Presidential candidate and former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson was a no-show at his own kickoff for his Common Sense Solutions Tour, but that didn’t stop his supporters from talking about him.

Thompson did not make it to the event because his plane broke down in Denver, causing a flight cancellation at the last minute. Chad Olsen, Thompson’s Iowa campaign manager, told the audience Thompson had tried to rent a plane, but was unable to do so.

Leon Mosley, co-chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, spoke about why he believed Thompson would be a good candidate for president.

“What I really respect about the man is that he says what he means and he means what he says,” Mosley said.

Mosley’s role as co-chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa consists of promoting all Republican candidates in the state. He asked the crowd to vote for someone who shared their values.

“If we [Republicans] get one more shot at it, we’ll do it right this time,” Mosley said, referring specifically to reducing government spending.

Mosley praised Thompson for cutting taxes during his time as governor, setting up a school choice program, enabling parents to send children to the public or private school of their choice, and launching a successful welfare reform program.

Olsen said the welfare reform program helped people formerly on welfare to connect to jobs, providing assistance in education, transportation, child care and housing.

Thompson’s reform program resulted in a 93 percent reduction in people receiving welfare, Olsen said.

“He has some pretty amazing accomplishments,” he said.

According to Thompson’s Web site, his plan for Iraq consists of three parts, which Mosley roughly sketched out to the audience.

First, Thompson would propose that the Iraqi parliament vote on whether it wants Americans to remain there, which would hopefully provide the military with direction as to its next step.

Second, he would propose that the nation be broken into 18 provinces, operating under a federal government – similar to the structure of the United States.

Third, he would encourage Iraqis to divide oil revenues among the national and provincial governments as well as individual Iraqi citizens.