed the "political elites" and national media are not covering his campaign, causing him to take it directly to the people in such visits.

"The idea that somebody like me is going to leave Chicago and come over to Iowa and have the temerity to actually talk to the people, that's not something they're interested in," Cox said of the national media outlets. "...I'm here to challenge that orthodoxy and that idea. I really believe that people want something new."

During an ensuing one-on-one interview at the Spencer pizzeria in which he ate three pieces of pizza, homemade chips and drank a soda, Cox said he believes this country is "center right conservative" now.

"People don't want government telling them what to do. People don't want government endorsing gay marriage. People want those who are here to speak English. People don't want people that come across the border illegally," he said in reference to what he's learned while touring the state and talking to its inhabitants. "...People don't want government to expand spending and issue debt all the time. And, I don't think people want their heath care paid by the government. It sounds attractive to a group of people who don't have health care now, but I think people instinctively know that they can't get health care for free."

Instead, the conservative candidate suggested a lower demand - courtesy more preventative medicines and the elimination of "defensive medicine, reigning in the trial lawyers and figuring out ways to balance the unbalanced tort system in place" - and more competition in the health care industry would bring costs down, "create price equilibrium" and promote efficiency. The Chicagoan also noted that having a free market in place would be a "real important condition" for this to occur.

As he moved to bring his stop in Spencer to a close this weekend, Cox admitted he's a long shot who is "unknown" nationally and has a "huge hill to climb to get known."

"But, I really believe that when I get known and when people know what I'm doing and what my background is and how hard I've been working and what I'm talking about changing in Washington, ... I think more than a few people would believe that we, first of all, ought to have a businessman and not a career politician. More than a few people would agree with me that we've had enough of the Bushes and the Clintons and want something different. More than a few people would agree with me that politicians are crooked and will tell you anything to get themselves reelected, and we have to have some change from that. More than a few people would tell you that we have corrupt career politicians who look at politics as a way to make money and that we ought to go back to having statesmen and people who serve for the honor of serving their people. If I can get that message out, I absolutely believe that I would be leading in the polls right now. It's a matter of the message being heard," said the Chicago businessman who is on Iowa's straw poll ballot and placed fifth among all candidates in a survey of Republican county chairmen in the state but has been excluded from participating in the Aug. 5 GOP 2008 presidential candidate debate on ABC television.

* For more on how Cox stands on the issues, visit his Web site: www.cox2008.com/cox.