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What If They Had A Straw Poll and Nobody Came?

Can The Donald keep a venerable Iowa tradition from withering away?
From left, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Thaddeus McCotter, Herman Cain, and Michele Bachmann are pictured during the Iowa Straw Poll on Aug. 13, 2011, in Ames, Iowa.

From left, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Thaddeus McCotter, Herman Cain, and Michele Bachmann are pictured during the Iowa Straw Poll on Aug. 13, 2011, in Ames, Iowa.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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Donald Trump, who told the Des Moines Register Tuesday he will take part in the Iowa Straw Poll if he decides to seek the Republican presidential nomination, might not have much company in the once-command-performance event. 

So far, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is the only one of the declared candidates who has said he'll compete in the Aug. 8 event, according to U.S. News & World Report, as Republicans increasingly question the costs and benefits of the informal activist survey.