DAVENPORT, Iowa—
With four days until the Iowa primary, a Hollywood tough man came to the Quad Cities to throw his muscle behind a candidate for governor. News 8's Chris Williams shows why voters weren't the only ones looking forward to the campaign stop.Chuck Norris became a political name during the last presidential race. Many credit his support of Republican Mike Huckabee for his win in the Iowa Caucus. Today, Norris campaigned for Bob Vander Plaats who is in a race for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination.
"I called Bob, you know, and asked him how he's doing," said Norris, "and he said we're having a struggle here. So I said, if I can do anything to help.
I asked Vander Plaats, "Why chuck? Why now?"
He answered with a laugh, "Well look at the crowd he generates. Look at the excitement he generates."
"I get a lot of invitations to go and campaign for different candidates, but we have turned them all down except for this man right here", Norris said pointing at his candidate.
The action star told us, "Bob is the kind of guy who is a lot like Huckabee. He means what he says and he says what he means, and that's important to me."
It appeared, also important to Norris were those who could care less about politics. Those who just wanted to touch and see a Hollywood action hero. This was not your typical political event. Then again, Chuck Norris isn't your typical guy. There may have even been more Norris fans here than Vander Plaats supporters but the candidate was more than willing to take second billing to the movie star as he hopes for a Hollywood ending to the election next week.
"I think we're gonna shock the State of Iowa on Tuesday", Vande Plaats predicted. "I think we're gonna shock the country Tuesday."
