des moines us former vice president mike pence promised the best days of the greatest nation on earth are yet to come in a video released on wednesday formally launching his campaign for the republican nomination for presidentdifferent times call for different leadership pence says in the video released via fox news and twitter hours ahead of a kickoff event in des moinestoday our party and our country need a leader thatll appeal as lincoln said to the better angels of our naturewhile it would be easy to stay on the sidelines he adds thats not how i was raised thats why today before god and my family im announcing im running for president of the united statespence is staking his presidential hopes on iowa as he launches a campaign that will make him the first vice president in modern history to take on his former running matepences campaign will also test the partys appetite for a socially conservative mildmannered and deeply religious candidate who has denounced the populist tide that has swept through his party under former president donald trumpand it will show whether pence still has a political future after january 6 2021 with a large portion of gop voters still believing trumps lies that the 2020 election was stolen and that pence had the power to reject the resultspence and his advisers see iowa the state that will cast the first votes of the gop nominating calendar as key to his potential pathway to the nominationits caucusgoers include a large portion of evangelical christian voters whom they see as a natural constituency for pencethey also think pence who represented indiana in congress and as governor is a good personality fit with the midwestern statewe believe the path to victory runs through iowa and all of its 99 counties said scott reed cochair of a super pac that launched last month to support pences candidacyiowa has typically been seen as a launching pad for presidential candidates delivering momentum money and attention to hopefuls who win or defy expectationsbut recent past winners including ted cruz rick santorum and mike huckabee have failed to ultimately win the nominationand pence faces steep challenges he enters the race as among the bestknown republican candidates in a crowded gop field that now includes trump florida govron desantis former united nations ambassador nikki haley south carolina sen tim scott former new jersey gov chris christie and former arkansas gov asa hutchinsonbut pence seen by trump critics as complicit with his most indefensible actions and maligned by trump loyalists as a traitor is also saddled with high unfavorable ratingsa cnn poll conducted last month found 45 of republicans and republicanleaning independents said they would not support pence under any circumstance only 16 peer cent said the same about trumppences favorability has also slipped in iowa according to the des moines registermediacom iowa pollshortly after leaving office in june 2021 86 per cent of iowa republicans said they had a favorable view