Several 2012 Republican presidential candidates are slated to participate in an Iowa bus tour that seeks to make returning the country’s monetary system to the gold standard a key election issue.

The Iowa Tea Party and the group American Principles in Action announced that they are launching their 18-day bus tour starting June 13.

Republicans Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Gary Johnson, Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum are scheduled to speak during at least one stop on the tour, according to Andy Blom, executive director of American Principles in Action. All are either running or contemplating a run for president in 2012.

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The gold standard is the monetary system, popular with libertarians and Tea Party supporters, where every dollar is backed up by gold. Blom said the group plans to push candidates on the topic.

“We’re facing dramatic inflation and we have a government with out of control spending,” Blom said. “If we go back to making our money actually worth something, it stabilizes prices, it takes away the government’s credit card, they can’t just decide to go print tons of money and devalue the dollar.”

Blom said they also hope to get the grassroots, populist support behind the issue.

“The reason we’re introducing this on the bus tour is that people understand the value of gold, they understand the importance of having a dollar that actually has a stated value, but it hasn’t gained momentum. It hasn’t been brought forward as a political issue,” he said.

The tour will also provide training sessions on how to effectively participate in the Iowa Straw Poll and Iowa caucuses, Blom said. Organizers will also post one-on-one interviews with the candidates and video coverage of the bus tour online.