Iowa: Full Grassley (politician visiting each county)
Chuck Grassley was first elected U.S. Senator in Iowa in 1980. During his campaign, Grassley visited each of Iowa’s 99 counties—something he would repeat every year in office.
U.S. presidential candidates stump through the state for the Iowa caucus, the nation’s first big political event. Jason Noble wrote in the Des Moines (IA) Register on October 28, 2011:
“Visiting all 99 counties is an achievement the deserves a name. The Iowa Slam? The Ethanol Shuffle? Or Maybe a play on the “Full Ginsburg” — the Full Grassley?”
Noble wrote “Michele Bachmann to attempt the Full Grassley in 10 days before Iowa caucuses” for the Register on December 12, 2011.
Other popular “full” terms include “full Cleveland,” “full Ginsburg” and “full Monty.”
Wikipedia: Chuck Grassley
Charles Ernest “Chuck” Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is the senior United States Senator from Iowa, serving since 1981. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives (1975–1981) and the Iowa state legislature (1959–1974). He was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from January to June 2001 and from January 2003 to December 2006. Senator Grassley is the current chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the 114th congress.
Des Moines (IA) Register
Iowa Politics Insider: Iowa Poll anticipation
JASON NOBLE 7:07 AM, Oct 28, 2011
(...)
Rick Santorum is closing in on the ultimate pre-caucus Iowa presidential candidate bragging right: visits to all 99 counties. The former U.S. Senator has already passed through 78 counties and will cover the remaining 21 in an eight-day whirlwind that begins today. The itinerant candidate routine hasn’t helped him much at the polls, though: he’s still stuck in the single digits.
Visiting all 99 counties is an achievement the deserves a name. The Iowa Slam? The Ethanol Shuffle? Or Maybe a play on the “Full Ginsburg” — the Full Grassley?
Twitter
Jason Noble
@jasonnobleDMR
We need a catchy name for a candidate visiting all 99 Iowa counties. Iowa Slam? Ethanol Shuffle? The Full Grassley? http://bit.ly/rBnNAV
7:23 AM - 28 Oct 2011
Twitter
Eric Southard
@esouthard
@jasonnoble1 Full Grassley, definitely.
10:10 AM - 28 Oct 2011
Des Moines (IA) Register
Michele Bachmann to attempt the Full Grassley in 10 days before Iowa caucuses
JASON NOBLE 12:32 PM, Dec 12, 2011
Michele Bachmann is serious about winning the Iowa caucuses. How serious? She’s going to visit all 99 counties in 10 days between now and the Jan. 3 caucuses.
That’s 9.9 stops a day on average. Lyon to Lee. Allamakee to Fremont. Not even Johnny Cash has traveled that much in Iowa, and he’s been everywhere, man.
Twitter
Reid Wilson
@ConsultReid
Des Moines Register refers to Bachmann’s 99-county bus tour as attempting “the Full Grassley” #HotlineSort
6:40 AM - 13 Dec 2011
KWWL (Waterloo, IA)
The Full Grassley: Sen. to kick off 99-county tour in Nashua
Posted: Dec 24, 2013 2:14 PM EST
Updated: Dec 24, 2013 2:14 PM EST
NASHUA (KWWL) -
As he’s done every year for more than three decades, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley plans to hold at least one meeting in each of Iowa’s 99 counties in 2014.
(...)
Grassley has met with residents of all the state’s counties every year since he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980.
Twitter
ChuckGrassley
@ChuckGrassley
Just finished the “full Grassley ” tour of 99 county meetings for 34th yr in row w the town meeting in Jefferson 55 ppl attended
5:01 PM - 3 Sep 2014
Washington (DC) Post
Joni Ernst completes ‘The Full Grassley’
By Ben Terris October 31, 2014
AMES, Iowa—“This may be the most important election in our lifetime,” Republican candidate for Senate Joni Ernst said inside a brick laden brewpub here.
Nobody laughed. That’s how seriously people are taking Ernst these days as she heads into the final stretch of her once-long shot campaign against Rep. Bruce Braley. Ernst came to Ames last night to complete her 99-county tour, where she has been telling anyone who will listen about how the “Iowa way” is working. She brought along the man who has visited all the counties perhaps more times than any other Iowan, Sen. Chuck Grassley (the tour is now known as “the Full Grassley.” Her opponent Braley completed the tour in February.)
Washington (DC) Times
Rick Santorum on verge of pulling off second ‘Full Grassley’ in Iowa
By Seth McLaughlin - The Washington Times - Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Rick Santorum is on pace to have visited all of Iowa’s 99 counties this year before Labor Day — sending a message that he believes his best bet of winning the 2016 GOP presidential nomination starts with grinding out a positive result in the Hawkeye State.
The Santorum campaign announced Tuesday that the former Pennsylvania senator is scheduled to reach the milestone — dubbed the ‘Full Grassley” after Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley — on Sept. 1.