Republican Fred Karger came to Ames on Monday night to host a meet and greet, talking with students about his ideas and plans if he were to be elected president in 2012, while also making an important announcement.

“I’m the first and only candidate to file for a campaign so far,” Karger said.

In the past, Karger worked for former President Ronald Reagan, which inspired his theme “bringing back the American spirit.” This would include incorporating civility and cooperation back into politics.

“I want to bring back that optimism and that ability to get along,” Karger said.

Karger said there were several reasons guiding him to announce his candidacy, but in particular was his disappointment over President Barack Obama and his lack of focus on the economy.

“I think Obama has not come up to the expectations we have set for him,” Karger said.

As it gets closer to 2012, Karger said he will begin to narrow his focus, predominantly looking to reform the education system. This concentration comes from the high percentage of high school dropouts the country is experiencing.

“I want to elevate [education] to number one again, to put attention on it and get public discussion,” Karger said. “I think we need to make school more interesting and fun to get kids excited.”

In relation to college students, Karger said he wants to work on getting the economy back on track.

His announcement for candidacy is historic for the country, but also creates a lot of controversy because he is the first openly gay person running for president.

“I had spent my entire political career in the closet … and it was not a great existence,” Karger said.

But Karger has faced opposition from all sides: the Republicans who don’t necessarily see him as the traditional candidate and also from the LGBT community because he is a Republican. So how does he deal with the negativity thrown at him?

“He’s amazing,” said Nathan Treloar, Karger’s campaign director in Iowa. “I think it bothers him like it would anyone, but he gets his drive from 100 bad conversations, making those good conversations even better.”

Some are fearful that people will only be able to focus on Karger’s LGBT identity rather than the ideas he has.

“I think there are people that will still have only that perception of him,” said Jeremy Freeman, freshman in animal ecology and member of the ISU College Republicans.

Others believe people will be more willing to listen.

“I feel like people will definitely listen to him on the issues if he gives them the opportunity to,” said Logan Pals, senior in industrial engineering and president of the ISU College Republicans. “People can look past different aspects of a person; you’re never going to like everything from a certain candidate.”

Overall, the event was viewed with mixed results, with some students offering up some advice.

“I feel like tonight he didn’t really talk about the issues until people brought it up,” Pals said. “He’s going to have to lay out his fiscally conservative issues in order to get the conservative people behind him because most socially conservative people are not going to back him.”

But other students viewed this as a great opportunity and Karger took this as a success.

“I was blown away,” Karger said. “The fact that they gave me this opportunity to speak is, I consider, a huge breakthrough.”