The Iowa Straw Poll is officially dead

The Iowa Straw Poll, the carnival-like fundraising event for the Republican Party of Iowa that has been a presidential campaign tradition since 1979, is officially no more, after the Iowa Republican Party voted unanimously Thursday to cancel the event scheduled for Aug. 8, citing high costs to candidates and a lack of interest.

The poll, which usually takes place the summer before the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, has recently been cast as increasingly irrelevant to the presidential race, as some say it tends to favor fringe candidates who typically don't stand a chance in the race overall (former Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann won in 2011).

The decision was likely influenced by the fact that many declared and expected 2016 candidates, including Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham, and Mike Huckabee, had already said that they didn't plan to participate.

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